Pauric Mahony’s disgusting leg break had his team-mates recoiling in horror

Try and hold down your breakfast

Kevin McGillicuddy

Pauric Mahony’s disgusting leg break had his team-mates recoiling in horror

It’s Monday and hearing about how a hurler’s season was ruined may not be the ideal start to your week.

Pauric Mahony was revelation for Waterford in last year’s National Hurling League campaign and looked certain to be a star for the county as they hoped to make a big impression in the championship.

But, less than a week after the county lifted the league title, and Mahony was crowned the Deise’s top scorer in their spring endeavours, his season was ended when he suffered a horrendous broken leg in a club game for Ballygunner that left him in agony and his season in smithereens.

“I knew straight away that I was in a serious bit of bother. I just looked down and I could see my leg. . . over to one side really. I was screaming. But I had so much adrenaline in my body, I didn’t really feel much pain.

“Looking back, I think it was actually worse for some of the players standing over me who could see how bad it was. Because I just went into a daze I suppose, into a world of my own. Which was probably the best thing that could have happened.”

Mahony’s initial injury was not thought to have been that serious as a team-mate came over to try and help him stretch out what he believed was some cramp.

However, as Mahony recalls in today’s Irish Independent, the situation which faced his ‘Good Samaritan’ was much much worse when he took hold of his foot to pull at the seemingly tight muscle.

(He) ended up sprinting down the other end of the field.. “He couldn’t look at it!”

Mahony also details how Derek McGrath was a key support for the forward as he underwent surgery and was the first person he saw sitting at the end of his bed when he woke up.

Mahony is unlikely to feature for Waterford in this year’s league, as they open their campaign when they face Kilkenny on Valentine’s Day in Walsh Park.

He feels the county can kick on from their tag as last season’s neutral fan favourite, but knows there is a huge amount of work to be done yet.

“Derek keeps drilling home the importance of intensity and work rate. You have to be prepared to put your body through the mill and Kilkenny are experts at that.

“I hear people asking, ‘Will Waterford be more attacking this year?’

“It’s not that we weren’t attacking last year. It’s maybe that we just weren’t getting back up the field quick enough. And that’s certainly an area I’ll hope to be working on with my own game this year.”

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