Death of former Mayo footballer

HONOURED  The late Greg Maher was honoured when the Mayo Connacht title winning teams teams of 1988 and 1989 were introduced to the crowd during half time at the 2013 Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship Final between Mayo and London in MacHale Park. Pic: Sportsfile

Edwin McGreal

The death of former Mayo footballer Greg Maher will cast a shadow over the county in the run-up to Sunday’s All-Ireland Final.
Greg died overnight after a long illness. He was 49.
He was a member of the Mayo senior team which played Cork in the 1989 All-Ireland Football Final. He lined out at right-half forward for John O’Mahony’s team that day.
It was a proud day for the Maher family from Claremorris as Greg’s older brother SeΡn lined out at midfield in that game.
Greg and SeΡn’s father Tom was a garda superintendent in Claremorris. Tom Maher was a native of Galway, whom he hurled for at senior level. Greg would go onto serve as a member of An Garda Siochana himself, based in Dublin.
Greg was a member of the Mayo Minor team which won the All-Ireland title in 1985. He lined out at midfield on that team along with the team captain, Michael Fitzmaurice. It would be Mayo’s last Minor success until the 2013 team ended the long wait.  
>From the Knock Road in Claremorris, Greg was a talented and powerful footballer, something his neighbour and coach at Claremorris GAA Club, Austin Garvin, can attest to.
“Greg was a man mountain. Like Mick Connaughton in Claremorris before him, Greg could take on a team and solo right through them. He was a natural footballer and that was obvious from an early age. He was very talented. He was strong and had a lot of skill,” Garvin told The Mayo News.
Tom Morley taught and coached Greg in Claremorris Boys’ National School. Greg was the captain of a star studded school team that won the South Mayo national schools title - before the county wide Cumann na mBunscol competition came into being.
Incredibly four of the starting Mayo Minor team in the All-Ireland Final of 1985 were in the same class in that national school. Greg Maher was midfield, Johnny Cummins was in goal, Kevin Beirne was corner-back and Johnny French was left-half back.
“Greg was a much bigger lad than the others so he had the strength but he had the football ability too,” Tom Morley told The Mayo News. “I followed his football since. When he put his mind to it, he was a very good footballer. In fact I felt he was harshly treated when he was substituted in the 1989 All-Ireland Final. There was worse than him left on.”
Greg was present in MacHale Park, Castlebar for the 2013 Connacht Final where the Mayo team which won the 1988 and 1989 Connacht titles were honoured at half-time.