Michael Murphy couldn’t praise John Maher enough for his role in their 1-14 to 0-15 win over Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final.
The Donegal native hailed the Galway midfielder for his spirit and heart in driving the team on ‘whenever the chips are down.’
Galway found themselves in a battle, trailing their opponents by one point after 40 minutes but inspired by the likes of Maher, Dylan McHugh and Liam Silke in particular, they ground out the victory to book their place in the All-Ireland final.
The Salthill Knocknacarra player has been a revelation for Galway this year after having a rocky start to his inter-county career back in 2018. He played in the FBD League that year but didn’t feature again until the 2020 National League when he was taken off at half-time against Mayo.
The 25-year-old impressed for his club in the mean-time and fought his way back into Padraic Joyce’s plans during this year’s League, when he was one of Galway’s most prominent players.
He has kicked on further in the championship, with Murphy singling him out ‘as someone you just want to have in your team’ on the BBC after Galway’s win.
“What a season he’s had, between today and marking Fenton the last day,” said Murphy.
“Maybe he’s not front and centre in terms of getting big tallies and scores, but he’s always there chipping in whenever the chips are down,” added Murphy.
Maher has been entrusted with big man-marking jobs for Galway such as Fenton against Dublin and Enda Smith against Roscommon. Speaking on The Sunday Game, Paul Flynn hailed his role in Liam Silke’s crucial late point.
“Maher was brilliant,” said the Dublin legend.
“He puts the hand up and points (to Conor Gleeson), because Donegal pressed up for the first time in the half. He wins that kick-out and Silke ends up getting as score from it. It was pure leadership.”
“A huge play in a big, big moment. That can be tricky when a team concedes a kick-out for the majority of the half, you can get comfortable in it, but he pulled it off, and Glesson was excellent,” added Flynn.
Peter Canavan also hailed Maher who he says was involved in the majority of Galway’s best moments.
“Virtually every other score Galway got today, John Maher was involved in it.”
Galway’s kick-outs were crucial on the day, winning 21 out of Connor Gleeson’s 22, 18 of them clean wins.
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