PAUR THEM A SECOND CUP.

Mahony says it isn't a numbers game but Ballygunner's thirst for glory is so clear

- BY GARRY DOYLE

PAURIC Mahony knows exactly what a second All-Ireland would mean, which is why he is careful not to say it out loud in the wrong way.

There is a danger, at this time of year, of turning careers into ledgers. Wins in one column, losses in another.

Mahony has lived long enough in the game to know that hurling does not like being reduced to arithmetic.

Yet here he is, in his thirties now, back on the brink with Ballygunner, chasing something that has hovered just out of reach for too long.

One All-Ireland club title on the wall. Twelve Waterford titles. Six Munster crowns. A dominance so total at home it almost feels routine. And still, that sense that there should be more.

"Obviously," he says, when the subject of a second All-Ireland is raised, and then he pauses, choosing his words carefully.