John Mullane retires.

Declan · January 18, 2013, 03:19:23 PM

Always enjoyed watching him play. Best of luck to him

waterfordlad · January 18, 2013, 03:25:08 PM

It won't be the same watching Waterford without John Mullane. it's nice to see the tributes from people from other counties for him and he was a popular player for his skill and passion. He was one of the top forwards in the game for over a decade and was one of the leading players in the most successful Waterford team since the late 50/early 60's.
The level of physical and mental commitment to inter county Gaa is seeing players retire earlier than usual. Best wishes to John in the future and he will be missed this year.

tommysmith · January 18, 2013, 03:31:47 PM

Quote from: waterfordlad on January 18, 2013, 03:25:08 PM
It won't be the same watching Waterford without John Mullane.

That is so true, when Waterford used to be on the telly i always watched and one of the reason was John Mullane. Any time he got the sliotar you the could hear the crowd getting excited as more often than not a score was on the way. Pity he never got an all-ireland along with Ken Mcgrath, Paul Flynn, Big Dan and Tony Browne some of the finest hurlers i have every seen.

deiseach · January 18, 2013, 03:43:16 PM

I wouldn't worry, lads. Without him we're not likely to be on the telly much in the future anyway $:-\$

seafoid · January 18, 2013, 04:05:12 PM

Flynn, Dan, Tony Browne etc are on all the lists of Waherford players but no mention of Eoin Kelly.

AQMP · January 18, 2013, 04:19:23 PM

Good luck to John Mullane in his retirement. He combined talent, passion, committment and a pure love of the game to make him on of the stand out players in the sport. No hurling fan would have begrudged him a Celtic Cross.

rodney trotter · January 18, 2013, 05:51:27 PM

Talk of Tony Browne calling it a day aswell.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Mullane make a comeback ala Lar Corbett. Great player to watch.

Asal Mor · January 20, 2013, 09:32:07 AM

You could make a strong case for Mullane as the greatest forward of the modern era. As BNMM said and from my own observations he probably scored and did more from play than any other forward. I'd guess he probably won more scorable frees than any other forward too. Delivered in every big game and as everyone has said he did a lot for the spectacle of the game. Too many faceless drones out there now. One big downside of the helmets rule is that we won't get to know players as well as we got to know Mullane, Big Dan, Sean Og, John Power, Sylvie and the 1000's of other helmetless warriors down through the years.

theticklemister · January 20, 2013, 10:51:56 AM

Quote from: Asal Mor on January 20, 2013, 09:32:07 AM
You could make a strong case for Mullane as the greatest forward of the modern era. As BNMM said and from my own observations he probably scored and did more from play than any other forward. I'd guess he probably won more scorable frees than any other forward too. Delivered in every big game and as everyone has said he did a lot for the spectacle of the game. Too many faceless drones out there now. One big downside of the helmets rule is that we won't get to know players as well as we got to know Mullane, Big Dan, Sean Og, John Power, Sylvie and the 1000's of other helmetless warriors down through the years.

As I said on countless times, hurling shoots itself in the foot by not promoting their players. In the parade the helmets should be off so the children recognise their heroes.

Milltown Row2 · January 20, 2013, 12:13:24 PM

Was at the Munster final when he was sent off and the look on his face when he came off was awful, the sense of letting his players and county down after getting to the Munster final, then for Waterford to win and him to miss the semi final must have been heart breaking. Seen him in the final against Kilkenny, while it was a hammering session John Mullane fought the fight, never stopped throughout the final and his performance wasn't overlooked by the commentators at the time. Again against Cushendall he was a standout player along with Bryan Phelan. Just never won the big one for club or county

