Injured captain Pauric Mahony will speak to each Waterford player in the dressing room before Sunday’s All Ireland final against Limerick.
“I’ll try to get around to all the lads before the game. A few simple things. I know myself from playing, sometimes just someone coming along and reinforcing a basic or a simple thing. Whether it is our set-up or our movement in the forward line, something like that just to kick it off or get it going. It’s just the simple messages at this stage. You’re certainly not going to reinvent the wheel half an hour before the ball is thrown in on All Ireland final day.”
Mahony’s season was cut short just two weeks out from the Munster championship when he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury in a challenge match against Wexford. “I was running after the Wexford corner back Simon Donohoe and I tried to lunge in to intercept him and I felt something pop at the back of my knee. I hit the ground and I let out a bit of a roar. 30 seconds later, I was back up standing around and I was thinking to myself ‘I’m after making a show of myself here!’ I went to run for the next ball and all of a sudden I was gone again. I knew I was in a little bit of bother at that stage. Tadhg O’Sullivan would be a good family friend so I called over to him the following day. He was a little bit worried. I didn’t have much swelling or anything like that but the cruciate itself didn’t feel that great. I got a scan the following day then and he broke the bad news to me.”
The 28 year old gave a positive update on his recovery. “It’s going well. I got rid of the crutches about two weeks ago. It’s five weeks since the operation. I’m starting to get more mobile by the day. From an exercise point of view, I’m starting to push it a little bit more. It’s going pretty well."
Listen back to the full interview with Pauric Mahony from WLR's weekly GAA show Lár Na Páirce.
