PETER O’MAHONY (UNLOCKED): ‘I never took being picked for Munster or Ireland for granted!’ | All In! | OTB RUGBY
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Is that the high point? Is that what you look back on and say that they were the best moments a after a big test match in the dressing room immediately after a win?
Yeah, I I I love that kind of That sixty minute window we used to get where You can just take stock, you know, kinda nobody annoys you, you have a beer, um, you know, the feeling of being in the Viva or Thomas Park or or Musgriff Park after a game and and, you know, having gone through, you know, a tough game and you've won and and just to chat about the game or or nothing to do with it and chill out and and kinda spend time with The lads in a kind of a the last kind of protected sixty minutes. of of your week is uh was very special to me, huh? Were you good at soaking those moments in? I was. Yeah, I was. I always found it very important to you know, not be on your phone, um, you know, engaging with people.
Um, as I said, it was it was a kind of a protected window. You know, you didn't have to go and do talk to media, you didn't have to go, you know, you know, meet people afterwards. It was just you were sitting with the lads after a tough week and you know, you can just chill out for an hour.
Because your feeling before big games would have been the opposite of that. It it certainly wasn't chill. And I used to think that this was you getting fired up or it was something bordering on aggression that you kinda got yourself to before games. But actually what I've learned from reading this is is that there was a maybe a nervousness that was there before games or Maybe even before camps, not getting too carried away with yourself, even when it comes to the phone ringing for a squad that you should one hundred percent be in, you never really allowed yourself to relax into those moments before games.
No, you couldn't and i you know, I think if you take that kind of thing for granted, I think then that's when you you get cut out. Um you know, it's so competitive and there's so many good players around that you have to be adapting and and and improving all the time and and add a little bows to your string all the time and and you know I I never took playing for Munster or Ireland for granted. It was always something that's really, really special and it's it's not there for a long time. And you know, y you had like selections, you know, even though you probably knew you you from the week you were being selected your heart would always skip a beat when when someone was naming a team or Or if there was a call to be made on on a squad, you know, you're s you're you're waiting for the letter the whole time, the email or whatever it is nowadays and um yeah, it was it was always a nervous period for me those moments.
I was very lucky with the people I had around me. You know uh for most of my career I I had generational players around me. Um you know, looking back on it, you could probably pick a every position and you could nearly make a world fifteen of of the players that came and went throughout my whole career in in any position. So, you know, I was very lucky with the generation of players I had. You and
Pauly shared this sort of idea before big Ireland games where you're driving on the bus to the Aviva and you see the lads going for a few pints, enjoying their weekend, enjoying the rugby, being a spectator.
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