TIPPERARY STAR HURLER P\u00e1draic Maher says that his decision to retire from the sport was made to ensure a greater quality of life going forward.<\/p>\n
\n Paudie Maher on the ball for Tipperary.<\/p>\n
Source: Ryan Byrne\/INPHO<\/p>\n
The three-time All-Ireland winner made the shock announcement during the week, saying that he had received medical advice to step away from contact sport due to a neck injury.<\/p>\n
Maher had previously indicated his intentions to return for a 14th season with the Premier County, but will now be bringing the curtain down on his decorated career with both Tipperary and his club Thurles Sarsfields.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media today, the six-time All-Star elaborated on some of the details of his neck injury. He began by explaining how he was prompted to seek medical advice after he mistook some headaches and neck pain for possible having Covid-19 symptoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still have to meet one or two more lads about it to determine how old it is but at the moment from what I know I only got the symptoms from around the time of the county final when my neck was at me and I was getting a few headaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when it arose but again it could have been an accumulation of things, I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s why I\u2019m hoping to meet one or two more specialists tomorrow and at the start of next week and hopefully they\u2019ll be able to give me a bit more information as regards how old it is, how it happened, but there is a fair chance from what I told it happened in training or something between the county semi-final and final because the symptoms arose a few days before the county final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said I wasn\u2019t feeling great. At the time, I thought \u2018am I getting Covid?\u2019, I didn\u2019t know what was going on. But then we got to the root of it recently and thankfully we did because if the doc didn\u2019t send me for a scan I could be in training and could have been making it a lot worse unbeknownst to myself. Very unlucky but very lucky at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there is a fair chance I took a knock at training, noticed it myself. The way we train with Sarsfields is fairly physical so there is a fair chance I got a knock there and whether it ruptured something then or made an old injury worse I don\u2019t know but hopefully I\u2019ll get a lot of answers in the following weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maher added that he was reassured by the doctor that eliminating the risk now means he can look forward to a healthy life away from hurling. He\u2019s also clear to continue working for\u00a0An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na.<\/p>\n
All forms of contact sport are no longer available to him, but individual pursuits like running, swimming and cycling are still safe options.<\/p>\n
He has also recently opened the Heyday coffee house in Thurles with his Tipp team-mate S\u00e9amus Callanan, which will give him a new focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe [the doctor] only listed off what the damage could be,\u201d says Maher, \u201cespecially when you are working in the head and neck area, he put it to me, do you want your girlfriend lifting you off the couch to put you to bed every night? It was that extreme so when he started talking like that, I said, this is a fairly black and white decision for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, the risk has been taken away, please God, and with the bit of guidance from the medics going forward I will have a perfectly healthy life to live.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be some void to fill alright, being gone four or five nights a week and building up to big games at the weekend. So it\u2019s going to be strange.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I can be twisting or turning or moving my neck too sharply but there\u2019s still loads for me to do between work and the coffee shop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Source: James Crombie\/INPHO<\/p>\n