The Tipperary footballers will have to plan for the next few weeks without their All-Star forward Michael Quinlivan, according to manager Liam Kearns.
Quinlivan was stretchered off during his side's Munster SFC semi-final defeat to Cork on Saturday, with ankle ligament damage which will see him sidelined for the coming weeks.
After last year's landmark victory over Cork in the Munster championship, an under strength Tipperary side were unable to repeat the feat this time around, as they suffered a one point loss.
In addition to Quinlivan's loss, Tipperary defender Shane O'Connell was also withdrawn from the game with injury. Kearns' side have other injury issues in the camp at the moment, while goalkeeper Evan Comerford is currently serving a suspension.
Speaking to Newstalk Sport's Oisin Langan, Kearns said that those losses in personnel cost them in the end:
"It's bad ankle ligaments so we won't know until we appraise it. We were afraid it was a broken ankle so thanks be to God it doesn't look like a broken ankle. He's out for a number of weeks and I don't know if he'll make it for the qualifier or not but it's a huge blow because he was only just starting to get into the game.
"We were excellent in the first half. When you lose Michael Quinlivan, you're talking about a massive hit altogether. If you add in Evan Comerford (suspended) and all the other injuries, there's a huge amount of injuries there now.
"I'd give them (Cork) a lot of credit. They took chances in the second half and they came at us. They pushed up on the sweeper, they took over the middle third, they left an awful lot of space behind.
"I don't think they would have done that if Michael Quinlivan was there - that was crucial."
"Michael would also be a target for our kickouts. We were under pressure in the second half and he wasn't there. I think the Michael Quinlivan injury told in the end.
"They wouldn't have been pushing up on our sweeper if Mikey was still on the field. At the end of the day, you've to cope with the injuries."
Cork will go on to face either Kerry or Clare in the final, and Kearns believes that with his side in such a weakened state, they would have struggled to perform had they made it through to the decider.
"Over the course of the second half, Cork probably deserved to win the game. We're down so many bodies, I'd be very proud of my fellas and how they performed. We nearly got out of here."
"I think in the shape we're in, it might be better to let Cork go and play at the moment. It's going to be a tough task for them. I think they'll improve quite a bit but fair play to Cork, they came at us, they pushed up on our sweeper.
They went after the game and they got their reward."
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