Courtney McGrailStaff Reporter
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has paid tribute to hurling legend Msgr Tommy Maher following his death last week at the age of 92. Speaking at the weekend after the county’s last-minute, one-point win over Clare in the Nowlan Park relegation play-off, Mr Cody said.
“The players on the field today wouldn’t have remembered him, but they would have known about the outstanding contribution that he had made. But anyone who would have been part and parcel of his time would have realised the effect of what had happened.”
Widely credited as one of the founding fathers of modern Kilkenny hurling, Msgr Maher trained Kilkenny for almost 20 years from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s, helping the county win several All-Ireland titles. He was also a hugely influential figure at St Kieran’s College, the legendary hurling school in Kilkenny city.