Tipperary great Padraic Maher has revealed that a 'mini-stroke' caused his premature retirement from hurling in 2022.
Maher call it quits for club and county after a setback which first affected him during the 2021 county final.
'Mini-stroke' is a frightening phrase but the Tipperary dynamo was reassured by medical professionals that he would be okay, as long as he gave up hurling.
The legendary centre back didn't feel well in the build-up to Thurles Sarsfields' 2021 county final against Loughmore-Castleiney.
"It was like I'd been out all night. I wasn't feeling well."
He began to see 'double and treble' as the game unfolded but played on until the finish, with the final going to a replay.

Pádraic Maher stands for a portrait during the launch of TG4's award-winning Laochra Gael series at the Light House Cinema in Dublin. The Gaelic sport biography series returns with eight new GAA legends profiled for Season 23. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
He rested up for the fortnight before the replay but the dizziness returned, before Loughmore-Castleiney edged the game by a last minute point.
Maher saw specialists in Limerick a couple of months later where 'a few deficiencies' showed up after a scan, leading to the dreaded news from the surgeon.
"It was laid on the line, what it was and what it could be, which was probably more frightening," Maher says ahead of his Laochra Gael, airing on Thursday night.
The six-time All-Star always envisaged that after Tipperary, he would play many more years for Thurles Sarsfields but that opportunity was taken away from him.
Heavy hits and collisions were the danger giving him no choice, especially when you consider much of his game was based on physicality and bravery.
He has yearly scans in Limerick to ensure he is fine, using the opportunity to see if he could even get away with playing junior hurling in goals for Thurles. But it wasn't to be.
"I had my latest scan there, just three or four days before Christmas gone and they're happy out now, it’s healing.
"I can still exercise away, I can run, I can do the gym – anything that's non-contact really.

"I'm turning 36 now in February and I suppose the way I look at it is the most I might be able to go back to is playing a bit of five-a-side soccer or something with the lads.
"I even put it past the doctors there before about “Can I stand in goals for the junior team even?”
"He just said “No, look it's not worth it.” I'm still classified as high risk. If you get another belt, I'm still classified as high risk so they couldn't stand over giving me the A-OK.
"They can’t say (if it was a build up of concussions), it could have happened at any stage," he reveals. It just came upon me all of a sudden. It could have happened at any stage."
"It’s a very common injury with car crashes, whiplash can cause it. From day to day I can walk around and you feel perfect, like you'd run through a brick wall but at the other side of it then you know what's the consequences of possible decisions you could make.
"But look I’ve no complaints. I really enjoyed my career, had some great days, but you can’t be too greedy."
Maher took a time-out in 2022, where the realisation hit home that his hurling career was over. Those were tough months for a self-proclaimed 'obsessive' who lived and breathed hurling, but coaching has helped to fill the void.
He became a Tipperary selector under Liam Cahill the following year, before taking over his home club Thurles Sarsfields, where he'll aim to bridge an eight year wait for a county championship this year.
He's enjoyed the 'challenge' of coaching, where he brings some of his experiences from playing into the mix.

"Just because I went about my hurling career that way (obsessive) doesn’t mean it suits everyone, do you know what I mean?
“There could be a player there in your dressing room…one thing I’ve learned is you can’t expect him to do exactly what you’ve done, because it mightn’t be the right thing in the first place.
"In saying that a lot of values I tried to carry myself through my own career, a lot of them are still what I expect from the players in Thurles and even with Tipperary."
Paudie's younger brother Ronan is one of Tipperary's mainstays and while he tells him 'nothing,' about the Tipp camp, Maher says the team must 'grab the bull by the horns' to reverse a slump that has seen them fail to qualify from Munster over the last two years.
"After what happened last year, there has to be a sting in the group," he says.
"To be straight up, people aren’t going to give Tipperary a huge chance of coming out of Munster.
"To me, if I was a player in that dressing room, I’d be relishing the opportunity. They have tremendous talent. They’ve won a bit underage but that needs to come through now at senior level.
"The lads that won 21s in ‘18 and ‘19, it’s their team now, add in a few of the more experienced lads. They need to grab the bull by the horns."