KILKENNY GAA SAID goodbye to a great of the game yesterday as Henry Shefflin called time on his extraordinary career.
And today the Marble City has lost the man who did so much to make hurling what it is on Noreside, with the passing of the legendary Fr Tommy Maher at the age of 92.
Monsignor Maher led the Cats to seven All-Ireland titles over the course of his 18-year reign.
“Tommy is credited with the emergence of Kilkenny as a hurling power from the late 1950′s after a relatively barren spell – their last previous title being 10 years earlier in 1947. He led Kilkenny into 12 All Ireland Finals winning 7 in 1957/1963/1967/1969/ 1972/1974 and 1975,” a statement from Kilkenny county board reads.
“Ironically the 1975 All Ireland marked the appearance of Brian Cody in his first final as a player. Fr Tommy’s story was brought to life most eloquently by Enda McEvoy in his book ‘The Godfather of Modern Hurling’.”
Sean Moran’s stat in this morning’s Irish Times tells a story: “Since his first year in 1957 when, by his own account, he reluctantly agreed to take on the team, Kilkenny have won 22 All-Irelands whereas Cork and Tipperary have managed 11 and 10 respectively.”
Eddie Keher led tributes for his former mentor on RTÉ radio this morning.
“I first came across him in St Kieran’s College in the mid 50s,” he said. What he did was analyse the game which was never analysed before, identified the skills of the game and devised routines that would practise those skills and make them perfect. A lot of those routines are still used by players today.
“And as a tactician he was brilliant for analysing the opposition and devising strategies to overcome them. But he was a brilliant speaker and orator as well. A very inspirational speaker so he inspired people right up to Brian Cody of the present day.”
