A Mahon for All Seasons

What a warrior! Neil O’Riordan has brilliant quotes in the Irish Sun from Pádraig Amond and Graham Coughlan. They really show the esteem in which John Mahon is held by the team and how valuable he’s been to Waterford. He would fully deserve a place in the PFAI Team of the Season come November.

Podge said after Friday’s game that “John’s brilliant. The whole squad loves him. We’re a really tight-knit group down there and we love John. John had a tough time last year at Sligo and he loves being at Waterford. And we love him. We love what he brings to us. We love the last-ditch tackles - all of that. That’s basically us in a nutshell.” 

Amond went on: “As much of the credit we’ve been getting on the top end of the pitch, the back end of the pitch deserve it all. Kevin Long, Benny Couto, John, Jordan Houston, Stephen McMullan and Hayden Cann have been unbelievable since the gaffer’s come in. They were really good before that, but maybe we were let down by a couple of individual errors. But we’re playing as a real team now.”

 

Enjoying the recent win against Bohemians (Noel Browne)

Manager Coughlan also sung the big defender’s praises. “John’s a special character - a special lad. He means the world to me. I was one of those defenders myself and I can see myself in him - the blocks and the headers, the tackles, the heart on the sleeve. I love watching him.”

Graham continued, saying “He’s a great, great leader as well around the place - around the changing room. He doesn’t say an awful lot, but when he speaks, he speaks! Him and Longy are top, top lads. Benny on one side, Jordan on the other, and Canny have come on so, so much from working with John and Kev.”

And, finally, the boss emphasised the influence Mahon and others can have on young talent coming through. “I’ve always said throughout my career: if you’ve got good seniors, you’ll have good juniors. And we’ve got some really, really top, top seniors and they help the young lads. We’ve got a 16-year-old kid on the bench in Aaron Brennan and he can do nothing but learn from these types of characters.”

The future is bright. The present is dazzling. Three home games on the way to watch these warriors. Don’t miss out!