Football

O'Mahony enjoying stint in Carlow shadows

IT'S not often you find a Fine Gael TD in the heart of west Belfast. And it's not often the Carlow senior footballers benefit from the wisdom of a two-time All-Ireland winning manager.

John O'Mahony was one of the leading figures at St Paul's GAC last Sunday to watch Carlow and Antrim play out an entertaining draw in a Division Four opener.

The former Galway manager is "thrilled" to be involved with the Carlow footballers - but his role with Turlough O'Brien's management team is very much a peripheral one.

"A friend of mine, Pat Deering, who is also a TD in the Dail representing Carlow, got me involved.

"He's a former chairman of Carlow County Board, and he just asked me would I give a hand.

"I don't have any frontline involvement in selection, training or anything like that.

"I've been around the block a bit and I presume the fact that I'd won a Connacht Championship with Leitrim [1994] was part of reason, with weaker teams [like Carlow] facing similar challenges.

"I can advise both management and players on certain things. It's to try and add a bit of value."

O'Mahony won two All-Ireland senior titles with Galway in 1998 and 2001 before he took over his native Mayo in recent seasons.

Now a full-time Fine Gael TD, the 61-year-old ruled out returning to the "frontline" of inter-county management.

"I have had great times in the GAA. It's a wonderful organisation and no matter what county I've been at I've seen the strength of the GAA," he said.

"The next best thing to playing is managing because you're kind of putting the pieces of the jigsaw together.

"Even in the peripheral role like I have with Carlow, I really enjoy it because I don't have time to do anything more because of my day job, as it were.

"But I'm absolutely thrilled to be around, just to give encouragement and a word of advice. I'll never be far away from it."

After leading minnows Leitrim to a Connacht title over 20 years ago, O'Mahony's philosophy hasn't changed.

"Any county can write their own script. That's what's really important," he adds.

"The key to the modern game is how hard you work when you don't have the ball. It's easy to work when you have the ball, but it's how hard you work when you don't have it.

"The Carlow players have given great commitment over the last few months and it pays when that happens."