We felt uncomfortable for Peter O’Mahony up on that Champions Cup stage, togged out in his rugby gear. The Champions Cup launch was dragging somewhat and the Munster captain was grimacing.
I got a nudge from the man next to me – ‘Look at O’Mahony. He keeps stretching out his leg’.
He had reason for concern, despite O’Mahony later assuring us he was just uncomfortable at perching on a high stool for so long. O’Mahony was out of the game for the guts of a year after sustaining knee ligament damage in the World Cup win over France.
Initially, Joe Schmidt refused to rule him out of the quarter final with Argentina but he was doing so before the on-call medic delivered his prognosis.
Ireland had beaten France but it came at a massive price. They lost Johnny Sexton, Paul O’Connell and O’Mahony to injury and the medical teams were run off their feet. O’Mahony takes up the tale:
“The docs reviewed me down in the Millennium Stadium afterwards and they thought my ACL was okay. I went for a scan, came out, Johnny was going for a scan at the time too.
“[Meanwhile] they had obviously got the report that my ACL was gone. But I’d been told it was my lateral and ‘hopefully I could play without my lateral for a few weeks’.
“So I was positive, but when he came out Johnny didn’t look too happy – ‘Sorry, kid. Your ACL is gone.’
“The doc had gone, so Johnny was the one who’d told me the extent of the injury.”
O’Mahony was out for 11 and a half months. He almost made it for the end of Munster’s season and almost made it on the South Africa tour. Both times, sense prevailed and he was left kicking his heels.
He made his comeback for Munster while most of the nation was engrossed in Dublin vs. Mayo in the All-Ireland football final replay. The attendance was generously listed at 11,737 but there should be closer to 40,000 in attendance when Munster take on Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, this Saturday.
The flanker will be hoping for some involvement but knows it will take time before he can tramp around at his bull-headed best. He says:
“Speaking to a lot of fellas about the ACL, it can take two years to feel normal again. I’ve a year to go before I’m at that. So it’ll be about managing it over the next few weeks.”
“Strengthening the knee is the big thing and [the] control around it,” he added. “I’ve done a lot of work with control and I’ll go after strenth. That’s tough with big games; to get enough of my leg sessions done and still be fresh for the weekend. That’s a balance I’ll have probably for the next three of four months.”
Two games into his comeback and a familiar foe looms. It is only two years since Munster’s last victory up in Dublin but a lot has changed since then. 10 of the Munster players that featured in the game have retired, moved on or are out injured.
O’Mahony nods when I remind him of an excellent INPHO picture of him celebrating at the final whistle. It is the closest he comes to a smile until the interview ends and his media duties are done for the day.
“With photos like that,” he says, “it shows the respect we have for Leinster.
“We know they are such a good team and when you do take a scalp off them, it means a lot. It adds to your confidence and the momentum that you have going into Europe.”
“When we do go at it [with Leinster], we go at it hard,” he adds. “You do nothing but look forward to those games.”
“The whole occasion is special… I maybe took those games for granted after a while.”
Not this weekend. Not any more.
The GAA Hour pays tribute to the unbeatable Dubs and ask where did it all go wrong for Mayo in the All-Ireland final replay. Listen below or subscribe on iTunes.
