AS DEBUT SEASONS go, Pádraic Maher has already made a successful start to his career in management.
He’s packed a lot into his first go at this coaching racket at both inter-county and club level. Within months of his forced retirement from hurling, Maher joined the backroom team for the Tipperary hurlers and has only just opted out of a second campaign due to work commitments.
He also took over his local Thurles Sarsfields team who had crashed out of the 2022 county championship at the preliminary quarter-final stage. Later today, he will lead them into a county final against last year’s finalists Kiladangan, hoping to finish the day as county champions for the first time since 2017. Their intermediate team is also contesting the county final, as they face Lorrha on Saturday.
Maher’s coaching credentials are already glowing in year one.
That adjustment to this chapter of his life is quite remarkable given the circumstances of Maher’s retirement. The six-time All-Star has openly expressed the disappointment he felt at being forced to finish playing on medical grounds last year instead of departing on his own terms. It’s the end that every athlete dreads.
In the face of an uncertain future, he made coaching his next project and the results so far indicate that he’s in this for the long haul.
“He definitely couldn’t have asked for anymore,” says former Tipperary hurler Paddy Stapleton who was a former county teammate of Maher’s.
“He’d be disappointed to be finishing with Tipp but I’d say he learned a lot. When he finished hurling, he probably didn’t want to be finished on the field so it’s probably an extension for him to keep that same type of lifestyle going. Getting involved with the county and your own club is some undertaking and you have to admire that.
”Thurles were in a vulnerable position: they had a successful management team for a couple of years and there was a void left and sometimes it’s left to your own to pick up the pieces. It’s very hard for Paudie to step in and manage some of his best friends and cousins that he’s won county finals with. He’s done brilliantly.”
One of the key challenges facing Maher at the outset of his appointment with Thurles was embracing the changes in his relationship with the players. The dynamic must naturally change where you’re no longer teammates.
Speaking to Tipp FM this week, ahead of the showdown with Kiladangan, Thurles Sarsfields selector Michael Gleeson said that they had a group of 50 players togging out at the start of this season. That’s a big number for Maher to factor into his plans.
Stapleton believes that it takes an effort from both the players and the manager to allow that dial to shift. Friendships or family ties can’t be factored in when ruthless calls must be made.
But with two county finals featuring teams from Thurles Sarsfields coming up this weekend, it would appear that Maher and company have mounted that hurdle effectively.
That doesn’t surprise Stapleton though. He remembers Maher as a player who had the confidence and self-assurance to be completely truthful with his teammates at all times.
“I think the players have to be a very mature group. They’re going to be told things by a guy they consider a friend and they’re going to be told things they’re not overjoyed to hear if they’re not training or playing well enough. Sometimes it can be really difficult if someone tells you that you’re not working hard enough. It’s probably one of the most insulting things to hear.
“Like most managers, Paudie has had to say that to guys that he has played with. It’s a really difficult conversation to have but Paudie was always the type of guy that didn’t mince his words. He had no problem speaking his mind in a dressing-room. He expected the very best of his teammates and I can remember a couple of conversations at half-time in All-Ireland finals. You might need a confidence booster but it was home truths that was being spoken of. That’s Paudie. And he has no issue being told [either].
“I can see that Thurles are hurling really well. They’re workrate was pretty good a couple but I didn’t think the hurling was there to go with it compared to now. It’s fine if one guy is chasing a lost cause on your team, or a couple of players, but if everybody’s not doing, it’s not half as powerful.”
Sarsfields went on a Tipperary four-in-a-row run between 2014 and 2017, making them one of the more formidable clubs in the Premier County. But since then, five different winners have emerged from the county championship with Thurles losing the 2021 final to Loughmore-Castleiney.
Kiladangan fell short in last year’s final after a replay against Kilruane MacDonaghs, and triumphed in the 2020 decider. Stapleton suspects that the 2023 final is too close to call, but given that Kiladangan have already racked up some wins over Thurles this year, they won’t fear the team that Maher unleashes.
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