Mike McMahon interview: Chasing a sixth Limerick Senior Football Championship medal with Newcastle West

NEWCASTLE WEST’S Mike McMahon turns 40 this month and McMahon has delivered some big performances on his club’s run to the Senior Football Championship final.

McMahon has gone between midfield and full forward this year for ‘the Magpies’ during the SFC. He believes too much can be made of people’s age when it comes to sport.

“It's what gets me up in the mornings in terms of having something to look forward to at the end of the day. It's great that you can walk in the gate in Newcastle West, nothing matters other than what's going to happen in the next hour and a half or two hours of training,” McMahon said.

“Any problems or troubles that you have in your life are forgotten about, you are there with fellas that you grew up with. Obviously I'm bit older than most of the lads, I didn't grow up with too many of them. I've been playing with a lot of them for a number of years, it's a great outlet, I'm really enjoying it. I'm 40 this month, I don't know if I will play next year, but I don't have any desire to finish up either.”

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McMahon says he sees age as a number. The Newcastle West attacker has been in impressive form throughout this year's Limerick SFC. The 39 year old has lined out for his club's senior football and hurling team this year. 

“If you look after yourself and you are willing to put in the training and if you are willing to makes the sacrifices you can still be out there. There is no reason not to be, football and hurling in my opinion are the two best sports in the world,” McMahon said.
“It keeps people going up and down the country in every parish, this is what keeps people going day in, day out. I just see age as a number, it doesn't matter what age a player is if he is still performing,” added McMahon.

County finals are still very special for McMahon and Newcastle West. The west Limerick club are aiming to win their fourth Limerick SFC title in five years at the weekend.

“It was disappointing not to be there last year, we felt we underperformed last year against Adare. We spoke about it at the start of the year and we wanted to right those wrongs. People thought we were on a downward trajectory over the winter months and into the start of the championship, it's good to show that there is still a bit of life left us.”

McMahon believes the Magpies mixed the good with the bad throughout the championship. Newcastle West recorded victories over Mungret St Paul's, Kildimo Pallaskenry and Ballylanders and played out draws with Galtee Gaels and St Kieran's during the group stage. The seven time county champions defeated Fr Casey's in the SFC semi-final last weekend. 

“The results speak for themselves, we had a really tough battle with Mungret in round one. It went down to the last couple of minutes, we had fellas popping up with key scores late on. It's going to be the same again the next day. We had a good win against Kildimo-Pallaskenry, then we hit a speed bump against Galtee Gaels and St Kieran's getting two draws.

"The most pleasing thing from my point of view we felt we were stronger than Ballylanders in the last group game and we showed on the day that we were stronger than them. It was pleasing against Ballylanders that we had the work done and it reflected that on the scoreboard.”

The 2023 county champions finished top of group two on eight points and advanced directly into the semi-finals of the SFC. Newcastle West needed extra time to get the better of Fr Casey's winning out 2-16 to 0-14 in the semi-final.

“The last day was just a dogfight, we looked dead and buried as we have done in the past in matches. Fr Casey's easily could have kicked on the last day as well in extra time, we steadied the ship and we just came out of the blocks quicker in extra-time. Thankfully, we kicked on in extra-time, the season has been up and down but we felt we were coming right at the right time.”

The Newcastle West attacker is expecting a Titantic battle against Mungret St Paul's. Limerick football benefits from having more clubs compete for county championship honours according to the five time Limerick senior football championship winner.

“We're under no illusions of what Mungret St Paul's are going to bring to the table this weekend. I can say that they are here now, they are not upcoming any more. They're after arriving to the party now in a big way, but I said it at the start of the year, the more teams that come to the party and raise the standards, it is only going to be good for Limerick football. And you could see that in Limerick's performances this year, the better club championship is, the better the quality of players being produced and the better it is for Jimmy Lee.”

Newcastle West edged past Mungret St Paul's 0-20 to 2-13 in round one of the SFC. Mungret St Paul's victory over Adare in the SFC semi-final has impressed McMahon.

“We know that Mungret have serious players coming off the bench, Diarmuid Hynes didn't start the last day, he kicked a couple of scores. They have some really good young quick players who came into the team the last day.

“They're really fit and physical team, they like attacking and kicking the ball and it's up to Stephen Kelly, Brian Fitzgerald and Martin O'Sullivan to come up with a plan to break them down. It's up to us then as players to execute what they want us to do. It's not going to be easy, I go back to 2017 when we were favourites, we're taking nothing for granted and we're turning to hopefully win another senior county championship. Experience can help you but it doesn't guarantee you anything.”

This Sunday, McMahon is chasing a sixth senior county football championship medal.

“It would be absolutely huge to win this Sunday, I won't lie I was in the dressing room in Rathkelae last year and I didn't know was I done or not. You would have all these thoughts going through your head, I didn't know was it the last time I was going to put on a jersey at senior level playing football for Newcastle West.

“We are of the belief, teams like this don't come around too often so spoke about it at the start of the year, we are a generational team and that's way it goes. There is ups and downs, sometimes a couple of results go against you, it has been great to see it building throughout the year."

Emmet Rigter and Bryan Nix have both made their return from injuries for Newcastle West. 

“It's great to see that the older lads still want it and that there is a massive desire to win another county title. We haven't not contested a county final be it hurling or football since 2019. It's a fair sign of the club and try inspire the next generation.”