BRENDAN MAHER HAS revealed how the intense criticism received by Tipperary’s senior hurlers during the Allianz Hurling League has “hardened” the team.
The Premier County captain and his underperforming colleagues bore the brunt of fierce local scrutiny following successive defeats against Kilkenny, Clare and Galway.
Tipp leaked 12 goals in those three outings but since then, manager Eamon O’Shea has presided over a remarkable turnaround.
“The criticism we got hardened us up a bit,” he says, “we got our fair share, perhaps more than anyone over the past couple of years.
“It’s something that we’ve had to learn to deal with, and the one thing we said at the start of the year, and it didn’t change even through the bad results, was that we were just going to focus on trying to get the best out of ourselves in training.
“I suppose it didn’t come out on the field in some of the games, but in fairness everybody kept their shoulder to the wheel and stayed trying to improve and improve. We’re by no means the finished article yet but we’re improving, and that’s a good sign and the next day is about improving again.”
Last year’s beaten finalists scraped into the last eight with a three-point victory over Dublin in Thurles and have kicked on from there. But it could have been so different if Dublin forward Niall McMorrow had taken a point instead of lobbing the ball towards the Tipp goalmouth with time nearly up.
Buoyed by that let-off, Tipp went on to record impressive wins against last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists Cork and Clare to set up a repeat meeting of last year’s league final against Kilkenny.
And Maher has been central to the Tipp revolution, settling into a centre back-cum-sweeper role with remarkable ease. The Borrisoleigh clubman explained: “You can see almost everything that’s going on in the game, apart from in the full-back line.
“So as long as the full back line is telling me what’s going on, I can read it as best I can but I can’t forget what’s going on behind me.”
Maher, 25, revealed that he had discussed his switch to the number six shirt with team management — and that it was always an option from the start of the season.
He added: “It’s not really a new position for me because I have played there for my club and at underage.
“The big thing is that management leave it to ourselves – there’s a lot of responsibility left to the players on the field – we can adjust and adapt to whatever way it is.
“They have given us the freedom to make calls if you need to make calls, whether you pick up this lad and I’ll go free, different things like that.
“They’re only there to facilitate us, to prepare us for the game and once you cross the white line it’s down to us.”
Tipp’s new-found freedom was evident in the recent semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds.
When the sides met in Thurles earlier in the campaign, Conor McGrath scored a hat-trick of goals and ran riot with an alarming amount of space to work in.
But Tipp’s defence tightened up considerably to lessen the impact of a potentially lethal Clare attack and Tipp racked up 2-24 in the process to claim an impressive win.
Maher stressed: “It will be a completely different game against Kilkenny as it was against Clare, so it’s about adapting to that as best you can and impose your game on the opposition.
“The workrate in the semi-final against Clare was hunger coming from the confidence you gain from a few wins. There was a bit more freedom there, it’s down to the lads who are doing the drills with us and the things we’re doing in training.
“Credit has to go to them, they have us in the right frame of mind going out and they’re always encouraging us to express ourselves, go out and try and get a performance.
“Whatever result comes with that we’ll be happy as long as we’ve given 100 per cent.”
