Ronan Maher makes touching gesture to Liam Cahill and insists Tipperary GAA boss ‘deserves All-Ireland more than anyone'
And the Tipp captain hailed the role played by gaffer Liam Cahill, who came under scrutiny following a wretched 2024 season.
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Tipperary manager Liam Cahill celebrates with coach Michael Bevans after the All-Ireland semi-final
Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
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Ronan Maher paid tribute to the Tipp boss
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Having backed Cahill to complete his three-year term, the county board have been vindicated by seeing the Premier reach this weekend's All-Ireland SHC final.
Maher said: 'It's great to get him back up to Croke Park and I think he deserves it more than anybody else.
'We put down a tough season last year obviously and I suppose we as players didn't represent Liam the way he should have been represented last year.
'That was our aim — just to get back playing for him and for the management team, the way they've brought us up and how to play hurling for Tipperary.
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'But he's unbelievable. He's unbelievable when he takes drills and he's unbelievable in the dressing room.
'I couldn't think of anybody else that we'd like there at the minute. He's been unbelievable and he supports us in every way possible.'
In Sunday's Liam MacCarthy Cup decider, Tipp will face a Cork outfit who
Cahill's side ended the campaign winless as they signed off with a defeat to Clare which heightened the criticism that came their way.
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Maher recalled: 'There was a lot of sleepless nights anyway since we finished up in the Championship. A lot of tough conversations had from players to players. The management had tough conversations with us. We were all in it together really.
'But I suppose there were a few little changes. We went back and we trained and we were really looking forward to getting back into training because you just really want to right those wrongs and come together as a group.
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'When you're away from each other, it's really hard and you're thinking the whole time. It was definitely a tough part of the year.
'We knew when we finished up against Clare last year in Semple Stadium, we were almost talking about it then and we were ready to go for the following year because it just really wasn't us as a group.'
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A series of impressive displays in this year's National League suggested that a corner had been turned, only for Cork to deliver a gut punch in the form of a
However, they responded by embarking on a run of five consecutive wins to set up this weekend's rematch with their Munster rivals.
Maher and his team-mates copped plenty of flak from both inside and outside their own county last year. But ahead of his bid to win a third All-Ireland medal, the mood music sounds much sweeter now.
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The Thurles Sarsfields defender, 29, added: 'Having a tight group is everything. I suppose we try to block out everything. We block out all social media. Some of us don't go on social media, so you're not listening to that outside noise.
'But obviously in Tipperary, our supporters can be tough at times and rightly so. We've always been like that. If results aren't going your way, we'll hear about it. And that's where your tight group comes in.
'I suppose it's focusing on training every single night that you go up. And the tighter we are as a group, the harder we work through the pre-season. We know we have ourselves prepped and we focus on ourselves rather than on the outside noise.
'It's definitely a skill that you have to learn as you go on through the years. But it's a tight group and I feel like we've got a lot tighter this year.
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'I've seen that on the pitch as well. It's impacted us hugely. And it's not false either. It's a really good close group of players together.'
FRESH FACES
Newcomers such as McCarthy, Sam O'Farrell, Robert Doyle and Oisín O'Donoghue have contributed significantly to the regeneration of this Tipp team.
Beating All-Ireland champions Clare on their own patch was an important step.
And even a few weeks before that, Maher felt the signs were promising when they started their Munster campaign with a thrilling draw against Limerick.
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The skipper said: 'It just showed the fight that was in the group. I thought we really brought the intensity and the physicality to that game.
'Don't get me wrong — we made more mistakes in that game than any other game we've played in the whole year.
'But especially for the Tipp support, when they see us throwing off the shackles and firing into everything, like the intensity of that game, we just knew that we were there and we were at the pitch of it that day.
'I suppose the big one was Clare, coming out of Ennis, getting a win and it kept us in the Championship really. It gave us a big kick on to Waterford the following week in Thurles.
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'Going out on the field every game this year, there was a great kick in us.
'You just knew that there was something different about the group. That comes from the hard times and the hard pre-season as well.
'But there's a lot of freshness there in the group as well. There's a lot of these lads that are new to the panel this year. They bring great freshness and it's a whole new environment to them.'
Asked what has changed between this year and last, Maher highlighted the input of strength and conditioning coach Angelo Walsh.
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He said: 'It's a hard question to answer but I think it comes from the professionalism of everybody now as well and the way they're looking after themselves.
'It's just the way the game has gone, that everybody has to go to new heights — like recovery and if you do get niggles, getting on top of them straight away.
'But it definitely comes from the likes of Angelo, everybody contributing with him as well, to get us in the best position to go out to the field to perform.'
The recent All-Ireland semi-final win over Kilkenny was Tipperary's first Championship outing at Croker since the victory against the Cats in the 2019 final.
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Maher, who certainly knows his way around HQ, said: 'We've always said the aim is to get to Croke Park. And when you get to Croke Park, we always felt that we'd open up.
'So the belief was there, first of all to get out of Munster. And we always believed in this group of players that once we got to Croke Park, we could go all the way.'
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