Maher: We learned from the drawn game and took leaf out of Donegal’s book
Donegal struck for two early goals in the previous Sunday’s All-Ireland senior football final victory over Mayo and Tipp did likewise yesterday.
Mark McCarthy, who also netted in the drawn match on September 9, struck in the ninth minute before the player in the opposite corner forward position, Tadhg Gallagher, bagged a second goal in the 14th minute.
Two goals within six minutes helped to establish a 2-4 to 0-4 advantage for Tipp and Dublin boss Shay Boland would later concede that the his players were rocked by such early concessions.
Tipp hit just 1-2 from play in the drawn final but 2-10 of their winning tally came from play yesterday in a much-improved performance.
It was a display that ensured a 19th All-Ireland minor hurling crown for Tipperary – and first since 2007. And for Maher, there was added significance, as he lifted the Irish Press Cup as Premier County skipper in 1996 when Tipp defeated Galway in a replay.
Maher revealed Tipp learned so much from the drawn game, with post-match rumblings suggesting players and management alike suffered with nerves before throw-in.
“Our focus was a little bit more on the actual game of hurling this time,” Maher reflected.
“When you come into an All-Ireland final you have to control things outside of that. We controlled everything today.
“Delighted we got the performance today, delighted to win. It’s great to get a second chance and we did it today.
“Individual performances gave us a good platform for a good performance. We just worked really hard on our game, we concentrated on us. There is no great secret.”
Maher was anxious to see his team get on top of Dublin from the start, after the Sky Blues had dominated for long stages during the original stalemate.
And the Ballingarry native revealed: “I think we learned a lot from Donegal last week with the early goals. It gives you a great platform. It’s something that we did work on all year, scoring goals, so it was great to get our goals at the start.”
Maher also paid tribute to a superb defensive performance from Tipperary, with Dublin held to just 1-5 from play. And, crucially, Dublin’s main scoring threat, dual star Cormac Costello, scored just one second-half point. “Our philosophy all year is if a guy is a defender he’s not a corner back or a centre back, he’s a defender and likewise with the forwards, they are forwards but they have to be able to play everywhere,” Maher said.
“Our guys are comfortable on the ball and I am delighted they got the performance to show people that.”
John McGrath, scorer of 1-11 from placed balls first time around, added 0-10 yesterday to take his tally to 1-21 from two All-Ireland finals. Younger brother of Tipp senior star Noel, John could be destined for a sterling senior career also. And Maher smiled: “John McGrath is a super player. The hurlers we have in Tipperary at the moment we are delighted with every one of them, they are fantastic.
“They have all worked very, very hard, we have a panel of 32, and they’ve done something like 185 training sessions this year.”
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