TIPPERARY’S Croke Park absence is always in the back of Ronan Maher’s mind.
The Premier have not lined out at GAA HQ in championship hurling since they won the 2019 All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.
Tipp were regulars on Jones’ road when Maher made his SHC debut for the county in 2014.
They reached the final in his first campaign when they were gunned down by the Cats, and lost there against Galway in the semis a year later.
They conquered under Michael Ryan in 2016 and were back in the last four the following season when the Tribes sent them packing once more.
Tipp failed to survive the 2018 Munster round-robin campaign but returned in style the following season to go all the way.
Maher, 29, won his second All-Star after a blistering campaign – but little did he know the team would fail to reach the business end of the season over the next five campaigns.
Liam Cahill’s men have impressed so far in the NHL with three wins and one defeat – but summer days at Croker matter most.
Maher said: “It’s too long for not having Tipperary in Croke Park in Championship.
“So this is something that’s at the back of your head the whole time and it’s driving you on and, like I said, it’s where we want to be.
“It’s where every team sets out to be at the start of the year and where they want to be at the end.
“So definitely a motivational factor for this team is to get back into Croke Park but, like I said, you can’t get too far ahead of yourself.
“The National League has shown that this year the Munster Championship is going to be very, very competitive again and you can see the Munster teams in the League, the standard that they’ve set.
“You can’t get too far ahead of yourself, it’s always something that’s in the back of your head, it’s really motivational that you want to get back there, everybody wants us back there.
“Tipperary supporters want us back there, all this group of players, we want to be back there as well, there’s no doubt about that at all, that we want to be back in Croke Park challenging at the end of the year.”
Clare went all the way last year, as Tipp failed to win a game in the Munster SHC and waved the summer goodbye after their final round loss to the Banner on May 26.
Watching the race for glory play out without them does not sit well with their skipper, but sees no reason why they cannot change that and return to the top table.
He said: “It’s difficult to watch, you know that Tipperary should be at the latter stages of it and it feels like a long time since we were in Croke Park challenging at that time of the season and that drives you on massively.
“I know there’s been changes to the panel over the last couple of years, but it’s really about getting us back to that stage of the year and it excites me to think about getting to that end of the year.
“The Munster Championship really excites me, even looking at the National League now it’s really exciting.
“You’re looking forward to Munster and anything that can happen, down to the very last game and I think the last few years have proven that. It’s really exciting I think at the moment but really challenging as well.
“But it is tough not being at the latter end of the stages, going to Croke Park but I’m sure if we keep our heads down and we keep concentrating on ourselves, concentrate on getting good performances and staying consistent every day we go out on to the field, that’s going to come sooner rather than later.
“So it will be really nice to get back up to Croke Park and bring this group of players I suppose to new levels. It’s definitely not out of reach anyway.”
Failing to win a championship game last year led to a long winter in Tipp, as their supporters demanded answers and a big response in 2025.
Boss Liam Cahill came out fighting and issued a rallying call to fans to back the side this year, and that faith has been repaid with stellar performances.
A round 3 loss to Limerick is the only blip so far as they powered past Galway and Wexford before their blistering 2-22 to 1-21 win over Cork last time out.
Fresh faces like Darragh McCarthy, 19, have stood up to the mark as Cahill looks to spark a new dawn in the county with new stars.
Tipp visit old rivals Kilkenny this Sunday, and Maher knows a lot of things had to change if they wanted to start a new chapter and produce performances again.
KILLKENY TEST
He said: “I suppose something had to change and it definitely did.
“I suppose everybody, like, there’s a big responsibility playing for Tipperary and putting on the blue and gold jersey and I think maybe not everybody realised that.
“But they do now and I suppose there’s a lot of hurt that carried through from last year.
“But we’ve parked that, we’ve spoke about what had to change and we’ve made changes and we’ve done that.
“Players, individuals, everybody knows going forward for the year what’s accepted of them and what needs to happen to represent Tipperary if you want to represent Tipperary.
“So there has been changes and listen, it’s not like we don’t train hard, we’re a really honest group and we train really hard.
“Everybody trains really hard and it’s just about keeping those standards within the group going forward, and like I said it’s about getting those performances consistently out every weekend.
“The Tipp supporters can be tough on you at times when things aren’t going your way and that’s just the way it’s always been.
“But it was great to see a good turn out against Cork. It’s all about moving on as this group and I think we’ve done that fairly well starting out this year.”
