Liam Cahill may need to tweak his programme heading into 2024 in order to enable his Tipperary team to peak at the business end of the season, according to RTÉ hurling analysts Liam Sheedy and Donal Óg Cusack.

For the second season running, a team under Cahill's charge has seen their form curdle in summer after an impressive start to the inter-county season, Waterford famously winning the 2022 league title before imploding in the championship.

Cahill's first campaign as senior boss in his native county ended in abject fashion with a quarter-final defeat to Galway, with Tipp deeply flattered by the two-point margin in the finish.

It was a far cry from the early rounds of the Munster round robin, where Tipp defeated Clare in a hail of goals in Ennis, enjoyed the better of things in Cork before being held to a draw and then matching the All-Ireland champions in a claustrophobic encounter in Thurles.

Why did Tipp's form taper off so badly?

"Tipp went through a really strenuous pre-season," said former manager Liam Sheedy on The Sunday Game.

"Liam felt they weren't at the level they needed to be at so they had a really tough November-December.

"Then they rolled into the league. Performed really well, got to a semi-final. The first half in the semi-final against Limerick was really strong.

"The Munster championship took its toll as well. Their level of performance looks to have gone in the wrong direction and it looks to be on a downward curve.

"If he's looking forward to 2024, I think Liam will be trying to tweak (it) to make sure the level performance, by the end of the season, is going upwards. It was starting to deplete as the season went on."

Donal Óg Cusack reiterated the point, noting that it's something of a trend in the wake of the 2022 campaign.

"I think Liam will be having a lot of sleepless nights over that. We know he's an excellent manager, an excellent coach.

"But you'd have to wonder why did Tipp go so flat? You saw last year, Waterford seemed to peter out.

"From a high performance point of view, it's the hardest thing to peak on a personal level. From a coaching and a team point of view, it's the hardest thing to time when you peak.

"Liam Cahill will know that something has gone wrong there in terms of their ability to peak."

For Cusack, the performance in the Gaelic Grounds was one of the worst Tipperary displays in a long time.

While he credited Galway for their resilience and their much improved defensive structure since the Leinster final, he said this was caveated by the lethargic nature of the Tipp performance.

"I would say yesterday's performance by Tipperary was as bad as I've seen in a long time. They were flaky. They didn't bring any intensity. Galway dominated them in possession.

"We always associate Tipperary teams with being able to transfer the ball, speed of wrist, speed of hand. There was none of that yesterday.

"You have to give Galway credit. I was impressed by their response to the Leinster final. There seemed to be no hangover. Henry Shefflin will be delighted, that's a testament to his management and to the players. I was impressed with the way the learnt (from the Leinster final) and the way they structured themselves.

"But on the other hand, Tipp were so flaky. Galway were eight points up going into the last quarter and yet they were hanging on in the finish. So, I'm not overly sure how much you can read into it given Tipp were so poor."