Pauric Mahony: ’I didn’t want to look at it’

Waterford’s Pauric Mahony has revealed he will watch footage of the horror collision which led to his leg breaking and ‘hanging to one side’.

The unfortunate Deise free-taker was ruled out for the rest of the season after the shocking incident which occurred in a club game in May.

The Ballygunner man had played a central role in Waterford’s unexpected Allianz league title success before the setback almost eight weeks ago. The 22-year old Business and Accountancy student at WIT endured a sickening, accidental collision with an opponent though is confident he will eventually return in better shape than before.

He said that his recovery process is likely to involve reviewing the grisly incident itself to prove how far he has come when he is fully fit again.

“We have the footage of the incident,” said Mahony. “The club videoed the match and my mother and father have watched it alright. They wouldn’t let me see it because it was so bad. Maybe in a couple of months’ time I might get my hands on it.

“My ultimate aim is to come back in a better position than when I went out. There’s obviously a lot of time now to work on areas that I would have seen as weaknesses for myself. I’m in the gym a good bit and cycling on the bike so I’m hoping I can come back in a better position than I was going out.

“So it (the leg break footage) would be something I could look back on maybe in five or six months’ time to say, ‘Look where you were then and where you are now’.”

Mahony praised renowned medic Dr Tadhg O’Sullivan who was on hand immediately and ‘popped the leg back in’ before applying a crude splint.

Mahony attended the launch of the GPA’s Fair Play Campaign yesterday and revealed a number of surgical scars on his leg, around his knee and ankle. Between them, a corrective metal rod has been inserted.

“My leg was hanging to one side but I was so fortunate that Tadhg O’Sullivan, the surgeon, was at the game. He came down and popped the leg back in and he made a splint with two hurls and towels. That probably saved me a lot of time and pain as well. The adrenaline at the time meant I didn’t feel him popping the leg back in, it was good to get it done there and then.

“I knew on impact it was broken. I was in a daze on the ground and then there was loads of commotion going on above me because the players reacted. They were nearly worse than me.

“I looked down at my leg and knew it was gone. I put my head back and covered my face because I didn’t want to look at it. One fella thought I had cramp and he was going to grab my leg until he looked down and seen it and he quickly ran away.

“Hearing what people were saying in the stand, that was the worst part and seeing other players’ reaction. They actually thought it was my head first that was injured, the way I went down and stayed down. But I stayed still because I knew if I moved it I could do worse damage. Because Tadhg O’Sullivan was there, within two or three minutes of it happening, my leg was back in place. I was just blessed he was at the game.”

Mahony has been told he’ll be out for the rest of the year regardless of how far Waterford progress in the Championship.