Brendan Maher emphasises one-to-one support in Offaly role

Former Tipperary captain Brendan Maher has joined the Offaly senior hurling backroom team in the role of performance coach and is to hoping pass on some of the skills he has acquired in the corporate world.

Earlier this year Maher announced his inter-county retirement, a period where he won three Al-Ireland senior titles with the Premier, skippering them to the ultimate prize in 2016. And while he will still line out with his club Boris-Ileigh, the 33-year-old is now set to link up with his brother Martin and former club manager Johnny Kelly, as Offaly look to progress from Division 2A of the Allianz League and the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2023.

Speaking on the latest edition of the RTÉ GAA Podcast, Maher spoke about the performance coach role, adding that he will still have the time to give his all for Boris-Ileigh.

"It's an area I have always had a huge interest in," he said at the outset.

"I have a bit of study done in it and it’s something I am doing day to day in a work capacity, in the corporate world.

"So it’s not new to me as such, it’s just that I’m applying it now in a sporting arena.

"The context of it is that I’m still playing club hurling with Borris-Ileigh and I want to be able to give that my full commitment.

"A role like this is appealing because it doesn’t require you to be there on the pitch every night. So in terms of the time commitment, it’s more flexible.

"A lot of my role will be around one-to-one support, which will be done over phone calls, virtually and whatnot.

"Obviously you will have some team stuff and I will be making as many trainings as I can, to observe the group and interact with the lads.

"Johnny Kelly being manager, I have a really good relationship with him. He was with Borris-Ileigh for five years