“Jesus, I would have loved to have gotten over the line just once.”
Waterford legend John Mullane says he would swap all of his All-Star awards just to have won one Liam MacCarthy during his career.
Mullane was speaking in the wake of the Déise county winning three All-Stars in the 2020 team but once again came up short in the All-Ireland final.
John Mullane.
The De La Salle club-man won five All-Stars during his playing career but he’d give them all up for just one Liam MacCarthy medal.
“I find it’s very difficult, even doing the radio, in around the All-Ireland finals,” Mullane told RTÉ’s Sunday Sport.
“You do be saying, ‘Jesus, I would have loved to have gotten over the line just once’.
“It’s a nice second or a nice third after winning a Munster Championship, but I would give up all five of them for one All-Ireland medal.
“It’s the ultimate prize at the end of the day.”
The 40-year-old added that when January comes around each year, he would not be thinking about winning an All-Star.
“When you start out in January, it isn’t in your head, ‘I want to go and win an All-Star’,” Mullane explained.
“What’s in your head is, ‘I want to go and win a trophy, I want to get up the steps of Semple Stadium, get up the steps of the Hogan Stand’.
“That’s the ultimate goal for any hurler.”
Waterford hurling All-Stars.
The RTÉ Radio 1 GAA commentator is proud of what Waterford have given hurling over the last few years despite not winning a coveted first All-Ireland title since 1959.
“Waterford have given so much to the game over the last 22, 23 years… albeit we haven’t won the All-Ireland,” Mullane added.
“With last night’s three, I think we have 30-something All-Stars in the space of 22, 23 years.
“That just goes to show you what we’ve given to the game over the course of that period of time.”
“What’s probably in the back of your mind is, you want to be in form, you to be consistent, consistently playing well.
“If you are in form and playing consistently well then you’re always going to be in the reckoning to win an All-Star.
“But from the get-go, come January, you don’t train to win an All-Star. You train to win trophies.”
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