THRILLED TO MAKE CLUB MURAL

Tipp skipper Maher living the dream after seeing face go up outside Sars' club house

- BY PAT NOLAN

Sars man, John Joe Callanan, became the first man from the county to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1930.

Clubmate Jimmy Lanigan was the second in 1937, followed by John Maher, Ronan's granduncle, in 1945.

Tony Wall maintained the club tradition in 1958 and it was further embellished by Jimmy Doyle (1962 and '65) and Michael Murphy (1964).

Maher became the ninth different Thurles Sarsfields man to captain Tipperary to All-Ireland honours last month, and the first in 60 years.

But, in an era where players drone on about the process and having eyes only for the next game, Maher had a wider gaze.

Indeed, a doctored version of the wall was the screensaver on his phone.

"I had a blank picture beside the rest of the captains up there, and it was just an arrow pointing to it, and I suppose I had a few words underneath, and what my visualisation was, and that was basically it.

"That was one of Cathal's great skills."

That's Cathal Sheridan, the former Munster rugby player and now sports psychologist, who was also part of Kerry's All-Ireland -winning football set up this year.

"When I met him in '24, he asked me what my visualisation was," explains Maher.

"It was to walk up to Hogan Stand, to lift Liam MacCarthy, but also to have my picture up on the Thurles Sarsfields wall as well, with the rest of the legends.