Tipperary under-performing but patience needed - Padraic Maher

After 13 years without missing a single senior hurling championship game for Tipperary, Padraic Maher is trying to get used to life in the stands.

That isn't helped by his former team-mates' struggles this season – after losing to Waterford and Clare they will have to beat Munster and All-Ireland champions Limerick next week to have any hope of reaching an All-Ireland quarter-final.

"It's very strange alright," he tells RTÉ Sport. "Especially when championship got going, it kind of really hit home

"It's disappointing alright. You'd love to be able to help them in some way. It’s tough for them at the moment. It’s hard when you’re not winning and then when the performance is poor everyone is on your back.

"Obviously, I soldiered with a lot of them for years and my brother [Ronan] is involved with the team. I’ve been in that position before, coming off the back of a poor performance and a bad defeat. You know the supporters won’t be happy and what’s written about you… It’s tough going. It’s a difficult part of being an inter-county player but they’ll just have to get on with now.

"They’ll have to try and turn it around in two weeks to give themselves any bit of an opportunity to make it through this round-robin.

"People are saying it's more or less out of their sights now but Tipp still have four points to play for and you never know what way other results could go. The most important game is the next one which is the Limerick one.

"While it's a very uphill task, build that siege mentality, iron out the few things that have to change in training as regards the game-plan or structurally on the pitch, and obviously a few lads will have to look at themselves and up their performance as well.

"What better way to prove people wrong than