Sunday's All-Ireland final victory for Tipperary was surely extra special in the heart of one man. A year ago, against Clare, Brendan Maher tore the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee in what was both his and Tipp's final game of the championship.
For a player about to enter his 30s, it was a devastating moment but Maher did not let it derail his hurling career.
He made his comeback to rapturous applause in the league quarter-final against Dublin in March and now 14 months on from suffering the injury, he is a dead cert for an All-Star.
Maher's incredible year was discussed on the Three Man Weave, Balls.ie's GAA podcast.
Mick: Brendan Maher has been the outstanding wing-back of the championship.
Mark: When you look at the trouble Limerick had with TJ Reid, and what to do with him, and look at how well Brendan Maher played today, he [Reid] wasn't an issue at all. Maher was influential for Tipperary as Reid was Kilkenny.
PJ: One notable thing is that a year ago he tore his cruciate ligament in the final game of the Munster Championship against Clare.
I was at a media event earlier this year and Seamus Callanan said 'Brendan Maher is back, he's better than ever' and you think, 'Ah yeah, that's nice, it's just something teammates say about each other'. But he is back and better than ever - it's incredible what he's done. He's been one of Tipp's most important players in an All-Ireland final win. He did some great man-marking jobs this year.
Mick: I think Brendan Maher is going to go down as one of the best players of all-time. One of the reasons is he can do absolutely everything.
You could see him, at 34, spending a year at 14 for Tipperary.
He's a brilliant hurler, a brilliant up and down midfielder. He's done man-marking jobs where you put him on the opposition's best player and he'll keep them quiet.
For me, he's the complete, all-round hurler.
You can listen to the post-All-Ireland hurling final Three Man Weave episode below.
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