At 31 years young you have to wonder how hard it must be to prepare yourself for the season ahead, the training needs to be looked at seriously. Attitudes towards this hard ass training needs to be revisited. Professional football teams don't knock their pan in as hard as that for preseason. Losing high profile players like John at that age is crazy. Ryan Giggs (hate using soccer analogies) was the best player on the pitch last week at nearly 39 years of age. There is not a chance that he'd be playing if he was doing those hard pre season sessions

rodney trotter · January 20, 2013, 01:27:45 PM

Quote from: Milltown Row2 on January 20, 2013, 12:13:24 PM
Was at the Munster final when he was sent off and the look on his face when he came off was awful, the sense of letting his players and county down after getting to the Munster final, then for Waterford to win and him to miss the semi final must have been heart breaking. Seen him in the final against Kilkenny, while it was a hammering session John Mullane fought the fight, never stopped throughout the final and his performance wasn't overlooked by the commentators at the time. Again against Cushendall he was a standout player along with Bryan Phelan. Just never won the big one for club or county

At 31 years young you have to wonder how hard it must be to prepare yourself for the season ahead, the training needs to be looked at seriously. Attitudes towards this hard ass training needs to be revisited. Professional football teams don't knock their pan in as hard as that for preseason. Losing high profile players like John at that age is crazy. Ryan Giggs (hate using soccer analogies) was the best player on the pitch last week at nearly 39 years of age. There is not a chance that he'd be playing if he was doing those hard pre season sessions

Good point, John Evans the new Roscommon said in an article yesterday in the Independent that Roscommon are easing their way back so far. Taking 2 training sessions a week and the players doing their own individual gym work, compared to other counties doing 5/6 nights.

He said there was no point peaking too soon as its a long season, and players would begin to lose the appatite after a few months by a constant over-load of sessions every week.

imtommygunn · January 20, 2013, 09:33:26 PM

Really felt for him the year clarinsbridge beat lasalle as that would have been his all ireland.

He had some passion about him and great player to boot. Waterford are haemorraghing quality players unfortunately so may be tough for them to mix it with the big boys now.

Can't help but feel he's retiring too soon but best of luck to him.

spuds · January 21, 2013, 03:05:45 AM

Quote from: Milltown Row2 on January 20, 2013, 12:13:24 PM
Was at the Munster final when he was sent off and the look on his face when he came off was awful, the sense of letting his players and county down after getting to the Munster final, then for Waterford to win and him to miss the semi final must have been heart breaking.

This clip always gets me in good form, Mullane's "I love me county" and the buck beside him being the third person partaking in the interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XuVigxAKvo
Be great to have Mullane make a comeback later in the summer for the Munster championship, be some crowd and circus about the place. Will be sorely missed on the hurling scene.

nrico2006 · January 21, 2013, 09:47:06 AM

Quote from: Bord na Mona man on January 18, 2013, 11:28:42 AM
Sad to see him gone. One of the real characters.
You'd dismiss him as a bit looney at the start and then begin to warm to his real passion.

I think the stats are that Mullane was the highest scoring player from open play in recent times.
Lazy media analysis of scoring feats tend not to make the distinction.
The paper headlines might scream of an 'amazing' 12 point scoring feat by a Joe Canning or a Henry Shefflin, when 10 of them might have been from placed balls and only 2 of them from play. Obviously freetaking is a skill in its own right.

I wouldn't rule out a comeback from him though. Once the evenings stretch out a bit, he'll surely start to miss the buzz.

Definitely agree with you regarding the covergae a free taker gets compared to a man who scores more from play. Most reports at any level will have their headline stating the free taker as the hero, when he might have scored 0-13 and none of these were from play, yet some other player might have scored 4 from play. The top scorers in both football and hurling every year are usually not the same as the top scorers from play, some differentiation should be made. Mullane was up there with the best and I would love to see the stats on who was the top scorers from play each year. I would imagine Joe Canning scorers more on average from play though.

TG4 had the 2004 Munster Final on at the weekend, it was weird seeing players without helmets even though its only been a few years that the rule came in enfocing the wearing of helmets for all players.

Bord na Mona man · January 21, 2013, 10:04:51 AM

Yep, here is a better analysis of the stats of scores from play.
http://www.hurlingstats.com/blog/archives/553

Mullane comes out tops since 2004.
Corbett is equal with him on the averages. Corbett did fatten his average by bagging 4-4 from play in a 7 goal turkey shoot of Waterford in 2011. And shrunk it by not scoring in his last 4 games.