Mullane hits back at ‘p***heads’ depiction

WATERFORD hurler John Mullane has launched a blistering attack on RTÉ journalist Damien Tiernan’s book ‘The Agony and The Ecstasy’.

The book looked at the travails of county hurling side since 1998 but Mullane claimed there was no substance to the depiction of him and his Déise team-mates as a heavy drinking team.

“We were described basically as a crowd of p***heads,” he said.

“We wouldn’t have had the success we’ve had if that was the case. I, for one, can really tell you we trained hard and that goes for all the other lads. When we were allowed enjoy ourselves, we enjoyed ourselves but no different to any other inter-county team in that regard.

“You ask any of the managers we’ve had, the present manager Davy (Fitzgerald), or going back to Justin or Gerald McCarthy, they’ll tell you how hard we trained. Then we’re described that we failed because we’d a couple nights out here or there. I can tell you, we trained so hard.”

Mullane stated that he was never in favour of the book being written and revealed a number of Waterford hurlers were upset by its contents.

“I thought there was a lot of invalid information in the book towards the team. It was just a bad description. I just felt that a certain amount of players were upset with stuff that was written in the book. I think it was a bad reflection on what really went on in the last 10 years. I just thought some of the stuff that was written didn’t do us any justice.”

When contacted last night by the Irish Examiner, the book’s author Tiernan stated: “John Mullane is an absolutely marvellous hurler and has been for several years for Waterford. I’m very hopeful that he and his Waterford team-mates will do very well in this year’s championship.”