It's time for the next generation of Tipperary players to step up and preserve the legacy of the departing Padraic Maher.
That was the message from forward Jake Morris, following the shock announcement of the six-time All-Star's inter-county retirement on Tuesday.
He was the second triple All-Ireland winner to retire in a matter of months after former captain Brendan Maher’s also called it a day at the end of last season.
"Paudie Maher would probably have made any Tipperary team ever," Morris told RTÉ Sport. "He was such a monster at wing-back or anywhere else he lined out. I can’t remember him having a bad day at the office.
"He set standards for us inside, showing us how to train every night and how to look after your body, how to attack a match on match day in front of 40,000 people. Everyone has massive respect for him and we wish him all the best and we’re going to try our best to continue his legacy.
"I think the best memory I have of him is when we played the minor All-Ireland in 2016 and were sitting down in the Hogan Stand after and Pádraic Maher nailed Joe Canning with a shoulder across the line out in front of us. I’ll never forget the crunch of that shoulder, which was the turning point that day.
"I was called into the Tipp team in 2018 and I remember thinking to myself as a light 18-year-old 'I’d better not go near Pádraic Maher or he’ll throw me out over the line’.
"The best thing we can do now is continue on his levels of honesty, and the way he treated the Tipperary jersey, and he can be happy with that.
"We have a competitive squad inside in Tipp and I think everyone just needs to raise the levels a small bit to fill Paudie’s void from now on. It’s going to be a big void but together if we get up the standard of the way he trains and played, we will be in a good spot.
"There are still plenty of leaders in the dressing room even though Pádraic and Brendan are gone."
Morris (22) is one of the few alumni of the back-to-back U21/U20 All-Ireland-winning Premier teams of 2018-19 to nail down a starting a place in the starting team.
"It’s a hard step up to come from under 20/21 to senior," he observes. "Especially nowadays with the S&C that’s involved in getting your body right for inter-county hurling, it’s immense, so it definitely is harder than some people think.
"I feel the couple of years I am after playing is after helping me a lot with a lot of learnings from it. I definitely feel the last couple of years are after helping me bridge that gap and I feel a bit more ready at this level than I did before."
Aidan McCarthy was sin-binned for this challenge and a penalty was also given in the crucial moment in this game. Did you agree with the decision? pic.twitter.com/rxa0JAdwCd
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 4, 2021
Morris found himself at the centre of one of last summer's talking points when Clare’s Aidan McCarthy hauled him down near the sideline in their Munster SHC quarter-final and was sinbinned, Jason Forde converting the resulting penalty.
There was uproar at the time over whether Morris actually had a goalscoring chance or not. He thinks he did but accepts that the rule probably needed clarifying. Under an amended version coming to Congress this month, refs will be told to avoid awarding penalties for fouls within 25m of the sideline 'as a rule of thumb’.
"I would have said we would have a goalscoring opportunity out of that chance, yeah. Probably myself, probably would have been an overlap or I passed it to somebody else. I’m not really too sure," he said.
"I do think something has to be done about cynical fouling because it is frustrating as a forward when you get inside your man and he can just rugby tackle you onto the ground etc. But I understand it was only being trialled and referees have a tough enough job as it is. Maybe if they got some support with the rule. Once there is clarity and everybody knows where they stand, the rule could work."
Tipperary got past Clare that day but were reeled in by all-conquering Limerick in the Munster final, despite an early goal from Morris helping to build a 10-point half-time lead.
"Winning a bit of silverware would have given a massive boost – it just wasn’t to be. We had an unbelievable first half. Everything worked out that we tried. We hurled with freedom. Limerick just blew us away in the second half. If we did manage to get our nose into a semi, it might have been a different story. It just wasn’t to be. We’ll just have to put our head back down and focus on getting up the ladder.
"I don’t think we can focus at the start of the year on how to bring down Limerick because we have five group games in the league, then we’ve a Munster championship. There are so many other good teams to play, that if you do come around to Limerick, we’ll worry about them then. They're a savage team, they're after setting the bar for everybody else and it's up to us to see if we can get there or not."
The Colm Bonnar era got off to a shaky start with the county’s first ever senior hurling defeat to Kerry in the Munster Hurling Cup but Morris insists there has been no panic ahead of their Allianz Hurling League opener in Laois on Saturday.
"I wouldn’t actually say there’s any hangover in there now being honest with you. It was a match on the first week of January.
"All I can say, from what I’m seeing in training night in, night out, lads are really busting themselves every night to go in and train really hard. We’re all enjoying it. The last month and a half, we’ve been putting the head down and working hard.
"We’ve had Liam the last three years so it’s great to have new ideas and new voices in the team with Colm and Johnny Enright and Paul Curran. It’s been going very well so far.
"Kerry were very good opposition, we played them a couple of times over the last couple of years and got very good games.
"I think the league is about yourself anyway and all we’re doing is focusing on ourselves and trying to get a performance and lads used to playing together again. That’s the way we’re going to look at it anyway and try to get a performance for the Tipperary fans on Saturday night."
