A credit to himself, a credit to his county.
It can’t have been easy for Waterford to accept this decision, it can’t have been easy for Pauric Mahony to accept this decision.
Were it not for an umpire’s erroneous call, the Déise would have secured the two points and they would be up and running in the Munster Championship this year after some awful luck, from injuries, from logistics – which has culminated in them not have any home games in the Munster round-robin, and from players not committing to the panel.
Waterford deserved to win in Limerick on Sunday. They were the better team at The Gaelic Grounds and despite being written off by the bookmakers as 6/1 outsiders going into this one, they showed that there’s life, that there’s fight in this team yet.
Proof, if needed, that Waterford should feel so aggrieved here https://t.co/OFh1ysp2j9
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 3, 2018
Waterford have good right to feel hard done by. They’ve good right to feel aggrieved because this sport is what they dedicate their lives to and it’s fine margins like these that will define their season. When you’re undone by something that wasn’t your fault, that makes it all the more frustrating because then you just get bitter.
Derek McGrath’s men are made of sterner stuff, however. It would have been so easy for them to come out and rage that they were hard done by, and criticise the umpire, and slate the referee.
Instead, they took it on the chin and moved on. What was most impressive about Pauric Mahony’s response was that he had calmed down, he had composed himself to provide a heroes’ response to the injustice just seconds after it had all unfolded.
In an incredible interview with RTÉ, Mahony didn’t blame anyone. Instead, he was compassionate, he was magnanimous, he was gracious in the jaws of such crippling maltreatment.
So he spoke about the umpire who had cost his county, who had made their task to emerge from Munster a whole lot harder. He didn’t blame him, instead, he spoke from that umpire’s perspective, he showed tremendous, tremendous understanding.
“Look, that’s sport. The umpires only have a second to make these decisions, and it’s tough on them too.”
And that will make one hell of a difference. Any Waterford person with a phone in their hands was criticising, was scathing of the umpire who had to be escorted from the pitch. You can’t blame them for feeling aggrieved, but this response, from a role model, from a man in his place, will encourage them to accept that mistakes do happen.
Then, he went on and praised Tipperary.
“I think that’s why Tipperary are a fantastic team. It was the same last Sunday, the same again today. They never die, and you have to take your hat off to them too.
And now he’s looking to the Cork challenge next Sunday.
“Look we have to put today behind us and concentrate on next Sunday.”
"That is sport" – Pauric Mahony philosophically reacts to error that saw Tipperary wrongly awarded a goal #RTEGAA https://t.co/EWHIf7Dyf5 pic.twitter.com/JNaNNFqaAM
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 3, 2018
That can’t have been easy for Pauric Mahony.
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