Diarmuid O’Flynn
A year ago, as Tipperary prepared to meet Cork in the Munster SHC, centre-back Conor O’Mahony cut a pretty forlorn figure.
On the field his place had been taken by wing-back Paraic Maher, the price paid for a series of injuries; off the field, and though qualified with a BA degree from LIT in Construction Management and Health & Safety, he was out of work.
The difference a year can make!
This Sunday, as Tipp again face Cork (Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 4pm on Sunday), Conor has regained his place at the heart of the defence but perhaps of even more importance, he is now back in gainful employment, Sales Manager at the innovative Irish Bobbles (www.irishbobbles.com).
It’s been quite a turnaround, and even for a guy as easy-going as Conor, those times, and those injuries especially, were taking their toll.
“That’s the last thing you want, it always knocks you out. No player wants niggles going into championship matches.”
Being back in harness on the job front has also been a boost.
“We’re doing GAA figurines for all the 32 counties, we also do soccer models that are endorsed by the FAI. The idea came from Mark Carey and Michael O’Dwyer (partners in the business), the bobbleheads are massive in the United States for the last number of years and at baseball and basketball matches bobbleheads are like the flags here.
“They decided they’d bring it to Ireland and give it a go with GAA and soccer players. So far so good, we’re delighted with the feedback. We have over 80 shops selling them at the moment, and have them on the website as well.”
It's made life much easier for one of Newport’s finest.
“It’s great to be doing something. At times you’d be contemplating going to America or Australia where all your friends are going but the big thing for me is hurling, that’s what’s keeping me here — I’ve no interest in going away if I can help it. It’s great to have a day job from 9-to-5, you have that peace of mind, that feelgood factor — at least you’re getting up for something in the morning.”
It helps too of course when you’re winning and speaking of turnarounds, Tipperary were in major trouble against Limerick in their quarter-final, trailing by seven points with only 16 minutes left on the clock, but a major effort for that final quarter, spear-headed by an outstanding individual performance from Conor, was just enough to see Tipperary home.
“We scraped through,” he admits.
“We were very lucky. You have to keep plugging away, you can’t just flick a switch and say ‘right, let’s start hurling now’. You just have to keep going and going, and hopefully get a few breaks. The few subs made the difference really.”
One of those subs was Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher, returning from injury, and he made a major impact but, says Conor, it wasn’t just Bonner.
“Bonner Maher opened it up the way he runs at players, takes them on and always gives a good ball. Shane Bourke made an awful difference with his speed — when you’re facing that speed with 10 or 15 minutes to go it’s your worst nightmare.
And then Seamie Callanan has speed to burn as well; when you start getting the scores confidence comes into it.”
And Cork now in Páirc Uí Chaoimh – a bigger challenge again.
“The Cork game will be a huge game, they don’t come much bigger or tougher. The last time we were there (2010) we lost by ten points, the last time we played Cork in the league we lost by seven points (2012 semi-final), so we know that the task ahead of us is absolutely massive. At the start of the year the total focus was on Limerick, now our total focus is on Cork and if we don’t learn from the defeat in the league semi-final we’ll be well beaten.”
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/gASNLS1CC30/post.aspx
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