Pádraic Maher and the stark warning that forced him to call time on playing career

Pádraic Maher has known extraordinary weeks. In the space of six days in 2010 he went from winning Tipperary’s first All-Ireland in nearly a decade to captaining the county’s under-21s as they stamped their authority on Galway in the All-Ireland final. More than 20,000 were in Semple Stadium to watch.

“We put the champagne on ice; we can take it out of the ice now,” he said afterwards.

On Thursday he held a remote media conference to outline a different sort of week: one where he had gone from nursing an ankle problem before the start of a new season, his 14th, to having to explain publicly how a neck injury had ended his career.

Maher thinks he may have picked up a knock during training with his club Thurles Sarsfields last November because the symptoms occurred around the time of that month’s county final.

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Although the symptoms faded away when the season was over, he decided to make sure before the new season got under way. Dr Paul Ryan, the Tipperary doctor, and his predecessor Brendan Murphy, the former Offaly hurler, mediated the news from various consultants. It was over.

“To be honest with you, they are hurling people so they know the way I am thinking as well and they were very straight up that this was the best choice to make now.

“When the lads were . . . fairly adamant in their decision, it was taken out of my hands because I was not going to go against the medics’ advice. There was no point at this stage of my life.”

There certainly wasn’t. The alternative suite of possibilities made that clear.

“The list was very eye-opening. He only listed off what the damage could be, especially when you are working in the head and neck area. He put it to me, ‘do you want your girlfriend lifting you off the couch to put you to bed every night?’

“It was that extreme so when he started talking like that, I said, this is a fairly black and white decision for me.”

Encouragingly he was assured that it was still possible to get out before anything serious happened.

“That’s exactly it. The doctor said to me I was walking in as a fit 32-year-old and everything working relatively all right. I asked what my health was going to be like going forward and he said I’d be fine once I took the risk out of it, and the risk is contact sport. Unfortunately that was not the news I really wanted but when he showed me the scans and what was involved.”

He leaves as new manager Colm Bonnar has to come to terms with the departure of arguably the two most influential players of the whole era, as Brendan Maher had already retired after last season, but he remains confident for the future

“You see Brendan gone there now and now myself,” he says. “Niall O’Meara has gone travelling for the year and there’s a bit of experience gone all right but there’s still loads of it there.

“You still have Séamie [Callanan] and Noel [McGrath] there and the likes of Séamus Kennedy and Ronan [his brother], Barry Heffernan, Jason Forde – they’ve all been there since 2014 and 2015 so they are only coming into the main part of their careers. There’s a lot of experience there.”

Pádraic Maher is one of a number of Tipperary players to have won three All-Ireland medals for the first time since the 1960s but would he have expected more that evening in Thurles in September 12 years ago?

“In 2010 people were saying we could win the next two- or three-in-a-row. When it didn’t happen then, there were a few more eyes on us and a bit more talk about us.

“That brought its own pressure too, but thankfully we did manage to get back in 2016 and win it. You are always going to have regrets, especially when you are playing for 13 seasons.”

Asked about the controversy 10 years ago when a challenge on Kilkenny’s Michael Rice left his opponent with multiple broken bones in his hand, he admits it was reckless.

“It was a few months after that, that it came out Michael had a hand injury and how bad it was and that. . . I probably did go in a bit rash, one-handed that time and a tad bit late. But I certainly don’t go out to hurt anyone and I would like to think that any of the players I played against would say the same thing as well. “Look, it was very, very unfortunate and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

He regrets not being able to finish his career with the club but says he “always be involved”. There has been little opportunity to plan how he might spend his spare time but he hopes to resume golf and rededicate himself to a handicap that was once 12.

Recalling that other eventful week 12 years ago, he cheerfully traces the ups and downs.

“There was a great atmosphere around – even winning the under-21 All-Ireland back in 2010 in Thurles with 20-25,000 people there was special that week in Tipperary. There are plenty of moments that stand out and a lot of moments too of heartbreak and despair but that comes with sport. You can’t have one without the other, so I can’t complain because I had a great time.”