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PETER O’MAHONY CALLS them ‘rows.’ You know what he means.
Scuffles, shemozzles, set-tos, barneys, handbags, tête-à-têtes. Call them what you want, you know the drill.
When most people think of Peter O’Mahony the rugby player, these are the moments that first spring to mind. He has been the ultimate pain in the hole for opposition teams and the ultimate team-mate for the Munster and Ireland players who have loved him having their backs.
His relentlessly aggressive mindset has made him famous around the rugby world. Infamous in a fair few spots. The Cork man has never been one for backward steps. There has always been an edge to his game. He’s now in the final week of his Ireland career, this Saturday’s clash with Italy his last hurrah, but nothing has changed in that regard.
“I was always competitive,” says O’Mahony. “I hated losing. I’ve always hated it, no matter whether we were playing Playstation or anything.
“Look, playing for the club and province you grew up supporting, for your country… there are very few people who grow up and play for clubs they belong to. I think that means it has to mean that bit more to you.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had players come into Munster and Ireland who weren’t from there and been more from Munster or Ireland and played with more passion than some people who were from there.
“But that gave me a bit more of an edge that I was fighting for the lads I knew in Cork Con or people from the province or Ireland. I’ve always wanted to make people proud of a performance, it mightn’t even be a win, but that they could see something in you.”
O’Mahony embraced the role of provocateur and first responder from the beginning of his career. Those who saw him in his earliest days know that he has been an enforcer from day one.
Now in the final few months of his career – he will finish completely at the end of Munster’s season – O’Mahony admits this role has always been clear in his mind. Even when there wasn’t much cause for a row.
“There’s days where I’ve gone out and said to myself, ‘You need to get in a row in the first 10 minutes here.’ You just pick someone and that’s the end of it,” he says.
“There were days where that was needed, particularly in the earlier days. I won’t tell you who, but I could have had a tap on the shoulder saying, ‘We need you here now to f**king be on it’ and that was part of my role.
“Sometimes you get a feel for it, ‘F**k it, things aren’t going the right way, I need to get stuck in here.’ Not even a row, just get stuck in physically. That’s always the way.
“It’s different now, that was back in the day. Rugby is a different animal now in 2025 than it was in 2012, a different sport almost, but it’s a physical game and that’s never going to change. Physicality is so, so important and physical confrontation is so, so important. I’m not overly skillful so I knew that had to be part of my game.”
O’Mahony has earned the scorn of many opposition supporters and players, even the hatred of some.
But he says that very little of what he has got involved in has been personal.
“Rugby isn’t a game for that kind of sh*t,” he says.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had stuff with Glasgow that has got personal, 100% personal. You always have rivalries and even in training, you’d have rows, physical rows. Back in the day, there was fighting in training but it was all because you wanted to get better and it boiled over. You weren’t going out to hit a fella a slap.
“It was competitive, then you just got on with it. You felt bad, you had to apologise and that was the end of it. It’s a physical confrontation and these things are going to happen.”
O’Mahony’s toughness has been a calling card but though he claims not to be overly skillful, there has been immense craft and guile to his game too.
Indeed, he will be remembered as one of the greatest lineout forwards in Irish rugby history and perhaps the global game.
That’s the other image of O’Mahony that will linger – the soaring lineout steals that sickened the opposition in key moments of games.
He hands out credit for his prowess in this part of the game to many others. O’Mahony chose to play with his home club Cork Con after school rather than going to UCC because he wanted to be coached by Brian Hickey.
“Brian was doing more video than some of the professional coaches were with regards to lineout work, and still is,” says O’Mahony.
He gives major credit to strength and conditioning coaches Paudie Roche and Aidan O’Connell who worked with the Munster academy when O’Mahony was part of it. Roche and O’Connell were big into Olympic weightlifting and power work.
They had O’Mahony lifting ”silly weights” on snatches and clean and jerks, which stood to his ability to jump in the lineout. O’Mahony was renowned for his explosive spring off the ground, his timing, and his deft handling in the air.
He counts himself lucky that Paul O’Connell took him under his wing early on, passing on crucial pointers with regards to jump technique and backing O’Mahony as a key man.
“Paulie was the brains of the operation and he used me to free ball up for himself, or to win ball with. This was with Munster and Ireland at the start of my career and that’s the way it went.”
O’Connell hammered home to O’Mahony that he could make this lineout stuff his calling card.
“Paul talks about cornering the market,” says O’Mahony.
“You know, I cornered the market when it comes to a back row’s ability to win lineout ball.”
And yet, O’Mahony doesn’t count himself as a true lineout nerd. In French rugby, the tradition is for back rows to call lineouts but O’Mahony never had any interest in taking things that far.
He has always struggled with the video work, saying he doesn’t have great concentration levels when it comes to that sort of stuff.
