John Mullane

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Not to be confused with John Mullan.

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Personal information
John Mullane
Sport	Hurling
Irish Name	Seán Ó Maoláin
Full name	John Mullane
Place of birth	Waterford , Ireland
Club information
Club	De La Salle
Position	Forward
Inter-County
County	Waterford
Position	Right corner-forward
Inter-County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Waterford	2001-	22 (8-51)
Senior Inter-County Titles
Munster Titles	3
All-Ireland	0
NHL	1
All Stars	1
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

John Mullane (born 1980) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club De La Salle and with the Waterford senior inter-county team.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

John Mullane plays his club hurling with the De La Salle club in Waterford. Not to be confused with Joe Maher, Carlow Photographer. He has enjoyed some success at underage levels, however, he has yet to win a senior county championship medal

[edit] Inter-county

In the late 1990s Mullane played hurling with the Waterford minor and under-21 teams, however, he had little success at these levels. His senior debut for his native-county came in the first round of the Munster Championship in 2001 against Limerick. After a lightning start to the game, John disappointingly had to leave the field after pulling his hamstring. The following year Mullane had his first major success when he won his first Munster medal. It was Waterford's first provincial title since 1963. Unfortunately Mullane's side were later defeated in the All-Ireland semi-final. Mullane's most famous moment came in the 2003 Munster final against Cork. In that game he became one of the very few players to have scored a hat-trick in a Munster hurling final, however, Waterford still lost the match.

The following year Mullane won a second Munster medal following a thrilling game against Cork. Only a few minutes into the second-half of the game the referee noticed an "off the ball incident" between Cork's Brian Murphy and John Mullane. After consultation with the linesman, the referee decided to send off Mullane. This was deemed to be the pivotal moment in the match. After this, Waterford, although down to 14 men, went on to win the Munster Hurling Championship for the seventh time. Once again Waterford were later defeated in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The following two years brought little success for Mullane and Waterford. In 2005 and 2006 they reached the All-Ireland knock-out series, however, they were beaten on both occasions by Cork.

2007, however, saw one of Mullane's finest achievements to date, as he was part of the Waterford side that defeated Kilkenny by 0-20 to 0-18 in the National Hurling League final in Semple Stadium in Thurles.

After beating Kilkenny, Waterford's next game was the Munter semi-final at Semple Stadium. In what was arguably the best game of the Championship in 2007, Waterford beat Cork in a thrilling game from start to finish, with Mullane scoring some wonderful points as well as a superb goal. Waterford won the game by a scoreline of 5-15 to 3-18. In the Final, Waterford met Limerick and Mullane, although kept quiet throughout, chipped in with some wonderful play.

After brilliant League and Munster campaigns, Mullane and indeed Waterford's year came to an end against Limerick at the semi final stage. Mullane was largely dissapointing in this game having had a virus for several weeks leading up to the game. However, in true John Mullane fashion, he battled the virus and played on.