Philip Mahony laments brother’s loss but says there is no room for excuses

If anyone felt the cruelly ill-timed impact of it all as much as Pauric Mahony did, then it was his brother. The sibling instinct, the close witnessing, and the fact Philip Mahony had already been there and done that.

It also means that if anyone can offer encouragement to his younger brother, then it's also him. "It just goes to show, the highs and lows of sport," says Philip, recalling the incident a month ago when Waterford lost Pauric, their most prolific scorer, for the rest of the hurling championship.

“But it could be a lot worse. You just have to look at it in a positive way, and I think that’s what he’s going to have to think for himself for the next while.”

Still, Pauric’s broken shin bone, sustained in a club match just seven days after Waterford’s league triumph, seemed ill-timed in every sense.

Philip had sustained a similar season-ending injury exactly one year before – also while playing for Ballygunner and also against Ballyduff Upper.

Stripped

So, just when it seemed Waterford supporters were getting used to having both Mahonys back brothers in the team (Philip plays wing back, Pauric centre forward), they were stripped of one once again. They both bring their own qualities to the team, yet with his unfailingly accurate free-taking, Pauric was always going to be a more conspicuous loss.

“The well wishes he received were great, keeping his mind occupied,” says Philip, who last year sustained a double fracture to his leg, and also a broken ankle.

“But I think once that died down, you know, and in the lead up to the Cork game, it’s definitely going to hit home for him. It’s just disappointing, but it is what it is. He’ll just have to move on and work hard to get back as he was.”

Philip was also playing with Ballygunner that day, one week after Waterford had beaten Cork to claim only their third league title in the county’s history. Any fear that Waterford might need some bringing back down to earth after that latest majestic performance was quickly erased by the news of Pauric’s injury – although that, says the older brother, certainly won’t be used as any excuse as Waterford prepare to draw swords against Cork again this Sunday.

The lowest low

“We’ve already had a few weeks to get over it before the Cork game, which is good,” he says. “And we were after coming from such a high, after the league final, to the lowest low, when something like that happens to a team member. He is going to be hard to replace, there’s no point saying otherwise. At centre forward, he was probably the fulcrum of our team, the centre of everything we were trying to do.

“But whoever comes now will just have to work as hard. And we won’t be expecting them to play like Pauric. It could be something totally different, and whoever comes in is going to bring their own unique slant to it, which might be a bit of a benefit to us. That’s the way we have to look at it.”

Shameful feeling

Waterford, in other words, won’t be short of motivation, and Philip also points to the “shameful feeling” – in the words of Waterford manager Derek McGrath – which followed the replay defeat to Cork in last year’s Munster championship quarter-final, having pushed Cork so hard the first day.

“Yeah, it was,” he admits. “What made it worse was that we were in such a commanding position the first day. I think we went nine points up at one stage. I know we came back with Cork at the end that day to snatch a draw when it looked like it was gone completely. But then to lose [the replay] by 14 points, in any game there’s obviously a massive element of shame, I suppose, attached with that.”

Avenge Then there’s the fact Cork themselves will be out to avenge that league defeat, plus keep their Munster title defence intact. “I think it’s definitely harder to beat a team two times in a row in any sport,” says Philip. “Cork will probably tell you otherwise, but they’ll obviously have massive motivation from the last day.

“Although I think once the ball is thrown in, it doesn’t make too much of a difference. It’s just whatever both teams can bring to the fore on the day. Obviously, we do have good momentum. We’re unbeaten from the league, and from Waterford’s perspective I don’t think there’s been any years where that’s been the case, so it’s a good mentality to get into.

"Although at the start of the year, we didn't set out any massive goals about winning leagues or championships. I know it's a cliche, but we literally did take every game as it comes. Limerick the first day, looking back on it, was probably one of the biggest games of the year, probably the biggest. We played quite well that day but conceded two goals. We were in a commanding position with 15 or 20 minutes to go, probably three or four points up, but then Limerick got back on top and Paudie Prendergast got a great score to level it.

“If that game went against us, people would have been possibly on our back, especially after last year. It’s obviously massively important that we all continue that right into the championship.”

Especially after the cruelly ill-timed loss of his younger brother.