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PETER O’MAHONY CALLS them ‘rows.’ You know what he means.
Scuffles, shemozzles, set-tos, barneys, handbags, tête-à-têtes. Call them what you want, you know the drill.
When most people think of Peter O’Mahony the rugby player, these are the moments that first spring to mind. He has been the ultimate pain in the hole for opposition teams and the ultimate team-mate for the Munster and Ireland players who have loved him having their backs.
His relentlessly aggressive mindset has made him famous around the rugby world. Infamous in a fair few spots. The Cork man has never been one for backward steps. There has always been an edge to his game. He’s now in the final week of his Ireland career, this Saturday’s clash with Italy his last hurrah, but nothing has changed in that regard.
“I was always competitive,” says O’Mahony. “I hated losing. I’ve always hated it, no matter whether we were playing Playstation or anything.
“Look, playing for the club and province you grew up supporting, for your country… there are very few people who grow up and play for clubs they belong to. I think that means it has to mean that bit more to you.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had players come into Munster and Ireland who weren’t from there and been more from Munster or Ireland and played with more passion than some people who were from there.
“But that gave me a bit more of an edge that I was fighting for the lads I knew in Cork Con or people from the province or Ireland. I’ve always wanted to make people proud of a performance, it mightn’t even be a win, but that they could see something in you.”
O’Mahony embraced the role of provocateur and first responder from the beginning of his career. Those who saw him in his earliest days know that he has been an enforcer from day one.
Now in the final few months of his career – he will finish completely at the end of Munster’s season – O’Mahony admits this role has always been clear in his mind. Even when there wasn’t much cause for a row.
“There’s days where I’ve gone out and said to myself, ‘You need to get in a row in the first 10 minutes here.’ You just pick someone and that’s the end of it,” he says.
“There were days where that was needed, particularly in the earlier days. I won’t tell you who, but I could have had a tap on the shoulder saying, ‘We need you here now to f**king be on it’ and that was part of my role.
“Sometimes you get a feel for it, ‘F**k it, things aren’t going the right way, I need to get stuck in here.’ Not even a row, just get stuck in physically. That’s always the way.
“It’s different now, that was back in the day. Rugby is a different animal now in 2025 than it was in 2012, a different sport almost, but it’s a physical game and that’s never going to change. Physicality is so, so important and physical confrontation is so, so important. I’m not overly skillful so I knew that had to be part of my game.”
O’Mahony has earned the scorn of many opposition supporters and players, even the hatred of some.
But he says that very little of what he has got involved in has been personal.
“Rugby isn’t a game for that kind of sh*t,” he says.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had stuff with Glasgow that has got personal, 100% personal. You always have rivalries and even in training, you’d have rows, physical rows. Back in the day, there was fighting in training but it was all because you wanted to get better and it boiled over. You weren’t going out to hit a fella a slap.
“It was competitive, then you just got on with it. You felt bad, you had to apologise and that was the end of it. It’s a physical confrontation and these things are going to happen.”
O’Mahony’s toughness has been a calling card but though he claims not to be overly skillful, there has been immense craft and guile to his game too.
Indeed, he will be remembered as one of the greatest lineout forwards in Irish rugby history and perhaps the global game.
That’s the other image of O’Mahony that will linger – the soaring lineout steals that sickened the opposition in key moments of games.
He hands out credit for his prowess in this part of the game to many others. O’Mahony chose to play with his home club Cork Con after school rather than going to UCC because he wanted to be coached by Brian Hickey.
“Brian was doing more video than some of the professional coaches were with regards to lineout work, and still is,” says O’Mahony.
He gives major credit to strength and conditioning coaches Paudie Roche and Aidan O’Connell who worked with the Munster academy when O’Mahony was part of it. Roche and O’Connell were big into Olympic weightlifting and power work.
They had O’Mahony lifting ”silly weights” on snatches and clean and jerks, which stood to his ability to jump in the lineout. O’Mahony was renowned for his explosive spring off the ground, his timing, and his deft handling in the air.
He counts himself lucky that Paul O’Connell took him under his wing early on, passing on crucial pointers with regards to jump technique and backing O’Mahony as a key man.
“Paulie was the brains of the operation and he used me to free ball up for himself, or to win ball with. This was with Munster and Ireland at the start of my career and that’s the way it went.”
O’Connell hammered home to O’Mahony that he could make this lineout stuff his calling card.
“Paul talks about cornering the market,” says O’Mahony.
“You know, I cornered the market when it comes to a back row’s ability to win lineout ball.”
And yet, O’Mahony doesn’t count himself as a true lineout nerd. In French rugby, the tradition is for back rows to call lineouts but O’Mahony never had any interest in taking things that far.
He has always struggled with the video work, saying he doesn’t have great concentration levels when it comes to that sort of stuff.
That’s in contrast to someone like O’Connell, who continues to have an incredible appetite for it now in his role as Ireland’s forward coach.
“Guys like James Ryan, Paul, Tadhg Beirne, Donnacha Ryan were obsessed with watching video and decoding lineouts, then they’d manoeuvre me into one of the spots they thought the other team won a lot of ball in.
“They did a lot of the graft and just used my jumping ability.”
This weekend means one last trip to Rome for O’Mahony with Ireland.
But it’s also one last trip to Rome supporting O’Mahony for his family.
He’s not the only one who has invested blood, sweat, and tears into a 113-cap international career. It takes a serious support crew to get to these heights and stay there for as long as O’Mahony has.
