Brendan Maher walked up the steps of the Hogan Stand on Sunday afternoon as an All-Ireland winning captain for the second time in his life.
In 2007, the 27-year-old was minor captain, having also won the title the year before. From his experience nine years ago, you would have assumed that Maher would have remembered who to thank, but he made one glaring omission.
Speaking to RTE after the game, Maher apologised for not thanking Tipperary's manager Michael Ryan. This season was Ryan's first in charge of the team.
"In the moment you don’t know what to think, you’re a bit all over the place, and I forgot to mention Mick Ryan and the management in the speech and I had him first on the list."
"I saw the names and said I’d come back to it, but I just forgot. You don’t know what you’re at! I’ve been getting a bit of stick off the lads since."
Maher revealed he wrote some notes in the days after the semi-final win over Galway, just in case they were needed. He handed the contents of a speech over to a friend and it was given back after the nine-point win.
Tipperary's senior and minor teams return home to a heroes' welcome on Monday evening. Maher will have Ryan at the top of the list of thank yous.
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