PETER O’MAHONY DIDN’T always need many words to get his feelings across in an interview setting. Even on the weeks when he wasn’t feeling overly talkative, his words carried weight, and you always left the conversation feeling you had a fair idea of where his head was ahead of a game. When his answers were curt and clipped, you sensed the intensity behind the scenes. When he was more open (as was the case more often than some might think), you saw the man who loved playing rugby for a living.
So Thursday’s media slot, which arrived shortly after his impending retirement was confirmed, offered an interesting window into his thought process. One imagines O’Mahony would generally not be too interested in looking back over his career but given the day that was in it, and being a Six Nations break week, he was happy to bring his audience down memory lane. It would be fair to suggest his tone might not have been as light had he been preparing to take on a fearsome French side in two days’ time.
At one point O’Mahony, 35, was asked if would be interested in penning an autobiography. “Have you got a figure?” came the quick reply, before an admission there has been some talk. He was asked about his impressive, immaculately-kept garden shed revealed to the world in the recent Six Nations documentary on Netflix. “Who doesn’t like a man shed, you know what I mean?”
This was a man who looked and sounded fully at ease with his decision to step away from the game. You can be sure there have been times where the process of reaching that decision has weighed heavily on the mind.
“It took a while. I obviously thought about it last year under lots of different circumstances,” O’Mahony said. “It was something I had to weigh up family-wise, club-wise. I think my big litmus test was whether I was capable of continuing to play for Ireland. That was the big thing.
“I’m glad I made the call. I’m happy with the decision now. I think it’s the right time. I’ve known nothing really… I left sixth year in school and started in the academy in Munster, one club. As a young fella you couldn’t ask for any more really. I consider myself very lucky.”
Lucky, but hard-earned.
“I think I’m at peace,” he continued. “If you’d said to me at five or six, or 10, or 17 or 18, or 25, that I’d be sitting here and be still playing for Ireland at this level, playing with a squad like that out there, there isn’t one of those versions of me that wouldn’t have bitten your hand off for that and probably would have said ‘there’s no chance that is going to happen’ so I consider myself hugely lucky.
“I have worked hard, do you know what I mean? I have worked hard, I’ve put a lot into my career, personally and in lots of other ways, but I know I’ve been very lucky and I think I can be at peace sitting here saying that I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”
The Ireland career got off to a stuttering start. Go back to 2012, and a frozen pitch at the Stade de France which put O’Mahony’s Test debut on ice. A week previously, it was a teammate who kept him waiting.
“I actually got picked against Wales and Ferris got yellow-carded for a spear tackle so I had to sit back down again. And then we went to France the following week and we warmed up and it was cancelled and I said, ‘Fuck it, I’m never going to get capped!’
“And then we had a week off and luckily, yeah, the following week against Italy I got capped.”
Another 111 Test caps would follow, with the potential of two more to come against France and Italy over the next fortnight. Along the way O’Mahony’s sweat and blood went toward Ireland collecting five Six Nations titles and two Grand Slams, the second of which came with the Corkman as captain last year.
Munster was a tougher road. O’Mahony came into the province after the glory days in Europe had passed. He was a peripheral member of the squad that won the 2010/11 Celtic League, and would have to wait until the URC success of 2022/23 for a trophy to which his efforts were central.
“Yeah, look, I look back on my club career as being an unsuccessful one, whatever way you look at it. I came into the club with a group of players who had won a lot with the club still involved. I wanted to emulate that and whatever way you look at it, I didn’t, you know?
I captained the team for a long time, to very little avail unfortunately and I’ll have to live with that. I can still live with the fact that I put a lot of effort in. It wasn’t for the lack of trying.
“I was very lucky with the people I’ve played with in that club, and the club itself – the amount that they looked after me and have given back to me and my family is huge but yeah, coming up here (to Ireland camp) was a bit of a sanctuary – it’s an interesting way to put it.
“It turned into a little bit of a club for me as well – a club away from a club. The way that relationships went, the friends that I have up here. When I first started playing for Ireland, it wasn’t the same feeling that it is now.”
He hasn’t decided what will come next, but knows he’ll take some time to put the feet up. A move into coaching is one possibility.
“I’m not taking anything off the table but I’ll take a break from rugby, whatever happens. The kids are starting to grow up a little bit and I’ve missed a huge amount of milestones for them, family occasions, all sorts of stuff I’ve missed.
“So I’m going to enjoy a few months off, make sure I get to all those things I should be at, enjoy my retire-, the period afterwards, I’m sure there’s going to be bumps on the road. As I said, I’ve known nothing else other than rugby. I’ve been very lucky but at the same time my focus has been very narrow so I’m going to take a break and open up the horizons a little bit.”
Just two more weeks, and the curtain will fall on one of the great Ireland careers. At the end of the season Munster will lose one of the most iconic players to have come though the province. The man himself knows retirement will be tough to stomach.
“The people, the friendships, the dressing room after a game, probably the 60 minutes after a big game in here, that period with the lads afterwards, going upstairs to meet the families, that period after the game – very few people get to feel that buzz and that’s something I’ll miss big time.
“Jesus I’ll miss lots of aspects of it. I’ll miss training, being competitive, but the relationships and that few minutes after the game, where you’re wrecked but you’ve put in a performance and you can have a beer and a chat and next week is distant – that’s what I’ll miss.”
any mention of club players in any of this discussion or do they exist…..just wondering
@PW: They do exist, but its all for the love of the parish.
@PW: in what way should club players be included in that conversation ?
@PW: no they don’t. Club was sacrificed for county long time ago.
GPA members are doing quite well to be fair. Maybe all club Chairmen and Secretaries should go on strike, all the juvenile trainers and selectors too. There are many groups who are a lot more out of pocket than the GPA members. Of all the groups within the GAA they do quite well.
Poor Tom!
Definitely needs to be a wider debate here.. the spending on inter county teams seems totally unsustainable.. The collective bargaining agreement is an interesting proposition- in that it would improve player welfare while also managing to maintain the amateur ethos…. To me a strike with all going on in the world over last few years would seem petty, although the GPA seem to have gathered more public support than I imagined
Time the players took a real stand. I’m so tired of the fat cats in GAA treating the players like fodder. No wonder we see soccer tactics are coming into the game. The players are fed up.
@2thFairy: Soccer tactics not sure your on the correct page here ? I’ve watch a bit of soccer and I’ve never seen them handpass the ball 1 million times during a game! Stick to what you seem to know very little about GAA .
@2thFairy: Pity they don’t learn to play a bit of soccer and kick a ball instead of all that hand passing, to call the game football is comical.
GPA. Greedy Players Association