Colm Bonnar planning fresh foundations for Tipperary rebuild

As starts go, presiding over Tipperary's first senior hurling defeat to Kerry was not an auspicious one.

But Colm Bonnar is too long at this lark to let a pre-season defeat rattle him.

Before Christmas, the new manager of the Premier County had revived the county's old divisional competition to serve as county trials.

As far as he's concerned, last month's Munster's Cup clash was about more about seeing some of the 80-odd players who had participated in inter-county action, and it served its purpose.

"It was a setback, in terms of the result, against Kerry but we were in a process there where we had committed to a number of players we had seen in the Miller Shields and these were the players we wanted to see," he tells RTÉ Sport, ahead of Saturday's Allianz Hurling League opener against Laois.

"It was a case of trying to help them in their development to become a Tipp senior player and that process continues.

"We have picked our panel with seven or eight new players that have come through from those games we have seen and it's added a new bit of energy to that 32/34."

That 32/34 does not include forwards Willie Connors - he suffered a season-ending ankle break against Kerry - and John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer, who it is hoped will be back for championship if he can get over a knee problem.

But even more significantly it is missing Padraic Maher, who was still operating at a very high level.

The unexpected retirement of Tipperary's most decorated player of the last 50 years means only Noel McGrath, Seamus Callanan and Patrick 'Bonner' Maher remain from the 2010 All-Ireland winning side.

When added to the post-season departure of another former captain, Brendan Maher, 2022 is already starting to look like it could be that dreaded