Tipp captaincy a timely lift for Pádraic Maher after painful Sarsfields defeat

Pádraic Maher admits that being handed the Tipperary senior hurling team captaincy is a huge lift after recent club heartbreak.

Maher and Thurles Sarsfields lost to provincial champions Ballyea at the semi-final stage – coughing up a seven-point advantage before losing out in extra-time earlier this month.

And Maher said: “To be honest, I personally found it very hard to get my head around what went on below in Ennis.

“To lose a game and give it everything, you can’t say any more but we had the game in our hands and let it slip.

“It was devastating and after putting in a massive amount of effort, we thought we were perfectly set up. But we have nobody to blame only ourselves.

“It is tough to take and I’ve been feeling a bit down over it but the phone call from Mick [Ryan] was a lift again.”

Tipperary manager Ryan contacted All Star Maher last Wednesday to inform him that he would be succeeding Brendan Maher as county captain for 2017.

“I was thrilled, I wasn’t really expecting it,” Maher said. “It’s a great honour and something I look forward to doing for the coming year.

“My job now doesn’t really change too much as far as playing hurling [is concerned]. I’ll just try to do what I’ve always been doing.

Extraordinary

“I’ve always thought of myself as one of the lads to lead anyway. It’s a title now but I don’t plan on doing anything extraordinary, just keep things simple and set the example by training as hard as I can.”

Maher captained Tipperary’s under-21s to All-Ireland glory in 2010 and is pleased to accept the senior role.

“Mick’s not afraid to make changes and wants to keep things competitive too. It frees up Brendan to worry about himself a bit more than he has over the last few years. Maybe he’ll get a new lease of life but Mick has created a really good environment and it’s up to myself and Seamie Callanan [vice-captain] to drive that competitive edge in training.

"Last year, the younger lads coming in, like John McGrath, Mikey Breen and Seamus Kennedy, put their hands up and if you do show it in training, Mick will give you the opportunity."

And Maher is confident that lessons will be learned from 2010, when Tipp stormed to an All-Ireland title but struggled to build on that success.

“A lot of us were there in 2010 and everybody got carried away – players and supporters. It was such a long gap and we were so delighted back then.

Gym work

“Now the players have gone wherever they had to with the cup, turning up at various events, but we’re busting to get back, get the gym work done and get the bodies and heads right for February 11th and the start of the league.

“It’s vital we go back now and train harder than we’ve ever trained, tick all the boxes, gym and field, and if we have a couple of games in January, play those and get ourselves right for February 11th.

“We’d like a good start to the league, to keep the confidence going. But it’s so competitive out there and the All-Ireland championship will be more competitive again next year. We’ll try to better what we did this year by getting fitter and stronger, and getting the hurling up to scratch.”

And Maher paid tribute to namesake Brendan, who has handed over the captain’s baton.

“He was outstanding – three years as captain and we’ve been lucky that we’ve had a few good captains during my time with Tipp. It’s an honour to follow in their footsteps, lads like Brendan, Paul Curran and Eoin Kelly, and if I do half as good a job as them, I’ll be a happy man.”