By John Harrington

When Pauric Mahony ruptured a cruciate ligament back in October, the consensus was that Waterford’s hopes of being serious championship contenders were now significantly diminished.

The Ballygunner man has been such a consistent score-getter from frees and open play in recent years that it was hard to imagine how Liam Cahill’s team could challenge for silverware without him.

And even though they’ve proven they can do just fine in his absence, there’s little doubt he’d still be one of the first names on the team-sheet were he fit for selection.

One of the cruellest things about ACL injuries is that you often don’t realise how serious the injury is initially, and that was the case for Mahony back in October.

"It was actually here against Wexford in a challenge match and I was just chasing after Simon Donohue and whatever happened I just went to lunge in to flick the ball away and felt something in the back of my knee,” says Mahony.

“Sure I hit the ground and let a roar out and 30 seconds later I was back up, thinking 'Jesus, I'm after making a show of myself there, letting a roar out'.

"I thought there was nothing to it because I jogged back into position for the next play and then SOK (Stephen O’Keeffe) went to hit me a puck out and when I caught it, when I turned to give Kevin Moran a hand pass, I just felt something again.

"So that was really it and I went up to Tadhg O'Sullivan who is a family friend and went up to the orthopaedic surgeon in Whitfield the following day and he just said I didn't have any symptoms of an ACL, but the feel of the cruciate, he was a bit worried about.

"I got a scan on the Monday and that revealed the bad news.”

Mahony has remained involved with the group since suffering the injury by doing whatever he can to help in training sessions and on match-days.

"Liam was speaking to me pretty quickly after it and was keen for me to hang around, and I suppose at the start I was kinda feeling like a bit of a waster, but then eventually you can start picking up the balls or bringing water out to the lads, you can do something and you feel like you're offering something,” says Mahony.

"So, yeah, it has made it a lot easier too in the fact that I've been able to attend the games because these lads are obviously very good friends and you're involved in the team, especially after doing a lot of the hard work with them it's nice to be still there with them.

“There's pros and cons to the whole lot. When you go training the more you're there, the more you want to be out there yourself.

"But I think if I was sitting at home last Saturday night in front of the telly with two minutes to go and Waterford winning it, it would have been harder to take, not actually being there.

"So there's obviously those mixed emotions that you have because when you're there you want to be on the field, but when you're not there it's probably that little bit worse.”

Mahony’s desire to be involved is all the keener because he can see just how positive an impact that Liam Cahill and his management team have made on the playing group.

"They've struck a balance between bringing a level of intensity, work-rate and aggression with giving lads that little bit of freedom to go out and express themselves,” says Mahony.

"The hurlers are obviously there and maybe they've installed a little bit more belief there.

“There's good young lads there that we would have seen winning minors and under-21s with Waterford, and all the lads whether it was winning Harty Cups or Colleges, they've been there and been successful.

"But just maybe we haven't brought it to the senior level and I think that's kind of the faith and the trust that the lads have shown and given to all the players, I think lads are using that and it's just reflecting in their performances.”

Watching Sunday’s match from the Hogan Stand won’t be easy for Mahony, but he’s philosophical enough about missing out on the opportunity of playing in the All-Ireland Final.

“It will be tough, it will be tough of course,” he says. “But I suppose that’s part of the game.

“For example, we’ve the likes of Darragh Fives who is injured too and he’s had a lot more back luck than me over the years. Whereas I might have had one or two bad injuries where I had to go under the knife he had had constantly muscle injuries and he was there Tuesday night before the Cork game absolutely flying probably playing the best hurling he has played and next minute he went down and his year was over.

“The way the championship its cruel in one way because a bad hamstring injury or the ACL like me you miss the whole championship. But, again, we are just thankful to have a championship.”