Will-ing to give his all for growth of hurling

William Maher has had a lifetime in hurling, though the precise route may not have been the one he envisaged growing up.

A star for Tipperary at underage, captaining them to the 1996 All-Ireland minor title, he also shone for St Kieran’s in Kilkenny at schools level, winning a Croke Cup, and helped what was then known as Waterford IT to a pair of Fitzgibbon Cups.

The Ballingarry native had also featured on the Tipp senior panel before a freak eye injury in a training session in 2002 brought his playing career to a premature end. Such circumstances might have turned him away from hurling, but instead he embraced the other opportunities the sport had to offer.

Various coaching and selector roles brought success with Tipp at minor and U21 level before he became manager of Dublin club side Cuala, guiding them to county titles in 2019 and 2020. From there, he took the Laois job and last year was in charge as they won Division 2A of the Allianz Hurling League.

Now though, his focus has changed, having been named as the GAA’s national head of hurling. Beginning next month, the role is an all-encompassing one, strategic rather than the hands-on focus of previous central appointments.

“This is a different iteration of what we’re doing,” says William

“Obviously, Jarlath [Burns, GAA president] re-established the Hurling Development Committee, under the leadership of Terry Reilly, and that’s who I’ll be reporting to on hurling strategy going forward.

“Then, we have the resources within the association with Shane Flanagan, the national director of coaching and games development.

“This is going to fall under his leadership, using all resources within the association to drive this down from national to provincial councils, right down to county boards. We’re going to be very strategic in what we’re doing.

“It’s going to be very different to what’s come before – it’s going to be a strategic role, aligning all resources within the association behind a strategic plan for hurling.”

Obviously, growing the sport in areas where there are not deep-standing foundations is one of the main objectives. However, that is not to say that Maher or the HDC can ignore the traditionally strong counties or assume that they will always thrive.

“This is the head of hurling nationally,” he says. So, whether you’re in Donegal and trying to develop the name at that level, or what we’d call the middle-ranking counties, we have to plan for that.

“Then, obviously, being a Tipperary man living in Kilkenny, I’m very aware of what’s happening within the games development and hurling development within those counties.

“It’s a different tailored plan for each area, because, getting into some detail with regards to our own demographics and what we’ve kind of learned in the last while, we need to plan accordingly for your rural jobs in the country, and then obviously the urban centres and the east coast as well. So, it’s all encompassing.

“One plan will not fit all here. It’s trying to deliver through a county development plan for individual areas, and working with those counties to actually operationalise it through a year or two or three.

“You’re trying to put measures on what we’re going to achieve and holding ultimately people to account as regards to provincial councils, to county boards, just making sure that we’re all doing the one thing as regards hurling development, and we’re working off the same plan as opposed to two or three different plans.”

The last county to win a first senior All-Ireland was Offaly in 1981, while the most recent instance of a team outside the top tier reaching the All-Ireland quarter-finals was Laois in 2019.

Breakthrough

Maher believes that there is potential for new breakthroughs, but such developments are based on steady growth.

“I think that’s very achievable,” he says, “but I think, again, this is kind of a bottom-up, top-down approach.

“So, how do we get more kids ultimately playing the game? How do we put them into a system that allows them to develop over their career from six or seven years of age right through to seeing adult players?

“My experience in Laois has taught me that, if the playing population at adult level is going to be really small, you aren’t able to compete at the moment with the top Liam McCarthy teams, or any Liam McCarthy teams.

“I think it’s about creating more players. I think the standard is going up, but it’s trying to increase that standard across more areas within the country. I’m really excited about it.

“My baseline is I love hurling. I came out of the All-Ireland last year with my daughter going, ‘This is unbelievable stuff!’ and I’d no dog in the fight. We were buzzing for days after.

“This is something that we have that is just magical. The heroes that played that day, again, how do we get them more recognisable in their communities?”

“As well, it’s how do we get this to more kids? How do we get this to more people? That’s the overall vision, but that starts from a structured plan of getting more kids started, getting more kids the opportunity to come through, and then we will see new teams coming, if we stick rigidly to a plan.”

During his time at WIT, William was the subject of a profile in Sidelines, the college’s GAA magazine. Part of the advice that he would give to players was that, “You only get out of the game what you put into it.”

And he is more than ready to keep putting in.

“Hurling has been so good to me,” he says. “The friends you make, the connections you meet, the game, what it teaches you, the game itself, we have an amazing sport, and I’m very much aware of that, and what it’s given me.

“It’s about trying to broaden that out. I think the participation in primary schools across the country for hurling last year was eight percent, and basketball was nine.

“They’re numbers that are scary to someone like me. You’re wondering what can we do to rectify that at the lower levels, and again, give kids the opportunity to play.”