That’s in contrast to someone like O’Connell, who continues to have an incredible appetite for it now in his role as Ireland’s forward coach.
“Guys like James Ryan, Paul, Tadhg Beirne, Donnacha Ryan were obsessed with watching video and decoding lineouts, then they’d manoeuvre me into one of the spots they thought the other team won a lot of ball in.
“They did a lot of the graft and just used my jumping ability.”
This weekend means one last trip to Rome for O’Mahony with Ireland.
But it’s also one last trip to Rome supporting O’Mahony for his family.
He’s not the only one who has invested blood, sweat, and tears into a 113-cap international career. It takes a serious support crew to get to these heights and stay there for as long as O’Mahony has.
Last Saturday in Dublin was an emotional one as the 35-year-old bid farewell to the Irish supporters on home soil. It wasn’t the game Ireland were hoping to deliver against France for O’Mahony, Conor Murray, and Cian Healy, but they get a chance to send them off on a final high this weekend in Rome.
O’Mahony has been trying to get his head around what it will be like to finish up with Ireland. So have his loved ones.
“It’s going to be a big adjustment for all of my family, Jess and the kids. Indie is going to be nine and she’s been involved in a lot of my career. Theo loves coming to camp, coming into the hotel and seeing all his buddies he hangs around with which is a regular occurrence in November and the Six Nations. Ralph is a bit small to figure out what’s going on but he’s getting there.
“Then obviously you’ve my mum and dad [Caroline and John]. My dad is retired. He’s been involved in my career since day dot and it’s going to be a big change for him and my mum. His calendar nearly works around my rugby commitments. He spends the month in Dublin pretty much for November.
“They’re lucky, my mum’s brother lives up in Dublin so they stay with him when they’re up. The parents’ Whatsapps, we were only laughing that he’s going to be thrown out of all these things. He’ll be gutted.
“But that’s life, we’re all going to have to learn to adjust to it, adjust to being in the stands shouting the lads on instead of in the parents’ box and on the pitch.”
The families have been a bigger part of the Ireland set-up than ever since Andy Farrell took over in 2020. From coming into the team hotel to present jerseys to their loved ones on milestone occasions, being flown by the IRFU to World Cup games, and invited into all sorts of team events, it has been an all-in affair.
“To have us away from home a lot, it’s obviously a full-time commitment. That’s an understatement,” says O’Mahony.
“It’s not normal hours. I spend six-and-a-half or seven weeks of the eight weeks of the Six Nations in Dublin, I don’t go home. That takes its own toll on smallies and Jess at home doing the job of two people for a few months.
“So it’s right that Andy puts an importance on how important they are to us, so we have spent a lot of time together. Some of Jess’ best friends are wives of the other lads. That’s down to Andy and what he has created.”
This is his final week with Ireland but there is still a bit of road to run with Munster as O’Mahony aims to finish his time with the province with another bit of success.
The Grand Slam wasn’t to be and Ireland have lost control of the Six Nations but O’Mahony takes pride from still being here on merit. He was close to retiring at the end of last season but felt he had enough left in the tank for one more big year of rugby.
Now he’s enjoying ticking off all the ‘lasts,’ feeling that he hasn’t just faded out of view.
“I’m glad I played on,’ he says. “It was the right call because I’ve loved these last few weeks. I’m involved in everything, competitive, pushing standards. That’s how I wanted to go out.
“I didn’t want to go out with people saying, ‘F**k it, he’s past it and needs to pull the plug.’ I never wanted that to be the case and I’m lucky because nine times out of 10, rugby makes the call for you. A lot of times you’re either pushed out or you’re broken.
“Very few guys get to go, ‘You know what, I’m playing well and I’m enjoying my rugby.’
“And it’s time to go now.”
__________
Heineken 0.0 has teamed up with sports stars Peter O’Mahony and John O’Shea to prove that sports are better when watched together.
The Heineken® 0.0 Match Day Experiment, carried out with tech partner Neurons, monitored and measured the differences in enjoyment levels when watching a match alone versus with others. It was found that watching a game with others amplifies excitement, boosting motivation by 24% before kickoff and keeping emotional stimulation 20% higher during slower moments throughout the game.
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My Mrs works for Tesco and she loves the place. From what i can see they are very good to her with regards to extra hours if she wants them, shifts swaps, time off and so on. I am in my current job 3 years and no pay increase yet she is with Tesco 1 year and has has 2 with the current one getting back dated to last April. She goes to work, does her best and tries to be the best employee she can be which has got noticed and will hopefully help her get ahead but that’s just the way she is while others around her do the bare minimum, undermine management and appear to go out of their way to be awkward and unhelpfull. They are all the pre 96ers. If they go out on strike where will thst leave her? I know Tesco should honor all contracts but the staff should also be more flexible too.
