JOHN MAHER understands why Donegal are feeling disgruntled — because he was very briefly in their shoes earlier this week.
Forced to contend with a six-day turnaround, the Ulster champions insisted in a statement that the welfare of their players ‘was not adequately considered’ with the scheduling of tomorrow’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Monaghan.
Donegal booked their place in the last eight with a home win over Louth last Sunday.
Earlier that day, Galway won against Down in Newry.
Having played away from home, the Tribes were given the benefit of an extra day to prepare for this Sunday’s clash with Meath.
But Maher said: “I do feel for the Donegal players.
“I originally saw the wrong schedule so I thought that we were playing on Saturday.
“To put it mildly, I wasn’t happy for the ten minutes until the official schedule came out.
“I kind of got a taste of what they were feeling. It’s not easy for them but they’re a resilient bunch up in Donegal.”
If 2024 runners-up Galway reach another Sam Maguire final, they will have played seven All-Ireland series games in ten weeks for the second year in a row. The new format that will come into effect next season will involve a maximum of six games.
In fact, if a team avoids defeat, All-Ireland glory can be accomplished after five fixtures.
Ahead of Galway’s third consecutive weekend of action on the road under a demanding Championship structure, Maher approved of the 2026 revamp.
The All-Star centre-forward said: “It’s quite funny, but last week I had a cold and last year I had a cold the exact same week going into the prelim.
“It’s nearly like my body is so routined to this format and when it comes to that extra week that you lose, you do slightly break down.
“I’m sure there are players in every squad up and down the country with similar stories.
“Having one less round would certainly be beneficial.
“It’s the mental toll it takes to kind of get on a bus and go again to some part of the country, not just the physical toll.”
Galway were on the ropes in the group stages after a defeat to Dublin was followed by a draw with Derry.
But their campaign was kickstarted by a fine second-half performance against Armagh, as they came from eight points adrift to beat the All-Ireland champions by one.
Maher, 26, said: “We knew that we had that performance in us. We’ve shown it kind of sparsely in games.
“In the second half against Dublin and down the stretch against Derry, we showed resilience and we showed some of our qualities.
“But to put it together for a full 35 against Armagh was encouraging.
“We were delighted with that and then to kind of carry on into a solid performance against Down.”
In a season that has seen them topple two of the game’s heavyweights, the Royals will be looking to take another scalp at Croker on Sunday.
Maher added: “They didn’t beat Kerry or Dublin by fluke.
“Both of those victories were earned by Meath. We’ll have our work cut out.”
l JOHN MAHER was speaking at the official announcement of Toyota as the Official Car Partner to the Camogie Association and GAA/GPA.
