WE OVERDID IT
Maher admits Tipp left too much on the training pitch last year
BRENDAN MAHER claimed yesterday that Tipperary have learned their lesson from last season, by training less and chilling more.
Maher will go in search of his first Allianz League medal in this Sunday’s final clash with Kilkenny, while still painfully aware that Tipperary’s season spiralled into a fatal nosedive as a result of last year’s spring decider defeat to Galway.
They went into that game as the All-Ireland champions and raging hot favourites, but never truly recovered from the 16-point trimming dished out by Galway, losing both their provincial and AllIreland crowns last summer.
That collapse inevitably led to accusations of complacency, but ironically Maher believes what cost them was an attitude too earnest for their own good.
‘We over-trained, we did too much,’ he admitted, speaking at yesterday’s pre-final press conference at Croke Park.
‘We were so conscious of not being complacent that we ended up over-training and just drained ourselves. I remember we had a period of 10 weeks before last year’s League final where we did not have one night off from the norm. We did our gym work on a Monday and Wednesday and we trained on a Tuesday and Thursday, or a Tuesday and Friday. And we were just like dogs.
‘We were so conscious of complacency setting in that we just over did it. We talked about it all the time, always in the back of our heads, train hard, not to let any softness set it.
‘That was constant, week on week, and it just shows you have to stay fresh, keep the hunger, and we just left too much of that on the training pitch.
‘And that wasn’t the manager’s fault. As a group of players we were conscious of it, always on to each other, we need to keep going, keep going. And I suppose in end maybe we just over-reached,’ confessed the midfielder.
Maher’s candour shines a light on a training culture in the GAA, which may be doing more harm than good.
The drop-out rate of elite players who cite the excessive demands of playing at intercounty level is one source of concern, but perhaps an even more obvious one, argued Maher, is that it simply does not work.
‘I think in the GAA a lot of teams over-train, maybe club teams more so,’ he said.
‘It’s just that culture that is there, we always have to train hard, it’s used so much, train hard and make sure we’re ready for it.
‘But sometimes you need to train smartly. And when we’re training so much, pulling back isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and that’s something I’ve tried myself to pull back a bit, because I would have been one of the lads driving it, saying we need to drive on hard, push ourselves to be brink every night.
‘I found my energy levels suffered, weren’t at the levels they should be at, and the team in general suffered a little. Finding that balance is difficult, but with the help of the managers and the trainers I think we’ve a better hold on it this year.
‘That’s one of the differences this year, we’re probably holding back a little at training, the guys are monitoring a little more.
‘We do the 70 minute sessions, not the 90. Even if we feel or ask for more they say no, that’s the length of the session. It’s about getting that balance where you’re getting the work in but also staying fresh and eager for the game,’ continued Maher.
And it is not just on the training pitch the reins have been loosened, but off it as well where Maher insists that it is good that players find a proper life, balance, including enjoying a modest social life.
‘There’s always that comparison to rugby and they seem to have a really good balance but we’re not quite there yet in the GAA.
‘I think it’s getting better but it’s up the individual again. I don’t mind having a drink now in Borrisoleigh, even after a League game I might go in and have a pint or two to meet the lads and have a chat and that’s it then, I’d go home.
‘A few years ago I might have been worried about what people would say, “oh he was out drinking till this time or that time”.
‘You’re just afraid of what people would say about you. You’d be afraid that something would be said about you and next thing you’re dropped. That still exists, definitely in Tipperary. If I went into a pub to have a pint next week even, I’d be getting quare looks from people, it’s just that exists and it’s still there,’ admitted Maher.