Ronan is continuing to follow in his brothers footsteps

There was an online meme going around following Tipperary's win over Limerick recently of Padraic Maher arriving at the stadium with ear-phones on and putting his hand on his head with the slogan “I left Ronan in the car.”

Padraic Maher will go down as a Tipperary great in the eyes of many in the county and as someone to look up to, there aren't many better role models so what must be it be like to be his younger brother.

Not only has Ronan followed in Padraic's footsteps to be an inter-county hurling of top quality, playing in the same area of the pitch as his brother for both club and county, he is also following him into the same line of work as next Monday, Ronan will make the short trip to Templemore where he will enrol to become a member of An Garda Siochana.

“I did four years in Mary I (Limerick), I finished an arts degree there. I was going to go ahead with the teaching but didn't in the end. I had applied for the Guards as well, so I'm going to go down that route now,” he revealed.

“I'm starting induction with the Gardai on July 1, the day after the Munster Final.

“We'll focus on the match first, and see then. I'm looking forward to getting into a good routine, and stuff like that.”

Padraic is stationed in Henry Street in Limerick so for the last couple of weeks he has been in the epicentre of Tipperary's opponents for the Munster Final.

However in 2016 when Padraic was in Templemore and in training to join the Gardai, his hurling was better than ever as the period in college allowed him to focus on preparing with Tipperary, something Ronan is hoping to benefit from.

“The eight months in Templemore, it's a great opportunity, it's 9-5, so I can go away and train in the evening,” he said.

“There is a curfew to be back for 11 o'clock that night, I'm sure I'll find all that out during induction week.”

Such is demands of inter-county hurling and football, with an ESRI report published last year highlighting that senior inter-county players put in over 30 hours per week in preparations, outside of their work hours.

So finding a career that allows players to play at the very highest level is key and outside of teaching, being a Garda seems to be popular for current players.

“The Gardai seems to be a very reliable job,” said Ronan.

“It's something I've thought about strongly and I'm looking forward to doing.

“The six days on, four days off can fall very good for you as well, and there are other times when it could be tricky enough. But all those things can be worked around, and I'm really looking forward to going in and settling down, getting a routine together and getting on with it.”

 

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