PETER O’MAHONY SAYS expectations for Irish rugby are on a different level to a decade ago as he signed off his international career with a third-place finish in this year’s Six Nations.
Reflecting on his time in a green jersey after Ireland’s victory over Italy on Saturday, O’Mahony spoke about losing in Rome in 2013 when Ireland finished fifth and the change in what is demanded now.
“Now the expectation of everyone in Ireland when we take the pitch is that we win. The expectation at the start of the Six Nations is we win the Six Nations. That’s the expectation that they have, that’s down to the hard work of players, that’s not down to anyone else.
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“But we’ve gone from hoping to expecting. Over the space of a decade or so, we’ve changed the mindset of players and supporters to expecting nothing but wins from Ireland.
“I think that group that you’re looking at at the moment is one of the most talented groups of people you’re going to come across, the number of players that I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside over the last eight weeks, it’s getting better and better.
“It gives me a huge amount of pride. Cian [Prendergast] spoke inside about leaving a mark on the younger people, if I’ve made a little bit of difference to the people, shown them a few things not to do, I’ll be a happy man.”
Assessing the mentality shift, O’Mahony put it down to delivering success on the pitch. “We’ve had some big wins. Back in Paul [O’Connell’s] team we won the double, we came fifth here and had back to back championships after that and that was definitely a huge step forward for us.
“Then you go to 2018, you win a Grand Slam and that run continued on for a while, that was probably the point where we were chasing stuff down, and listen it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go but we went on and built from there, when Andy [Farrell] came on and we rarely lose now and that’s now the expectation.”
Regarding a move onto the coaching staff, Mahony said he would “not take it off the table but I’m going to take a break now to reassess”, insisting the dynamic there now
“It is in good hands, incredibly good hands. I’ve spoken about the players and management, they’re some of the best people, not just good technicians but as people that I’ve come across, people that care about Irish rugby and the state of Irish rugby and without a doubt the best coaching group that I’ve come across.
“I think Irish rugby is in an incredible place. The amount of young people that are playing the game, that’s because they’re following a team that are winning.
“You go back to my team, it was ‘what soccer team did you follow?’ because they won everything. There are kids now that are playing rugby in areas that never played rugby before because of what this team has been through and what has been done, and that is a huge chunk down to the coaches.”
Reporting by Ciarán Kennedy
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Peter O'Mahony departs with expectations for Irish rugby taken to a new level
PETER O’MAHONY SAYS expectations for Irish rugby are on a different level to a decade ago as he signed off his international career with a third-place finish in this year’s Six Nations.
Reflecting on his time in a green jersey after Ireland’s victory over Italy on Saturday, O’Mahony spoke about losing in Rome in 2013 when Ireland finished fifth and the change in what is demanded now.
“Now the expectation of everyone in Ireland when we take the pitch is that we win. The expectation at the start of the Six Nations is we win the Six Nations. That’s the expectation that they have, that’s down to the hard work of players, that’s not down to anyone else.
“But we’ve gone from hoping to expecting. Over the space of a decade or so, we’ve changed the mindset of players and supporters to expecting nothing but wins from Ireland.
“I think that group that you’re looking at at the moment is one of the most talented groups of people you’re going to come across, the number of players that I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside over the last eight weeks, it’s getting better and better.
“It gives me a huge amount of pride. Cian [Prendergast] spoke inside about leaving a mark on the younger people, if I’ve made a little bit of difference to the people, shown them a few things not to do, I’ll be a happy man.”
Assessing the mentality shift, O’Mahony put it down to delivering success on the pitch. “We’ve had some big wins. Back in Paul [O’Connell’s] team we won the double, we came fifth here and had back to back championships after that and that was definitely a huge step forward for us.
“Then you go to 2018, you win a Grand Slam and that run continued on for a while, that was probably the point where we were chasing stuff down, and listen it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go but we went on and built from there, when Andy [Farrell] came on and we rarely lose now and that’s now the expectation.”
Regarding a move onto the coaching staff, Mahony said he would “not take it off the table but I’m going to take a break now to reassess”, insisting the dynamic there now
“It is in good hands, incredibly good hands. I’ve spoken about the players and management, they’re some of the best people, not just good technicians but as people that I’ve come across, people that care about Irish rugby and the state of Irish rugby and without a doubt the best coaching group that I’ve come across.
“I think Irish rugby is in an incredible place. The amount of young people that are playing the game, that’s because they’re following a team that are winning.
“You go back to my team, it was ‘what soccer team did you follow?’ because they won everything. There are kids now that are playing rugby in areas that never played rugby before because of what this team has been through and what has been done, and that is a huge chunk down to the coaches.”
Reporting by Ciarán Kennedy
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Farewell? IRFU Irish Rugby Peter O'Mahony six nations 2025