STEPHEN BENNETT SAYS Waterford hurling captain Pauric Mahony is still contributing to their campaign despite being ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
The Déise skipper reportedly sustained the blow at a challenge match in October before the start of the All-Ireland championship.
Liam Cahill’s side have managed to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals in the absence of their captain and main free-taker, while also contesting the Munster decider against Limerick.
Bennett has proven to be a worthy replacement in dead ball situations for Waterford, hitting seven frees in their victory over Clare last weekend.
Speaking to the media ahead of their final-four clash with Kilkenny this Saturday, he explained that Mahony is still a regular face in the camp, and is on hand to offer him advice about the free-taking duties.
“He still turns up to training, and still comes to matches. Would a lot of players be able to still give their time every night, even though they’re seeing no reward? They’re not actually in there.
But even the first day against Cork, he actually was outside in the warm-up throwing sliotars to me, practicing and telling me a few things.
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“I think he actually got the operation then so he wasn’t able to go to the last two games. But he’s still in and out, and I’d be onto him the whole time.”
Elaborating on the Ballygunner star’s commitment to maximising his recovery time, Bennett added:
“I saw him last night speaking to the gym instructors, looking for exercises he could do straight away. In fairness to him, if anyone’s going to come back from it, it’ll be Pauric.
“In fairness to him, it’s hard for a fella to be missing out – especially in his first year as captain – but the way he’s turning up for trainings all the time just sums him up and shows how committed he is.”
Waterford's Pauric Mahony. Brian Reilly-Troy / INPHO
Brian Reilly-Troy / INPHO / INPHO
The Covid-delayed championship has reignited Waterford hurling. After struggling through the Munster championship in recent years, they broke that cycle against Cork to pick up their first provincial win since 2016.
Their losing streak certainly affected confidence levels within the camp, according to Bennett, and it was difficult to stop the slide.
It’s bleak enough when you’re going down training thinking, ‘What are we going to lose by this weekend?’ You get stuck in a rut, I suppose. But it’s great when you get back and start believing in yourself.”
The performances of Dessie Hutchinson has been a major factor in Waterford’s winning run this year, having only returned to hurling in 2019 after spending five seasons with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Bennett says they’re reaping huge benefits from Hutchinson’s experience in the world of professional soccer. His presence has also taken some of the pressure off fellow Waterford star, Austin Gleeson.
“In fairness to Austin, he gets an awful lot of abuse to be honest,” he says of the 2016 Hurler of the Year.
He can’t seem to do anything right and do you know, everyone was just expecting him to hit 0-7 from play every game but it’s not possible like.
“In fairness to him, he’s working very hard this year, he’s getting two or three a game, working so hard. And Dessie, in the last few years as forwards, I’m not sure if we’ve stood up as much as we should have but Dessie, coming back from the five years in Brighton, his movement is just so good. He can teach a lot of us about it, running technique and everything.
“I suppose in the first few games, we didn’t get enough ball in but the last day he showed – with the hard ground too – that he can be dangerous.”
Stephen Bennet was speaking at the launch of the Bord Gáis Energy Christmas Jumper campaign.
Bord Gáis Energy will be making 500 special county-themed Christmas jumpers available for sale – with all proceeds going to homeless charity Focus Ireland aiming to raise €20,000 to help fight homelessness in the run-up to Christmas.
Subscribe to The42′s new member-led GAA Championship show with Marc Ó Sé and Shane Dowling.
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'He was in the warm-up throwing sliotars to me' - injured captain still at the heart of Déise cause
STEPHEN BENNETT SAYS Waterford hurling captain Pauric Mahony is still contributing to their campaign despite being ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
The Déise skipper reportedly sustained the blow at a challenge match in October before the start of the All-Ireland championship.
Liam Cahill’s side have managed to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals in the absence of their captain and main free-taker, while also contesting the Munster decider against Limerick.
Bennett has proven to be a worthy replacement in dead ball situations for Waterford, hitting seven frees in their victory over Clare last weekend.
Speaking to the media ahead of their final-four clash with Kilkenny this Saturday, he explained that Mahony is still a regular face in the camp, and is on hand to offer him advice about the free-taking duties.
“He still turns up to training, and still comes to matches. Would a lot of players be able to still give their time every night, even though they’re seeing no reward? They’re not actually in there.
“I think he actually got the operation then so he wasn’t able to go to the last two games. But he’s still in and out, and I’d be onto him the whole time.”
Elaborating on the Ballygunner star’s commitment to maximising his recovery time, Bennett added:
“I saw him last night speaking to the gym instructors, looking for exercises he could do straight away. In fairness to him, if anyone’s going to come back from it, it’ll be Pauric.
“In fairness to him, it’s hard for a fella to be missing out – especially in his first year as captain – but the way he’s turning up for trainings all the time just sums him up and shows how committed he is.”
The Covid-delayed championship has reignited Waterford hurling. After struggling through the Munster championship in recent years, they broke that cycle against Cork to pick up their first provincial win since 2016.
Their losing streak certainly affected confidence levels within the camp, according to Bennett, and it was difficult to stop the slide.
The performances of Dessie Hutchinson has been a major factor in Waterford’s winning run this year, having only returned to hurling in 2019 after spending five seasons with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Bennett says they’re reaping huge benefits from Hutchinson’s experience in the world of professional soccer. His presence has also taken some of the pressure off fellow Waterford star, Austin Gleeson.
“In fairness to Austin, he gets an awful lot of abuse to be honest,” he says of the 2016 Hurler of the Year.
“In fairness to him, he’s working very hard this year, he’s getting two or three a game, working so hard. And Dessie, in the last few years as forwards, I’m not sure if we’ve stood up as much as we should have but Dessie, coming back from the five years in Brighton, his movement is just so good. He can teach a lot of us about it, running technique and everything.
“I suppose in the first few games, we didn’t get enough ball in but the last day he showed – with the hard ground too – that he can be dangerous.”
Stephen Bennet was speaking at the launch of the Bord Gáis Energy Christmas Jumper campaign.
Bord Gáis Energy will be making 500 special county-themed Christmas jumpers available for sale – with all proceeds going to homeless charity Focus Ireland aiming to raise €20,000 to help fight homelessness in the run-up to Christmas.
Subscribe to The42′s new member-led GAA Championship show with Marc Ó Sé and Shane Dowling.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
All-Ireland SHC Stephen Bennett The Leader Waterford hurling