Maher made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was selected for the Tipperary minor team.
After missing the team's provincial final triumph over Waterford, he again started the subsequent All-Ireland decider against Galway as a substitute.
Maher was introduced to the field of play midway through the match and collected an All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship medal following a 9-5 to 1-5 trouncing.
Liam Devaney, Donie Nealon and Larry Keane all scored goals for Tipperary in the first-half, while Tony Wall sent a seventy-yard free untouched to the Galway net.
[5] Maher won his fourth National League medal in 1959 following a 0-15 to 0-7 defeat of Waterford, however, Tipperary subsequently surrendered their provincial and All-Ireland crowns.
A certain amount of over-confidence was obvious in the Tipperary camp, particularly in trainer Phil Purcell's comment that no player was capable of marking star forward Jimmy Doyle.
When the crowd were finally moved off the pitch Tipperary continued playing with only twelve men, but Wexford won on a score line of 2-15 to 0-11.
The absence of the All-Ireland semi-final allowed Tipperary to advance directly to the final itself, with Dublin's first native hurling team providing the opposition on 3 September 1961.
[7] Tipperary's nemesis of two years earlier, Wexford, waited in Croke Park to test them once again in the subsequent All-Ireland final on 2 September 1962.
After losing the following year's Munster final to Waterford in one of the hurling shocks of the decade, Tipperary bounced back in 1964 with Maher collecting a seventh National League medal.
Tipperary later cantered casually past Cork by fourteen points in the provincial decider, giving Maher a fifth Munster medal.
John "Mackey" McKenna scored Tipp's first goal after ten minutes as the Munster champions took a 1-8 to 0-6 interval lead.
The second half saw Tipperary score goals for fun, with Donie Nealon getting a hat-trick and Seán McLoughlin another.
In 1965 Maher won an eighth and final National League medal as New York were narrowly defeated on an aggregate score of 6-19 to 5-20.
Tipperary demolished all opposition in the provincial championship once again and a 4-11 to 0-5 trouncing of Cork gave Maher a sixth Munster medal.