LAST THURSDAY WEEK, Darragh O’Sullivan was in Gowran Park.
It was the flagship meeting at the Kilkenny track with the Thyestes Chase on, a day to attract racegoers from the hurling-mad counties in the environs.
The Ballygunner manager met his nephew Pauric Mahony and was struck by the shift in pace away from the hurling treadmill that governs much of their sporting lives.
“Pauric was there with a few friends. They got a lift up and he was having a few pints. He said to me it was the first Thyestes meeting he was at that he could relax and have a drink at. It just goes to show you the level of commitment that’s there with these guys playing hurling, they just live their life a different way.”
O’Sullivan had sensed Mahony was on the cusp of change. Last Monday night he made the news official. After 12 seasons as a Waterford senior hurler, he handed in his notice.
“It was very much up in the air all along for the last number of months,” admits O’Sullivan.
“So it didn’t come as a surprise to me when I heard he was stepping away. He’s recently married, he’s started a new job and I think it’s with an American company, so there’s going to be a good bit of travel involved as well.
“I think he’s at a stage in his life where the inter-county career is not for him any more. He had some horrific injuries and bounced back from those, a testament to strong will and hard work.”
We’ll come back to the injury hardship, but first the length of service. There was a symmetrical element that it was Davy Fitzgerald that Mahony informed he was moving away. The Clare hurling icon had pulled an 18-year-old Mahony into the Waterford squad in the winter of 2011.
Fitzgerald threw him into the heat of the Munster hurling championship that June, a month after he had turned 19, and the teenager coped with the raise in temperature. He was handed the free-taking duties before that game, and despite having a first-half penalty saved, finished the game with a tally of 0-7, three flighted over from play.
“He’s given a savage 12 years to it, it’s a fair commitment,” says O’Sullivan.
“He certainly would still have something to offer. Whether he’d start or not, I’m not quite sure but certainly a lad coming off the bench with his experience is something that I’d say Davy is very much disappointed that he’s not going to have that card to play.”
That 2011 debut was the springboard for a career that feels in a sense defined by two injury blows and the manner in which each was dealt with and recovered from.
A week after pointing the way for Waterford to win the 2015 league final, he suffered a horror shin break in a club match.
“I remember the day he broke his leg up in Dungarvan,” recalls O’Sullivan.
“Actually they had a surprise 40th for me that night in the local pub. You can imagine how that went after the match!
“Pauric’s leg was at a right angle like, when I went out to it on the pitch. Tadhg O’Sullivan was there, he came out and straightened it within I’d say a few minutes and he’d the hurleys used as a splint. But it was a bad, bag leg break now.
“I remember then the first day when I went out to the hospital afterwards to him, I walked into the room and who was with him, only Eoin Murphy from Kilkenny. He caught the ball over the bar from Pauric in that All-Ireland semi-final a couple years later. They were in WIT and played Fitz together, (winning the 2014 final).”
In 2020 as hurling was being roused from the Covid-induced slumber, Waterford playing an autumn challenge match against Wexford in the Fraher Field. Mahony was chasing opponent Simon Donohue, lunged in to flick the ball away and felt a pop in the back of his knee. The pain initially subsided but soon returned and he needed to get it checked out. Then the cruciate confirmation came and he was a peripheral figure as Waterford journeyed to that December’s All-Ireland final.
And yet on both occasions Mahony responded to feature in an All-Ireland final. In September 2017 he contested the Liam MacCarthy Cup showpiece against Galway, victory eluding Waterford but his personal contribution of 0-11, eight frees and three from play, saw him top scorer on the day. The performances that season secured him an All-Star nomination fo the second successive year.
In February 2022 he achieved the breakthrough that Ballygunner had long craved, top scorer for the club as they won All-Ireland honours in sensational fashion when substitute Harry Ruddle bagged a late goal.
His older brother Philip was alongside him on the team, as he had been for Waterford’s biggest days. Two younger siblings, Mikey and Kevin, were in the forward line for Ballygunner, the family dimension sweetening the taste of success.
“It just shows the nature of the guy he is that he got back to the level he’s still at,” says O’Sullivan.
“He’d tell you himself that he’s not lightning quick. It’s how he identifies how to find space, his striking and his hard work, that’s his game. His skill on the ball and how to find pockets of space in a very cluttered environment, which often can be in that middle third, are his main strengths.”
The evasive movement around the middle to collect possession, launch over a point from distance or place a pinpoint pass inside. Those qualities surfaced again recently, he produced a stellar showing last November in a Munster club classic, amassing 0-13, seven from play, as Ballygunner took down Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh.
If there is a suggestion that retiring at 30 is premature from the inter-county game, O’Sullivan feels the duration of the career is more telling.
“It’s phenomenal commitment given to Waterford hurling. As things go on, that definitely won’t be the norm any more. I don’t see lads giving 12 years to inter-county hurling going forward, I think it’s very hard at this stage, such a level it’s gone to now.”
There is an era-ending feel to it in the wider Waterford hurling sense. Mahony became synonymous with a group that emerged together. From Ballygunner, Barry Coughlan retired from the county game in September 2018 and Philip Mahony in January 2020. Stephen O’Keeffe stepped away in late December 2020 and resisted recent attempts to again draw him back into the fold.
In April 2008 that quartet helped De La Salle college complete the Dr Harty Cup and Croke Cup double. Pauric was 15 years of age at the time, striking 1-3 in a victory over Thurles CBS in Nowlan Park. Derek McGrath was the team manager, Noel Connors a defensive anchor and Jake Dillon a key attacking outlet. The setup was littered with names that would chart the course Waterford hurling took at the highest level over the next decade.
“It was great to watch them all,” says O’Sullivan.
“They backboned us and probably backboned Waterford as well. It’ll be hard to get a group of players like them again in Ballygunner, so close together. I think it’s just freakish how they all came together. It’s a testament to the lads that worked with them underage. Pauric’s father Mick was part of that and Pat Flynn, who’s no longer with us, they worked really hard with that team. It just goes to show you what we’ve got out of that team has been.”
Other hurling challenges will crop up. Ballygunner are reigning Waterford and Munster champions, Ballyhale bettering them by three points in December’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Another club season will soon swing into view.
“You start with your club and you finish with your club, he’s back with us now full-time and he’ll be a vital guy for us like he has been for the last number of years.”
Plenty hurling left in the tank yet.
Get instant updates on the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues on The42 app. Brought to you by Allianz Insurance, proud sponsors of the Allianz Leagues for over 30 years.