Tesco staff are the highest paid supermarket staff with the best terms and conditions. Nobody has zero hour contracts, not one single person. Average contract hours is 30-35 guaranteed hours per week. People on less hours is because they can’t do more due to college etc.
The effected colleagues are less than 280 in total. Voluntary redundancy averaging €105,000 is an option to them and the labour court has made a recommendation which Tesco has accepted but the staff have rejected. This agreement includes a pay rise, flexibility on 2 of their 5 days and a 2 year buyout of any lost earnings plus €2,000 once off payment.
They expect thousands of others to support them so that these others can continue to be 100% flexible and the effected staff can hang on to their restrictive unsuitable hours and continue to freeload and the expense of others.
If they don’t want €105k payoff then just be flexible on 2 days. Take your pay rise and your €2k.
@Derek Lyster & Max, Good to see the PR department in and working hard. Don’t forget you’re the company who brought in Stobarts during your race to the bottom, how did that work out for you?
My Mrs works there too and the propaganda being spouted by management is disgusting. My wife is not a pre 96. It’s nothing to do with being flexible. It’s about tesco having the ability to alter terms and conditions whenever they like. My wife doesn’t want to strike but she will because if tesco change the terms of the pre 96 staff they will move onto the next type of contract and start again… Your wife will be caught up in this at some stage. Does she stand up now or get rolled over down the line
@max submit me the facts that tesco workers are the highest paid with best terms???
105k redundancy payoff is Media Spin by Tesco. My payment last year was significantly less than that and mean alot less. Alot of your “facts” are wrong, but I haven’t got time to even go into that.
@Jason Owens I am glad you have the feel good experience in a Tesco store as you well know know no two Tesco stores are the same under different local management I could point out stores where I know staff are not happy and doing their very best to get out but jobs are not easily come by so they are stuck
@ Revolting Peasant I don’t work for tesco, i don’t even shop there and i do believe that tesco should honor the contracts but i am a strong believer that sometimes people need to be flexible in work. I can only say that my wife is very happy there. If she do wishes there is a path there to further her career, like i said earlier they are flexible with her with regards hours and so on so she is happy out. Like everything in life there is spin from both sides
When did they buy Stobart?
Tesco and Dunnes are 2 cheeks of the same ar$e,both terrible companies with little or no regard for their own staff
I try to minimise my shop in both of those. Staff much happier in Aldi and the produce better quality for the most part.
Do you know how much the staff in Aldi get paid compared to Tesco? Genuine question.
It looks like Tesco want to move in beside Michael O Leary with zero hours contracts. Dunnes and Tesco are tarred with the one brush the workers are 100%correct not to trust them. Peter we are discussing staff contracts here and not what Tesco are selling.
@Avina Laaf: My understand is that Tesco and Dunnes pay the minimum wage but Aldi and Lidl pay the minimum “living” wage which is a couple of euro higher.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/aldi-to-pay-1150-minimum-wage-361311.html
No lover of Dunnes but the staff are actually well paid.
@Alan. There are no zero hour contracts. The staff are well paid!!!! It’s not like they went to college for this job!
@Jim Buckley. Majority of staff in store I work in are paid nearly €13 an our.
I’m not happy with this continued race to the bottom.
How come the rostering was workable for 21 years yet isn’t workable now.
Because the beancounter has decided some people cost too much.
Anyone on a pre 96 contract has worked in Tresco for at least 21 years. So over time will retire and nos reduce.
So eventually the company gets its savings
@EUGENE 70 percent: Peoples shopping habits have changed over the last 21 years. the big weekly shop is not as common now as it once was, and the weekends are a lot busier grocery shops than the mid 90s. As a result, weekends are treated as normal roster days for Tesco employees, except for the pre 1996 people, any weekend work for them is treated as overtime, regardless of the amount of work they have done mid week.
Do the Borg man .. that’s exactly why .. throw in the late evenings aswell .if you have ten people on those contracts sitting at the checkouts at 9 in the morning when the stores are empty , doesn’t make sense anymore. Not the staff’s fault but still not good business sense either
@Do the Bort man: Sundays are at overtime rate for everyone, Saturday’s are normal rate for everyone including pre 1996 staff. Where did you get that falseclaim from?
Yeah Fenrir but most of them won’t work weekends until December when they get triple time on Sunday’s!!
I finally stopped shopping in Tesco this year, all new staff, selection of goods constantly decreasing, not the shop I used to know, wouldn’t surprise me if some stores closed altogether!
those people who are pre-1996 have contracts that they and Tesco agreed to this is a fact it is the only fact that needs to be known
Tesco must honour said contracts
if workers decide to strike I will not cross the picket line
but if it came to a strike and I was one of the 1996 gang I personally would not trust any union
just saying like
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