Ronan Maher proud to play the cornerstone for Tipperary

It wasn’t that James Barry was doing anything wrong. In fact, he was quite impressive when he was handed the centre-back berth for Tipperary’s opening two Division 1A games.

But when injury ruled him out of the Waterford game, Ronan Maher stepped in and it just felt right. Even if they suffered an agonising defeat to the Déise and needed an injury-time point to earn a draw with Galway, the solidity provided by the 20-year-old in the middle of the 45m line was a veritable success.

The game against Cork was a write-off because of the opposition’s indifference to the tie but in going down to Clare it was Maher whose composure stood out, making him a nailed-on certainty to shift left from where he was stationed last season.