Liam Sheedy and Brian Cody both insist that there was nothing in the sideline altercation between the pair during Sunday’s National Hurling League Division One game in which Tipperary beat Kilkenny in Thurles.
Sheedy's Tipp got some revenge for last season’s league and All-Ireland final defeats to the Cats as they won out 1-14 to 0-13 at Semple Stadium.
During the game Sheedy was seen pushing Kilkenny counterpart Cody but the Tipp boss – and indeed the Kilkenny one – played down the significance of the incident after the game.
Sheedy was quoted by the Irish Examiner as saying: "When the match is close like that, it's high tempo stuff. We're managers - maybe they (the players) watch our body language, but for us, it's Tipp and Kilkenny, the second round of the league.”
And Cody agreed, saying: "It was a battle of wits, as ever. No, there was no battle on the sideline.
"It was a battle for anyone out there. It was a flat out game and huge commitment from both teams. It is early in March, so it was decent stuff.
"It's a great league, so tight, we are down two points now and obviously can't afford to drop any more points."
Meanwhile, Sheedy praised the application of his players. The Tipp boss believes that the game was bigger for his team than it was for the Cats – who had already beaten Offaly – as Tipp were well beaten by Dublin in their first game of the season.
Sheedy added: "If we lost today, it probably finished our involvement in the league. It was important to get the two points, get back on the road. In a lot of ways, it was backs to the wall.
“For us, it was important after last Sunday. We were all severely disappointed – they’ve set themselves high standards over the last two years and we never really found a level at all last Sunday. We were just delighted to be able to come back out today and try to rectify a few things.
“You saw today that the lads really were hurting and some of that hurt might have come out in the jersey today. It’s two points – it’s good.
”A must-win game for us more so than Kilkenny – they had one victory already. They’re missing an awful lot of their big guns today, but we definitely showed in the last ten minutes that we probably needed it that little bit more. I wouldn’t be getting carried away or anything, but it’s nice to get the two points.”