Tipperary Hurling Tipperary GAA Premierview

Born: 1908


Died: 1990



Tipperary championship career: 1930-1945



Club: Thurles Sarsfields



Honours



3 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Medals - 1930, 1937, 1945 (Capt.)



4 Munster Senior Hurling Medals - 1930, 1937, 1941, 1945



2 Four County League Medals – 1943, 1945 (The National Hurling League was suspended for a number of years during the Emergency)



5 Railway Cup Medals (2 as a sub) 1934, 1937, 1940, 1943, 1946



9 County Senior Hurling Medals - 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946



9 Mid Tipp Senior Hurling Medals - 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946



John of Killinan, as he was known, was born into a farming family outside Thurles in 1908. His father ‘Long’ Dinny had been involved with the Thurles Blues side that won the first ever All-Ireland hurling title in 1887, and captained the team in some of the games. However, Dinny played no part in the final: in an incident that has a peculiar resonance today, he and several other panel members refused to travel due to a dispute over the payment of train fares. In later years, other members of the Maher clan were instrumental in the purchase of Thurles Sportsfield, later Semple Stadium.



John won his first county senior medal with Sarsfields in 1929 and made his debut for Tipp in the league that autumn at corner-back, marking Mick ‘Gah’ Aherne against Cork. As he said himself ‘I got a roasting’. Nevertheless, the following year he was wing-back on the Tipperary team that swept all before them to take All-Ireland honours as part of the ‘Triple Crown’ of senior, minor and junior wins. The senior team included greats like Martin Kennedy, Tommy Treacy and J.J. Callanan. Interestingly, the team led by 1 point at half time in their championship games against Waterford, Clare, Galway and Kilkenny that year.



In September 1931, the victorious team embarked on a 9-week tour of the US, playing games in New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and San Francisco. Then won all their matches and were crowned World Champions. John remembers that the game in San Francisco was played under floodlights, surely a first ever in hurling.



Subsequent years saw less success as Cork and Limerick dominated Munster. It was during this time that John established himself as regular centre-back and he developed a great rivalry with Mick Mackey. Mackey later said of him ‘he was a tough bony divil, you’d know if you got past him alright’. In the Ring versus Mackey debate John always refused to be drawn on who was the best, pointing out that both players had contrasting styles and very different approaches to the game.



Tipp managed to break the Limerick stranglehold with a great win in the 1937 Munster Final and recorded an easy win over Kilkenny in the final, played in Killarney, on a score of 3-11 to 0-3. The following year brought bad luck as Tipperary were thrown out of the championship due to an objection in the now infamous Cooney case, a complicated wrangle involving a Tipperary player suspended for attending a rugby match. John always felt that the case was poorly handled, that Cooney should not have been selected to play against Clare in the first round, and that the team of ’38 was even better than the previous year’s outfit. More misfortune followed in 1941 as the championship was suspended due to foot and mouth. Cork were nominated to play in the All-Ireland Final of that year, which they duly won, but they were later defeated by Tipp in the delayed Munster Final in November. John recalled later that there was no photograph taken of the Tipp team before the match; all attention was focused on the newly crowned champions. With a bit more luck then, John could have added a further two All-Irelands medals to his collection.



The pinnacle of John’s career was in 1945 when, at 37 years, he captained Tipp to victory in the All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny, producing a great display on Jim Langton in the decider. Earlier that year Tipp had thwarted Cork’s attempt to win five All-Irelands in a row. A hand injury soon afterwards led to his retirement from the inter-county scene after a 15-year career, but he did go on to win another county championship with Sarsfields. John then married and settled on the family farm, but retained an interest in hurling for the rest of his days.



Tom Semple and Johnny Leahy influenced John’s hurling philosophy and it was a no-nonsense approach that encouraged moving the ball quickly along the ground, keeping two hands on the hurley and marking opponents closely. He decried certain aspects of the modern game, particularly when players were inclined to run with the ball and invite fouls. He also had strong views on the commercialisation of the GAA. But his passion for the game was unquestionable. He once said ‘What would you do on a Sunday, or during the long summer evenings, without the hurling’, while his motto was simple: ‘play the game for its own sake’.



Although not as successful on the field as subsequent generations, John was a strong influence on many of the great players of the ‘50s and ‘60s in their younger days, notably Mickey ‘Rattler’ Byrne and John Doyle. His qualities of leadership and courage, his deep knowledge of the game and his ‘Matt the Thresher’ personality put him on a par with other Hurling Immortals of the Premier County. John Maher died in 1990 and was buried in Killinan graveyard the day before the Munster Hurling Final, alongside fellow All-Ireland winning captains Jim Lanigan and J.J. Callanan. In recognition of the contribution of John and the wider Maher clan to Tipperary GAA, the Killinan end of Semple Stadium was renamed the Maher Terrace in 1999.



‘So sleep you well John Maher, my friend, on Killinan’s holy brow,

Eternally, to me, you’ll be, the Pride of Knocknagow’.





Sources used:

Fullam, B. Captains of the Ash

Dundon, M. ‘John Maher – 17 years at the top’ Tipperary Star, May 5th 1984, p.19

Dundon, M. ‘Tipperary loses one of its greats’ Tipperary Star, July 21st, 1990, p.18

King, S.J. ‘World Hurling Champions 1931’ Tipperary Star, January 14th, 1995, p.24

King, S.J. Tipperary’s GAA Story 1934-1984