Defiant McGrath looks for positives
Mullane ‘sickened’ by Mahony’s season KO
DEREK McGRATH has sounded a note of defiance, claiming that the loss of Waterford’s top forward, Pauric Mahony, could galvanise his team. ‘We are heartbroken for him but the nature of management and teams is that you have to move on and hopefully it might drive us on in another way,’ said McGrath. ‘It probably puts us under the radar. We have been very much in the spotlight over the past couple of weeks but this reduces it in terms of the expectation and the pressure. ‘It lightens the load in terms of the lads’ expectations going into the summer. There is no point saying any different than that he is a massive loss to us but we would be hoping that we can get a few (extra) per cent out of everyone. ‘The most important thing for us coming out of this is to prepare for the game in four weeks’ time but at the same time we remember the contribution Pauric has made this year. ‘He has been a super player for us but, more importantly, he has been a super person,’ added the Déise boss.
JOHN Mullane felt ‘sick to the stomach’ when he heard of Pauric Mahony’s broken leg on Saturday night and the former Waterford forward admits the injury is a serious blow to his county’s summer ambitions.
Mahony suffered the leg break playing for his club Ballygunner at the weekend and Mullane believes Waterf or d manager Derek McGrath has his work cut out to absorb the loss of Mahony, whose accuracy and creativity were key to their Allianz League success.
‘It is a massive blow for Waterford. He has been their talisman during the League. You j ust have to look at what he contributed during,’ Mullane said at the launch of RTÉ’s Championship coverage in Donny br o o k yesterday.
‘Derek McGrath has built up a good panel during the League but Pauric was an artist i n that number 11 role for Waterford, and knew how to play it so well — and it is no easy role in the system that Waterford play.
‘It was a gut-wrenching moment for the whole county. I felt sick to the stomach when I heard the news, you have to feel for him. But knowing Pauric the way I do, I think he will come back a stronger player. You only have to look at how he has developed as a player in the last couple of years, to see he will come back even stronger.’
Mullane, though, believes McGrath will use Mahony’s injury as motivation for his players as they prepare for a repeat of the League final in their Munster Championship opener against Cork.
‘Derek will try to turn a negative into a positive and the manner of what happened to Paudie, he will use that to entice an extra 10 per cent out of the players in the Championship, for Paudie.’
Reacting to the criticism that came the Déise’s way during the League campaign, the former AllStar suggested that the flamboyant side he played on during noughties might have profited by adopting some of the current crop’s tactics.
‘It is all down to hard work and players playing for one another and hooking and blocking. The style we used was different but if we had certain parts of the style they have now, it might have got us over the line.’
He also conceded that McGrath has answered all the critics, who had the knives out for him last summer, Mullane included.
‘I would have been critical last year and would have doubted him last year, but you have to give great credit to Derek McGrath for sticking with it and developing the team he has. It has brought success, a third National League to the county and who knows, there might be more silverware to come.’
McGrath claimed yesterday that the Waterford camp was ‘heartbroken’ on hearing about Mahony’s season- ending injury. The scoring ace undergoes surgery today on a broken fibula.
The market responded yesterday by all but removing the recently crowned Allianz League champions from the frame as front-line contenders for the All-Ireland as they drifted from 6/1 to 10/1.
But McGrath issued a note of defiance, claiming the loss of their top forward could galvanise his team. ‘We are heartbroken for him but the nature of management and teams is that you have to move on and hopefully it might drive us on in another way,’ said McGrath. ‘It probably puts us under the radar. We have been very much in the spotlight over the past couple of weeks but this reduces it in terms of the expectation and the pressure. It lightens the load in terms of the lads expectations . ‘But there is no point saying any different but that he is a massive loss to us. But we would be hoping that we can get a few (extra) per cent out of everyone.
‘The most important thing for us coming out of this is to prepare for the game in four weeks but, at the same time, we remember the contribution Pauric has made this year. He has been a super player for us but more importantly he has been a super person,’ he added.
Mahony’s importance to Waterford was underlined in this spring’s League triumph, in which his tally of 1-90 saw him finish as the competition’s joint top scorer with Cork’s Pat Horgan.
Ironically, Mahony’s older brother Philip sustained a double leg frac- ture 12 months ago, but bounced back to play a key role in this month’s League final win over Cork.
‘We would always have found Pauric to be excellent but some people would have said that he was just there for frees, but his general contribution this year, from play and frees has been immense.
‘He has really led the team well in the forward line and he will be a significant loss. But he is a Mahony and the way that the Mahonys were reared, the resolve and the honesty that is within their household, as demonstrated by Philip this year, he will be back,’ vowed manager McGrath.
‘Mahony was an artist in the number 11 role for Waterford’