Padraic Maher’s hectic transition into management

By Shane Brophy

They say, if you want a job done, ask a busy man, and that is what Thurles Sarsfields manager Padraic Maher has been in 2023.

If ever there was a test of a future marriage, this was it for his new wife Claire (they were married 48 hours before Tipp’s Munster Championship clash with Cork in May) with the former Thurles Sarsfields and Tipperary involved with three teams over the last year.

“The club approached me towards the end of last year and asked me would I be interested,” Maher revealed, this was despite having already committing to Thurles CBS and the Tipperary senior hurlers at that stage.

“They were putting a few bits and pieces in place, and when they came calling it was very hard to say no. I didn’t have to think too much about it because when the club came calling and asked me to get involved, I said to myself, can I see if I can organise it as best I can and put my own stamp on it, so it went from there.

“It was fairly hectic back then. I was involved with the Harty Cup team in Thurles, and then Liam Cahill asked me to get involved with Tipp and was glad to get involved there and then the club came calling.

“They all have different meanings. The CBS involvement was from November through February. Thurles CBS did a lot for me when I was younger and helped developed me as a hurler, so I felt I owed them something.

“Then, obviously Tipperary, when your county comes calling to give a dig out, it is hard to say no as well, and then the club on top of it.

“But the way I was looking at it was, the club doesn’t get going properly until April/May when training ramps up and the main games wouldn’t be going on until Tipp were finished so I felt it would be manageable.

“I only missed one league match against Toomevara because I was involved with Tipperary that same evening but other than that I rarely missed anything. I always made it my business to somehow manage it.

“I had to make a lot of sacrifices as regards taking annual leave from work for different reasons to cover off everything which was tough going, and it took a lot of organisation, as well. And we had the wedding on top of it, so it was a hectic few months, but ever since the county finished up it has been fairly manageable.

“It has been a great experience. I learned a lot from being around the county scene as well, so I was able to pick up a few bits and pieces from different people as well.”

“I am still finding my feet to be honest. You are learning every night you go into a training session.”

It is still hard to comprehend that the replayed county final of 2021 was the last time Padraic Maher played competitively as he was forced to retire from the game two months later due to a serious neck injury.

Maher had previously been involved with Sarsfields under 21 teams, so he knew how to deal with players from the sideline, but being in charge of, not one, but two teams (also manager of the premier intermediates) who are also in a county final, many of whom he played with is completely different altogether.

“You do have to look at things a lot differently,” he admitted.

“When you are a player, you are more thinking about yourself and get yourself right.

“I felt the lads just wanted a bit of direction, simple stuff, not hugely complicated. I try to put myself in their shoes as a player and what would you want from a manager or coach.

He added: “We got the two teams to two finals which is great. It has gone great, but it hasn’t been straightforward by any means. A lot of hard work has gone in behind the scenes with a lot of players crossing over between both panels, the same management, and backroom teams with both panels, so there is a lot of organisation, especially through the group games and then we had the preliminary quarter final (senior), so you are constantly going weekend after weekend, trying to keep the players motivated and so on.

“They are a good bunch. We have a panel of 48 between the two panels. They are good lads to train but it has been about finding that extra gear in them and we have needed every bit of it to get this far and we are going to have to find a bit more to get over Kiladangan.”

Thurles Sarsfields haven’t been that far away in the six years since they last won the county title but there was an element missing from their game. They still had the quality players but were a little brittle when it came to the battle and certainly Maher has instilled a lot of what made him such a great player, ferocious work-rate.

“To me, and it sounds so simple, and it might not be simple to someone else, that is just the basic stuff that everyone should be bringing to the thing, and sometimes that is where teams fall short,” he explains.

“I have been involved in teams where just getting the simple things right, you have to earn the right to get to this stage and getting that through to some players has been difficult. I have seen that myself as a player with Tipperary when we were beaten it was the simple stuff where we fell short so every player on every team should have that as their foundation. You can have all the talent in the world but what good is it if you are willing to get stuck in and go to the ball.”

That is one aspect Thurles Sarsfields failed to do in their only championship defeat so far, against Kiladangan in the first round of the group stage at Semple Stadium in late July, and Maher admits it was an experience he and his players have learned from.

“You have to learn from days like that,” he said of the 2-23 to 1-17 defeat.

“We didn’t turn up at all. There are no excuses, Kiladangan were way better and to be honest they should have won my more. They had an awful lot of wides in the second half, so the nine-point margin was even generous to us.

“The players said straight away that they weren’t up to the standards set by the group. It was a nice kick in the backside to reset again. We won the Mid final the week before but for me that is no excuse to take the foot off the pedal the following week.”

Padraic Maher was the skipper the only time Thurles Sarsfields met Kiladangan in the final back in 2016 when Sars completed a three in a row against a Kiladangan side playing in their first final, but they are far from novices now.

“They have been in five or six finals since we beat them in 2016, you don’t keep getting back to finals if you don’t have the quality, and they certainly have loads of quality,” Maher says.

“A lot of their players have represented Tipperary at different times in different grades.

“They are well balanced. In every line of the field, they have what you’d call very good club players and some hitting intercounty standard as well. The balance of their team and have players that are at a similar age, so they are reaping the benefit of that.

“In one or two of those finals they have been unlucky and the one they won they probably got a bit lucky in the end, but you don’t get that far without having the quality they have.

“They have been one of the top teams in the county since we played them in 2016 and deserve to be in there with a shout and bring a consistency to it year in year out.”

Thurles Sarsfields lead the Tipperary senior hurling roll of honour with 36 titles, with Maher involved as a player in seven of them. One year without a county title is considered a famine in Thurles so a six-year wait feels like an eternity, but Maher is relishing the challenge of trying to get their hands on the Dan Breen Cup once more.

“We haven’t won it since 2017 but at the end of the day we haven’t been good enough,” Maher said bluntly.

“The one year we got to the final in 2021, I was playing myself, we had chances and we didn’t take them. At the end of the day, you don’t pick up handy county finals, there is always a moment in the year when you need that bit of luck to get over the line.

“Also, a lot of other teams have come to the party with six different winners in as many years.”