From the front line to the half back line

 

By Shane Brophy

Having been to the forefront of keeping the people of Limerick city as safe as possible during the Covid-19 pandemic, Padraic Maher will be tasked with taking the Munster senior hurling title from the Treaty county in next Sunday’s clash at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Garda Padraic Maher is stationed at Mayorstone Garda station in the city, beside Thomond Park, where since March he and his colleagues have been busy ensuring the public health guidelines are adhered to and he admits it is difficult to be facing into another lockdown while preparing for championship hurling.

“We had lockdown number 1 and the thing about that was we didn’t have any official training so there was no real pressure to get to training and things like that, so it wasn’t as bad. But facing into lockdown 2 now, it is tough,” he said at the launch of the GAAZEE.ie, the GAA’s new leisure-ware partner.

“They are long old days and obviously the weather this time round is poorer, the days are longer and it is getting darker earlier, you are going to work when it’s dark and going home when it’s dark. 
“It is tough going but it tough on everyone, it’s tough on people that are working, it is tough on people in everyday lives but we have to do what we can do and try and help everyone in the community the best we can. 
“People will be frustrated, and they have every reason to be frustrated but all we can do is to try and get through it together. 
“At least this time round there is the GAA matches to look forward so, as well as the live soccer and the live rugby, it is a bit of a help and does give some people a lift. It gives us all something to talk about, even at work there are lads talking about the Limerick v Clare game on Sunday so it gives you something to look forward to and talk about so there are some positives to this negative situation at the moment.”

Working on the front line, Padraic, along with his brother Ronan who is also a Garda stationed in Tullamore, are exposed more than most to contracting the virus but so far hasn’t be struck down with the coronavirus.

“You do have scares,” he admitted.
“You come across different scenarios that you might put yourself in a bit of in a bit of danger I suppose. 
“Look, we're well looked after in terms of work and I'm lucky then that I have the lads like Brendan Murphy, the doc in Tipp, has been absolutely magnificent. Any little thing, the smallest thing, he'll look after. Thankfully if I had any issues or anything, I contact him straight away and you're looked after straight away. It's a great bit of comfort that if you do fear you're coming into a bit of contact with someone at work or something, that straight away you're tested and everything is ruled out more or less within 24 hours which is great.”

From that point of view, it made things a lot easier for Maher in his decision to play senior inter-county hurling this year, with the protocols put in place by Tipperary County Board being strictly adhered to.

“Personally, I feel as safe as ever going in around the Tipperary camp, training every Tuesday and Friday,” Maher admitted. 
“All the protocols are in place like everywhere else. We fill out our questionnaires before we go into training, we wear our masks, we get our temperature checked, social distancing is adhered to before we get onto the pitch. We go into training togged out and we have our showers at home, that’s basically it. We eat at home as well.
“We are used to it from the club championship, so the club set-up was good for us in that regard as it got us used to the protocols and again inside with Tipperary it has gone up a notch. 
“We are trying to look after each other as best we can and that is all we can do because a lot of lads are teaching in schools, there are a few of us working on the front line so we have to look after each other as best we can because there is a lot of responsibility on each individual. 
“There will be bumps along the road, but we have to give ourselves the best possible opportunity.”

As we move into winter time with the temperatures falling and the pitches becoming softer, it’s more akin to a time when the players should be in pre-season training, rather than preparing for a winter championship. However, the word championship is the key and that is what keeps the fire burning for Maher.

“It is different,” he said. 
“In terms of the weather conditions, the other night it was like being back training in December again with the wind, rain, and the cold. But at the end of the day you have to keep thinking that around the corner you are playing a Munster semi-final and that gives you a bit of a lift during these times.
“It is strange, but we are thoroughly looking forward to it. We can’t wait as we didn’t think we would get this opportunity at all so to have a Munster semi-final around the corner gives us something to look forward to so it makes training in the wind and rain that bit easier.”
While it will be a winter championship, it will feel like a blitz with an All-Ireland champion being crowned in six weeks’ time so the training will be more hurling orientated than fitness, plus the further you progress the easier the whole campaign will feel and that’s why Padraic feels winning against Limerick on Sunday will be so important.
“If you win in the first round you will be playing every two weeks but if you lose you are probably playing the following week in a qualifier so it is going to be tough on the body,” he said.
“Obviously the body is going to take a greater hit in the weather conditions, the fields are going to be softer so it is going to take a greater toll on the body so lads are going to pick up knocks here and there but as you saw with Pauric Mahony in Waterford that his championship is over with a knee injury. If that was the middle of summer you could have time to get back but unfortunately that is the way it is at the moment but that is why you have a panel of players and competition for places, even if you don’t feel involved in the first game you could find yourself catapulted into an All-Ireland quarter final or semi-final with plyers carrying knocks or injured. 
“There are a lot of permutations or scenarios that could happen in the next couple of weeks for every team. It is all new for everybody and we don’t know what to expect and the way things are day on day, week on week, we just have to concentrate on the next moment and the next game and you can’t look too far ahead in that regard as we have seen in the last couple of days, anything can change from one day to the next.”