Last Saturday in Dublin was an emotional one as the 35-year-old bid farewell to the Irish supporters on home soil. It wasn’t the game Ireland were hoping to deliver against France for O’Mahony, Conor Murray, and Cian Healy, but they get a chance to send them off on a final high this weekend in Rome.
O’Mahony has been trying to get his head around what it will be like to finish up with Ireland. So have his loved ones.
“It’s going to be a big adjustment for all of my family, Jess and the kids. Indie is going to be nine and she’s been involved in a lot of my career. Theo loves coming to camp, coming into the hotel and seeing all his buddies he hangs around with which is a regular occurrence in November and the Six Nations. Ralph is a bit small to figure out what’s going on but he’s getting there.
“Then obviously you’ve my mum and dad [Caroline and John]. My dad is retired. He’s been involved in my career since day dot and it’s going to be a big change for him and my mum. His calendar nearly works around my rugby commitments. He spends the month in Dublin pretty much for November.
“They’re lucky, my mum’s brother lives up in Dublin so they stay with him when they’re up. The parents’ Whatsapps, we were only laughing that he’s going to be thrown out of all these things. He’ll be gutted.
“But that’s life, we’re all going to have to learn to adjust to it, adjust to being in the stands shouting the lads on instead of in the parents’ box and on the pitch.”
The families have been a bigger part of the Ireland set-up than ever since Andy Farrell took over in 2020. From coming into the team hotel to present jerseys to their loved ones on milestone occasions, being flown by the IRFU to World Cup games, and invited into all sorts of team events, it has been an all-in affair.
“To have us away from home a lot, it’s obviously a full-time commitment. That’s an understatement,” says O’Mahony.
“It’s not normal hours. I spend six-and-a-half or seven weeks of the eight weeks of the Six Nations in Dublin, I don’t go home. That takes its own toll on smallies and Jess at home doing the job of two people for a few months.
“So it’s right that Andy puts an importance on how important they are to us, so we have spent a lot of time together. Some of Jess’ best friends are wives of the other lads. That’s down to Andy and what he has created.”
This is his final week with Ireland but there is still a bit of road to run with Munster as O’Mahony aims to finish his time with the province with another bit of success.
The Grand Slam wasn’t to be and Ireland have lost control of the Six Nations but O’Mahony takes pride from still being here on merit. He was close to retiring at the end of last season but felt he had enough left in the tank for one more big year of rugby.
Now he’s enjoying ticking off all the ‘lasts,’ feeling that he hasn’t just faded out of view.
“I’m glad I played on,’ he says. “It was the right call because I’ve loved these last few weeks. I’m involved in everything, competitive, pushing standards. That’s how I wanted to go out.
“I didn’t want to go out with people saying, ‘F**k it, he’s past it and needs to pull the plug.’ I never wanted that to be the case and I’m lucky because nine times out of 10, rugby makes the call for you. A lot of times you’re either pushed out or you’re broken.
“Very few guys get to go, ‘You know what, I’m playing well and I’m enjoying my rugby.’
“And it’s time to go now.”
__________
Heineken 0.0 has teamed up with sports stars Peter O’Mahony and John O’Shea to prove that sports are better when watched together.
The Heineken® 0.0 Match Day Experiment, carried out with tech partner Neurons, monitored and measured the differences in enjoyment levels when watching a match alone versus with others. It was found that watching a game with others amplifies excitement, boosting motivation by 24% before kickoff and keeping emotional stimulation 20% higher during slower moments throughout the game.
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I’m sure lots of people throw a bet for a bit of fun. But, I can’t help but think that lots of people are going without the basics to keep Paddy in €69 million profit.
Great to see the UK and Irish governments indirectly helping out paddy power in the form of dole payments!
its insane that we see more of these shops up and down the country at the one time that people should not be wasting money on such nonsense,
either these types of shops should be more heavily restricted or there has to be a way to restrict how dole money can be spent…because betting is not an acceptable use!
I’ll waste my money on whatever nonsense I want.
Why should the shops be restricted!?! It’s a person’s own decision to go in there & bet their money!! If it turns out that the money being punted originated as a welfare payment then more-fool us, as a state, for giving it to them!!
The Chinese love to gamble even though it is illegal in Mainland China. The Chinese population in Ireland will keep Paddy Power afloat : )
They don’t need the chinese to help em, we’re not shy of a bet or two. But your right the chinese and a few more Asian countries have the gambling gene big style..
getting into bed with the Italian and Spanish governments to rip-off punters in those countries was a solid business move.
banning or severely limiting anyone who turns a profit also helps.
they’re a mickey mouse bookie really. All style, no substance.
No substance ? I bought some of their shares 18 months ago at €27 each, today they’re worth €52 each, I’ve nearly doubled my money on them so for me they have plenty of substance to go with their style. Paddy Power are one of the most profitable Irish companies about and if they manage to crack the US and Canadian markets that share price will go even higher up towards €70.
And you don’t know what you’re talking about Steve.
I don’t dispute their business acumen. They provide a lot of jobs here and I applaud them for it.
But their success is based on clever marketing and the ability to attract the casual punter that doesn’t particularly care about things like low limits and lousy margins, in contrast to somewhere like Pinnacle where competitiveness pricing and limits are everything.
Paddy Power is not a place for serious punters and any book that offers odds on a market and then only allows a customer to place less than a tenner on it is Mickey Mouse in my book.
And I can assure you I know what I’m talking about.
have your say