THE WATERFORD HURLERS must plan without Philip Mahony for the coming season after the experienced defender announced his inter-county retirement tonight.
The surprising development was announced by the Waterford GAA Twitter account with the 28-year-old set to be marked absent as the county’s preparations for the 2020 season continue.
Philip Mahony has tonight announced his retirement from intercounty hurling. Waterford GAA would like to thank Philip for his commitment and dedication to Waterford Hurling over the last number of years. We wish him all the Best for the future. pic.twitter.com/XkvhEJZzPX
— Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) January 3, 2020
Mahony’s last appearance for Waterford was in the Munster round-robin tie against Tipperary last June. He suffered a broken tibia in that game and thus missed their remaining two provincial ties of the 2019 championship.
2011 saw Mahony first make a Waterford senior breakthrough and he would go on to become a key figure in the team, along with his brother Pauric who was recently installed as the county’s senior captain for the 2020 campaign.
An established half-back, Mahony missed the 2013 campaign when he went travelling and in May 2014 suffered a double leg fracture and a dislocated ankle in a club game with Ballygunner against Ardmore.
After being sidelined for that season he returned in 2015 to enjoy the best phase of his career under the stewardship of Derek McGrath. He won a league medal in 2015, contested a pair of Munster finals with the county, featured in the 2017 All-Ireland final and accumulated a trio of All-Star nominations.
Mahony has enjoyed huge success with his club Ballygunner, helping them to complete six-in-a-row in last autumn’s Waterford county final. Their hopes of retaining their Munster club crown were thwarted in November when they lost out narrowly to Tipperary’s Borris-Ileigh.
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