Paudie O'Brien on missing out on medals: ‘There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about it’

Philosophical O’Brien left to wonder about what might have been

Paudie O'Brien of Limerick after the 2014 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat. Picture: INPHO/Cathal Noonan

IT’S October 2016 and John Kiely calls. The new Limerick manager is delivering bad news to Paudie O’Brien. At 26 years of age, the defender is being let go.

For the first half of the 2010s, O’Brien formed a formidable half-back triumvirate with Wayne McNamara and Gavin O’Mahony. At the age of 30, McNamara retired that same month, while O’Mahony hung in for another year to step away at the same age. Both were able to end it on their own terms.