NAME: Tony Maher DATE OF BIRTH: 25/1/69 HEIGHT: 6' 3" WEIGHT: 14st 2lbs CLUB: Stradbally COUNTY: Laois OCCUPATION: A civil engineering student at UCG HONOURS: I have won practically every underage medal in Laois FAMOUS RELATIONS: None (Editor) - Tony's father also named Tony and a full back, played minor and under 21 for the Midlanders, while the family are related to the famous Laois Delaney brothers INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: In the championship against Carlow in 1987. They beat us by a point. I first played for Laois in the '86/'87 NFL TOUGHEST OPPONENT: They all are, but I suppose Seamus O'Hanlon of Louth and Kerry's Noel O'Mahoney have given me the most trouble FAVOURITE POSITION: It has to be number 8 or 9. I never played anywhere else SPORTING AMBITION: Well, my intermediate one is to beat Meath in the first round of the Leinster and to go on from there to win provincial and All-Ireland medals. Down have shown us all that this is no dream DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS: Quite a few and in particular soccer and squash BOYHOOD HEROES: Jack O'Shea and Anton O'Toole, who was a marvellous forward FAVOURITE PLAYER: Pat Spillane (I hope he does not really retire) and Greg Blayney BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: Quite a few but one man who did a lot for me in my underage days was Stradbally's Sammy Byrne DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: The new leagues are a big let down. There are not enough competitive games for the so called "weaker counties" WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: Get the NFL properly organised with more games for the Laois' of this world BEST GAME SEEN: Those Dublin-Kerry games of the mid and late '70s BEST GAME PLAYED: For atmosphere and because we eventually won those Leinster championship semi-finals with Louth last summer ADVICE FOR YOUNG PLAYERS: To stick at it, listen to advice and practice YOUNG FOOTBALLERS FOR THE FUTURE: Mick Lawlor of Laois and our own Damien Delaney at Stradbally ARE LAOIS STILL HAUNTED BY THAT DEFEAT IN AUGHRIM DURING 1986? To a certain extent the memory is always there, but with the exception of the Dempsey brothers none of the present squad were involved, so while it was a hindrance in the championship of '87 and '88, the Laois team of 1992 will use it more as a lesson rather than a nightmare BOTH LOUTH AND LAOIS GOT BAD PRESS FROM LAST YEAR'S SEMI-FINAL MEETING. WAS IT JUSTIFIED? Not really. There are a number of people out there who go to great lengths to blow up the slightest mistake made in the GAA. The tension before and during the match was high but the row was blown out of all proportions DID YOU DO YOURSELVES JUSTICE IN THE LEINSTER FINAL? Not really. We missed a number of good chances and it would have been interesting to see how we would have fared if we were left with 15 men on the field for the entire 70 minutes HAS RITCHE CONNOR IMPROVED THINGS? Very much so. He has brought a whole new dimension to our structure and has got things very well organised AND YOUR CHANCES AGAINST MEATH? Very good indeed and even in Navan we are quite capable of putting out the holders Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 14th February 1992 Vol 2 No 42 Tweet

Most Read Stories