John Maher feeling the pinch on Galway's long road 

John Maher and his Galway teammates play game number 15 of the campaign against Meath at Croke Park on Sunday.

John Maher, pictured pitch side in Croke Park with the Toyota C-HR Hybrid. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

For 10 angry minutes on Monday, John Maher knew how Donegal felt about their six-day turnaround. For that brief period, he was led to believe Galway would be the team having the shortest preparation time for their All-Ireland quarter-final.

"I do feel for the Donegal players. I actually originally saw the wrong schedule so I thought that we were playing on Saturday. To put it mildly, I wasn't happy for the 10 minutes until the official schedule came out.

“I kind of got a taste of what they were feeling. It's not easy for them but they're a resilient bunch up in Donegal and they'll give it a good crack on Saturday."

While it’s game No 16 of the season for Donegal against Monaghan in Croke Park on Saturday, it’s 15 for Galway when they face Meath the following afternoon. After trips to Derry, Cavan and Newry, the visit to Croke Park is their fourth time on the road in 28 days.

Maher and the rest of the Galway squad returned home from their preliminary quarter-final win over Down on Sunday at 11pm. He worked from home on Monday, which allowed him some extra sleep before heading to the gym later in the day.

“Did a bit of kind of a flush-out on the bike for 20 minutes, some mobility work, a bit of jogging in the pool just to get blood flow going and just put a bit of time into my body again.

“We were back into training on Tuesday, kind of focused our efforts then on this weekend. So, I had a look at Meath and then I did a very light session along with some of the lads that probably would have been in the red zone who would have played kind of 70 minutes or close to and then a day off yesterday (Wednesday) and back into training this evening.” 

Maher is a mechanical engineer with RPS and can work longer hours Monday to Thursday so that he finishes early on Friday and can go to the physio or do more recovery work.

“You’d be in bed or you try to be in bed around 10pm and then you're kind of up at half 6.30/7am and go again. It's a bit of a whirlwind but you're in a very disciplined mindset at the moment that you’re conditioned to it, I suppose.

“There are some days now I wish I was a teacher finishing up for the year like so many of the lads and they're getting plenty of recovery and plenty of time to watch back games and all that stuff, so probably I don't have as much of a luxury but I certainly make do with the time I have.” 

Just like this time 12 months ago when they had to come through a last-12 game, the 26-year-old’s body is telling him he is being stretched. “It’s quite funny last week I had a bit of a cold and last year I had a cold the exact same week going into the prelim so it's nearly like my body is so routine to this format and then when it comes to that extra week that you lose, you slightly do break down.” 

Maher’s focus is on Meath who he describes as a strong turnover team with a great capacity for two-pointers, but there’s a part of him looking forward to playing less matches under the new championship format next season. 

“Having that one less round would certainly be beneficial, just even the mental toll it takes to kind of get on a bus and go to some part of the country and play, not just the physical toll.” 

He agrees with his Salthill-Knocknacarra club-mate Matthew Thompson that last Sunday’s game against Down was tough. Thompson is prime candidate for young footballer of the year and Maher has had a front row seat for his development these past few years.

“I think 2022 was his first year with the Salthill seniors and you always knew he was a player with serious talent. Maybe in the past year I looked at him and just saw the size he put on. The effort he's put into his body over the past two years to kind of get himself in shape for senior inter-county is very impressive, just to go along with his skill-set and his talent. He's all about the football life. He's really clued in and I'm not surprised he's having great games and doing good things for Galway.” 

* John Maher was speaking at the launch of Toyota Ireland as the new official car partner to The Camogie Association and GAA/GPA.