Brian Barry
GAA Editor @BrianGBarry
Padraic Maher says hurling is a young man's game, but 30 is still young
Last Updated: 30/10/19 6:07am
It's thrown out there that hurling is increasingly becoming a young man's game. Given the required commitment levels and decreasing average retirement age, there's hard evidence to support such a claim.
It has been seen first-hand with the Tipperary hurlers in the last week, with James Barry (29) and Donagh Maher (31) both calling it a day.
That's not to say the older guard cannot make significant contributions. Padraic Maher, Brendan Maher, Noel McGrath and Seamus Callanan were all central to the Premier County's All-Ireland success in 2019. On Friday, Callanan is in the mix to be named as Hurler of the Year for the first time - up against Kilkenny's TJ Reid and Cork's Patrick Horgan for the honour.
"It's a young man's game but 30 is still young enough, isn't it?" laughed Padraic Maher.
"People say that the game is getting faster and you have to be faster and more physical. Obviously, the likes of us, we have miles on the clock and it's hard to keep going but if you're enjoying it and able to keep your body some way right, with a small bit of luck, you have a lot of experience to draw on, which young lads might not have.
"You build a lot of experience as you get older. You could say the three lads [vying for Hurler of the Year] have been through different experiences in their life; maybe they're enjoying it more and you can see that in their performances."
Nonetheless, the Thurles Sarsfields club man knows that the strains of life as an intercounty hurler don't get any easier with age. After speaking to James Barry in the wake of the fullback's announcement last week, he understands just how tough it can be.
"From talking to him, he's pretty happy with his decision," Maher noted. "It's not a total shock. He's getting married in a couple of weeks. He travels up and down from Cork for work, which is not easy, trying to rush out of there every evening and get up to Thurles to train.
"His body is in decent shape. Obviously he has his own personal reasons for making the decisions he has, we just have to support him and give him a pat on the back for what he's done for Tipp.
"Life moves on and changes."
When he sees his peers call time on their intercounty careers, Maher could be excused for pondering his own future, but it has had the opposite effect on him.
"If anything it makes you enjoy it and relish it even more because you know that you're not going to be there for too much longer yourself," he countered.
"I suppose that makes it more enjoyable and makes you relish the challenge ahead more than anything. Because, you know, people have their own things going on in their own life that make them make these decisions.
"You can't be looking too far ahead, you have to take it one step at a time for the likes of myself."
The loss of such senior figures does come as a blow to the group.
"Donagh and himself (Barry) were big characters in the dressing room," said Maher. "Donagh was probably the oldest in the panel and James is 29 now himself as well so they had a lot of experience and they were big characters.
"The dressing room is gradually changing over the years. There's only a handful of us left that are on the wrong side of 30.
"A lot of experience gone, a lot of change, but life moves on. The lads will be losses from the dressing room, never mind the field, with what they bring to the whole thing.
"But, look, someone else will have to step up now. The lads are leaving the jersey in a good place, in fairness to them."
"It's up to three or four of us elder statesmen now to try to bring it on to another level again."
Maher knows the panel has lost some experience
As for Padraic Maher, it's clear he has no retirement plans of his own, and is hungrier than ever.
"It is nice to have the three [All-Irelands]," he grinned. "It would be great to be able to add another one if we could too. We'll see what happens."
