Refreshed Ronan relishing Return to Play

By Shane Brophy

The past twelve months or so has certainly been a period of adjustment for Tipperary defender Ronan Maher both on and off the field.

Not long after passing out as a Garda and stationed in Tullamore, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, which meant roster changes at work which impacted on his ability to maintain his level of fitness to hurl to a high level for Tipperary.

“Starting the new job last February twelve months, we weren’t in the job six weeks and things changed rapidly,” he said.

“With an introduction to the change in the roster and trying to hurling with that was hard to adapt to but I have gotten used to that now.

“It is really about being organised. Work takes its toll and you have to be there and keep on top of that side of things and we were met with a lot of challenges throughout the past year with Covid and we were very busy.”

On the field, the past six months in particular since Tipperary were knocked out of the 2020 championship by Galway left Maher and many of his teammates with the most time off from training and games at any time in their hurling lives.

“It was unusual,” Ronan admitted.

“When you are growing up and involved with so many teams in college, and with your county and your club, you get so used to going training every night and meeting up with the lads. It brings that hurling sharpness and that match fitness.

“Lads can do all the gym sessions and road running they want but when you are getting hit in training, striking a ball or changing direction it is a huge difference.

“I was getting sick of not playing games because you are in it to play hurling. I did the gym work and all the running, but it gets monotonous after a while and you just want to be on the field having fun and playing games.”

The 25-year-old is relishing the return to competitive action next Saturday when Tipperary take on All-Ireland champions Limerick in the opening round of the National League and is welcoming the five game schedule in the lead up to the championship.

“It’s great to be back, back in the dressing room around the boys,” he added.

“It’s great to see everyone back on the pitch together and lads have come back in great nick and are very fit.

“Things are coming around very quickly, starting with Limerick next Saturday. Everyone is looking forward to that opener, it is an exciting one with Limerick being All-Ireland champions and we are looking forward to the test we are going to have.

“They have been setting the mark for every other team in the country. When you saw them last year after lockdown they seemed to be on top of things really well. We are going to have to bring it to them and make sure we are on top of our game, being organised as a team.”

He added: We have five league games which is huge and that will bring us back up to match pace very quickly, but when the ball is thrown in next Saturday it will be an eye-opener for everybody.

“This is going to be a very enjoyable couple of weeks because we have lots of games and will be all about keeping match fit and keeping clear of injury, and especially keeping clear of Covid because we don’t want that ruling us out either.”