WATERFORD BOSS PARAIC Fanning admitted they face a difficult task trying to salvage their season against All-Ireland champions Limerick in two weeks.

But he’s confident they will rise to the task after suffering a second loss yesterday when they fell away in the final quarter to lose by double scores, 2-30 to 0-18 to Tipperary in Thurles.

“There’s two ways we can go. We can leave the season peter out or we can fight for our lives.

“And I’d be very very surprised if it’s anything other than us fighting for our lives in Walsh Park when we play Limerick and when we play Cork. “It’s all about trying to rescue our season now and seeing what happens with that.”

He said the dismissal of Conor Gleeson was a big blow but the biggest thing is trying to work out how they faded so badly in the final quarter and ended up getting hammered by double scores.

“With 20 minutes to go or so, we dragged ourselves back into it, had a lot of momentum, then it just petered out, maybe our legs went a little, and maybe them having the extra man that was part of.

“Right now it’s a bit raw, so we’ve got to think back over the game, watch the video, it’s not a time now for trying to dissect a game within two or three minutes.

Barry Hefffernan and James Barry fight for possession with Stephen Bennett and Maurice Shanahan.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“I need to really go and have a look at it. We were very happy with our preparations and everything into the championship, as I’ve said to the lads inside there isn’t a whole lot we would change about the way we prepared.

“But we’ve had two bad defeats now I suppose, particularly this one, so now we’ve got to pick ourselves up. But this was a tough afternoon,” he added.

Fanning paid tribute to a Tipperary side who now have the wind in their sails after two impressive wins.

“That’s a very good Tipp team, they’re in good shape, and definitely once they got their foot on out throat they were able to close it out, and at that stage, being a man down, and the kind of game they play, they were able to add a few points when we ran out of legs.”

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