Shouldering greatness

Ger Loughnane said of him: “There are men, then there are men, then there’s Sean McMahon.” The totemic Doora-Barefield defender retains that innate honesty that inspired a generation of Banner hurlers. Now he wants the new wave of stars in the county to write a fresh chapter for Clare hurling.

For years now the quiet man has been back in the quiet fields, working away and coaching quietly and diligently, but still his name echoes with reverence and relevance through the country down to this generation.

Last month Seanie McMahon received a phone call from a fellow member of the elite freetakers’ union and babyface-killer club. Cillian O’Connor was the owner of the most famous shoulder in Ireland and was aware from reading Ger Loughnane’s biography that once upon a time McMahon had been as well. To O’Connor, McMahon was “a legend” and much of that legend was born from how he managed to strap up to play in the Munster final of 1995.