Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
Tipp must rebuild with exit of magic Maher
AS Tipperary fans say goodbye to Padraic Maher, they are, I fear, also saying goodbye to their greatest era since the 60s.
It’s been an era which began the intercounty careers of four of the county’s greatest ever players, Brendan and Padraic Maher, Noel McGrath and Seamie Callanan, men that led the challenge to hurling’s greatest ever team, Brian Cody’s Kilkenny.
And now they’re coming to the end with another dominating team — Limerick — that may yet prove a realistic challenger to that black and amber crown.
Sandwiched in between the glorious era of these two iconic teams are Tipperary, once touted as a team that would dominate for a decade following their senior and Under-21 double in 2010.
Then criticised for their indiscipline before re-emerging as a team respected and admired for their skill levels and big-day heroics.
They should have won the AllIreland in 2014. Then we have the epic All-Ireland semi-finals against Galway in ‘15 and ‘16, before they finally slayed the Kilkenny dragon again in 2016.
Following their defeat in another epic semi-final against Galway in 2017, Tipp seemed to have reached the end in 2018.
Deserved
And while lucky to avoid Limerick in the All-Ireland final in 2019, they deserved a break after that ‘14 heartbreak.
But age and wear and tear have rendered them helpless against the green machine ever since.
Even if last year they summoned up one last challenge against the great champions, Limerick regrouped.
Through all these years and epic battles in the best decade we have seen in hurling, the Mahers, McGrath and Callanan, with Liam Sheedy, Michael Ryan and Eamon O’Shea inspired a generation of Tipperary hurlers.
They also gave all supporters the most skilful, thrilling and magical hurling ever witnessed.
Three All-Irelands is a great return but it still doesn’t do justice to the contribution they made.
And while opinions will vary as to who was their greatest player, I have no doubt that the just-retired Padraic Maher stands out from everybody else.
Apart from Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney and Clare’s Brian Lohan, I cannot recall any player who produced such a consistently high level of performance through winter and summer over such a long period.
The great Thurles man was such an inspirational big-day player.
He has an exceptional temperament, awesome physical power and uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time. These were his greatest traits.
He revelled in marking the game’s best players and wasn’t intimidated by any opponent.
His points from play and his tackling — remember his gamechanging hook on Conor Cooney in the 2016 semi-final, or his crunching tackle on Joe Canning in the same game — stood out.
His leadership and traditional Tipperary approach to defending ensured that he was adored by Premier fans and respected by all others.
Whenever I’m asked to pick the best team I’ve seen, I always include Padraic Maher.
Like so many great players he still thought he had more to offer after 13 years of such consistently high performances.
But he hadn’t.
The real Padraic Maher would never have tolerated that unchallenged run by Kyle Hayes for his goal in the Munster final.
I suspect both him and Brendan Maher knew the game was up for them after that Limerick mauling and I am glad t hey’ve both retired before any damage was done to their iconic status.
The challenge for Tipp manager Colm Bonnar is to find new leaders or young players that may develop into leaders and in effect build a new team.
Apart from Cathal Barrett, Ronan Maher, Seamus Kennedy, Jason Forde, Michael Breen and Jake Morris, I feel there is little else to salvage from last year’s Munster final defeat.
Thinking that Callanan, Noel McGrath and Bubbles can play for 70-plus minutes in Championship hurling in high summer against Limerick is just folly.
Question
Another big question is whether John McGrath regain his inter-county appetite and even if
he does, will he cope with Limerick’s physicality?
Sheedy built that great team of the last decade on Tipp’s victorious All-Ireland minors of 06 and 07 and the Under-21 team of 2010.
Now Bonnar will look to the All-Ireland-winning Under-21 and 20 teams of 2018 and 2019 as he looks to build a new era.
But already he has encountered a major setback, that defeat by Kerry in the Munster League.
Normally a loss like that in mid-winter wouldn’t cost a manager a second thought, but this was different, as just a week later Limerick’s second team demolished the same Kingdom side by almost 30 points.
Looking at that Tipperary lineout for that game gives cause for major concern.
At least eight of that team had won All-Ireland Under-20 or 21 medals.
Future
The half-back line of Eoghan Connolly, Robert Byrne and Paddy Cadell has been touted as the Tipperary half-back line of the future, and Craig Morgan, at corner-back, not alone one for the future but a future captain.
Dan McCormack and Sean Curran are two experienced players. They were at midfield with Paul Flynn and Ger Browne up front. And remember, Cathal Barret, Seamus Kennedy and Willie Connors all came off the bench to play significant roles.
Yet Tipp scored just three
points from play in the game.
So if this is being touted as their second team, then where are the first team players going to come from?
Ronan Maher and maybe Barry Heffernan and Brian McGrath in defence.
Jason Forde, Jake Morris and Michael Breen, and maybe Mark Keogh in attack.
So the big question for Bonnar is, does he rely on Callanan, Noel McGrath and Bubbles and hope John McGrath recovers his intercounty form?
To me, looking from the outside, it doesn’t look promising. It is good to see Conor Bowe back in the panel. He was so promising at underage level.
But looking at the talent available to Tipperary for the Championship, I just cannot see them having the ammunition to challenge the might of their neighbours Limerick or Waterford.
Truth
The real truth here is that Tipperary won the Under-21 title in 2018 against a vastly superior Cork team mainly through the inspirational management of Liam Cahill and Mikey Bevans.
And in 2019 the standard was poor in Leinster and Munster.
Both teams had a great work ethic and were superbly coached but had few potential stars of the future at intercounty level.
I suspect that nobody knew this better than Cahill and Bevans and that was the major reason why they stayed with Waterford rather than undertaking the Tipperary rebuilding job. But then maybe the same can be said of Galway, Kilkenny, Wexford and Clare.
In the middle of May last year, a hyped-up Galway beat Limerick in Salthill in an insignificant League game, leading to big expectations for the Championship. We know how that turned out. By the middle of May this year it is possible that at least four teams will already be out of Championship 2022.
That should concentrate the minds of managers and ensure the League will just be a series of challenge games like we used to have in the past in April and May leading up to the Championship.
Winning
It’s not about winning the League, but then again it rarely is.
What does make it interesting is that apart from Limerick and Waterford — and, strangely, Dublin — there are no other settled teams, so there is bound to be cutthroat competition within all panels.
It’s difficult to see any team, apart from Waterford maybe, even giving Limerick a game in the Championship.
So all eyes will be on the rest for signs of hope for Championship 2022.
That alone should be enough to keep us interested.
The post-Padraic challenge for Bonnar looking an immense one