Ronan Maher looks to add to legendary status

By Shane Brophy

Ronan Maher may well have only turned 30 years of age late last year, but he is already heading into his thirteenth championship campaign in 2026.

Coming straight in out of minor in 2014, he made an ignominious start when being handed his debut in an All-Ireland Qualifier against Galway in Thurles, but was taken off at half time as the game passed him by.

Well, it hasn’t passed him by since, going onto become a key cog in three All-Ireland winning teams, the most recent as captain, becoming the latest addition to the famous Wall of All-Ireland Champions on the Sarsfields Social Centre, adjacent to Semple Stadium.

Growing up in Thurles, he would have grown up hearing about the Sarsfields legends that hurled and won with Tipperary, of which he is now one himself.

Tipp’s rivalry with Cork was sparked back into life last year with the Rebels winning the National League final before Tipp put the breaks on their All-Ireland train in Croke Park. So, starting off 2026 with a repeat of that game is something Maher is really excited about.

“It’s huge excitement as a player,” admitted the Tipperary captain.

“What we love about the Munster Championship and it is the packed out stadiums, being stuck in the middle of it, the chaos the Munster Championship brings as you have to be able to adapt on the field quickly to what is going on. It is just pandemonium when you are out on the field, you cannot hear a thing, it’s just where you want to be as a player.

“When you are going through the hard slog in the winter and doing all those sessions, you are picturing that and where you want to be, and put yourself in the best physical condition that you can possible in that moment to pull through and we have put in a tough pre-season and we hope we’ll be in a good place going into the championship.

“Especially, here in Thurles, Tipp and Cork is going to be unbelievable and the crowds around it. As a player, and especially as a Tipp player, you want to be part of it.”

The off-season was longer than the Portlaoise based Garda was used to with Thurles Sarsfields exit in the group stages of the county championship, but it provided him with the opportunity to go under the knife to deal with a Gilmores groin issue.

“It was an injury I was probably struggling with all of last year,” Maher revealed.

“It probably took a bit longer to come right than I had hoped but thankfully I am at the other end of it now and getting up to speed of everything.

“It’s a tricky injury. I have been very lucky my whole career that I have had very little injuries. It is an awkward one it that it is all about the load and the increased intensity.”

Maher only made his return from injury to the blue & gold jersey in the penultimate round of the league against Waterford, and despite not making the final, was pleased with what the team got from the six games.

“We got to see a lot of new players throughout the league and some lads got their opportunities so in one way it was really good,” added the skipper.

“It was a strong campaign; we probably came back a little bit later than everyone else which throws a lot of challenges at you but it was an okay league overall.”

The one thing that many pundits like to throw at Tipperary after they win an All-Ireland is that they haven’t successfully defended it since 1964 and 1965. Maher admits it’s something they take on the chin but nothing which weighs heavy on them.

“It is something you can’t avoid,” Maher said.

“You hear it everywhere you go but it is not your main motivator as a player in the dressing room. There are lots of other things we have to go after. We don’t go into the dressing room before every game or training session and speak about back to back, that’s not the way it is.

“Individually and as a team collectively you have to have new motivational factors going into a new year and we have them, it isn’t just back to back.

He added: “There are always new pressures. Everybody is looking at you as All-Ireland champions.

“You always have that speculation outside of the group, you just try and block it out and focus on ourselves.

“You cannot look too far ahead of the Munster Championship. You have to set out your motivational factors for the championship and see what you want to achieve and go after them as best you can; try our best to get out of Munster.

“It is really tough, we are lucky to be in Munster but also unlucky in some ways but it is an unbelievable championship, just the intensity of the whole thing. If you go out the first day, you might win a game or draw a game, you have to be ready to go again for seven days’ time.”

Maher is one of a number of players that have been part of two previous unsuccessful title defences in 2017 (lost in All-Ireland semi-final to eventual champions Galway) and 2020 (Lost a Munster semi-final to eventual champions Limerick, exiting in an All-Ireland quarter final to Galway) and admits there are lessons that can be learned.

“You would always look back and see what you did and didn’t do,” he revealed.

“The main thing is to reset quickly and refocus the mind around the whole competition again. You are not guaranteed anything in this championship so you cannot go in with any predictions that you should be winning this game or that game.”