John Mullane
- Not to be confused with John Mullan.
John Mullane (born 28 January 1981[1] in Waterford, Ireland) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club De La Salle and has been a member of the Waterford senior inter-county team since 2001.
Playing career
Club
John Mullane plays his club hurling with the De La Salle club in Waterford and has enjoyed some success. After few notable victories at minor and under-21 levels, he later became a key member of the club's senior hurling team. In 2008 Mullane captained De La Salle to an 0-11 to 0-9 point victory over Abbeyside to take the senior county championship title.[2] It was the club's first ever county title. De La Salle later represented Waterford in the Munster club championship. After defeating hot favourites Sarsfield's in the semi-final, Mullane later led his team out against Adare in the Munster final. After failing to score in the opening half, De La Salle went on to win the game by 1-9 to 0-10.[3] It was Mullane's first Munster club title.
Inter-county
In the late 1990s and early 2000s 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, Mullane disappointingly had to leave the field after pulling his hamstring. Limerick went on to win the game.
The following year Mullane lined out in his first Munster final. Tipperray, the reigning All-Ireland champions, were the opponents on that occasion and few people gave Mullane's side a chance. At the final whistle it was a different story as Waterford were emphatic winners by 2-23 to 3-12. It was Waterford's first Munster title since 1963 and it was Mullane's first senior provincial medal. This victory set up an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Clare. While many people expected Waterford to advance easily to the All-Ireland final, Clare were the winners by three points and Waterford's dream run came to an end.
In 2003 Waterford set out to defend their Munster title and build on their success. Cork, however, had other ideas. In that game Mullane became one of the very few players to have scored a hat-trick in a Munster hurling final, however, Waterford still lost the match. His side were later defeated by Wexford in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
2004 saw Waterford qualify for a third successive Munster final with Cork providing the opposition once again. Described as the game that had everything Waterford beat Cork by 3-16 to 1-21 to win one of the greatest games of hurling ever played. The game was not without incident for Mullane. 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 Mullane. After consultation with the linesman, the referee decided to send off Mullane. This was deemed to be the pivotal moment in the match. The subsequent All-Ireland semi-final saw Waterford take on a wounded Kilkenny team. In spite of this ‘the Cats’ were the winners by 3-12 to 0-18.
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.
In 2007 Waterford threw down a mark of intent when they captured the National Hurling League title. It was Waterford's first league title since 1963, with Mullane playing his part to seal the victory. Later in the championship his side finally got the better of Cork. After another thrilling game between these great two rivals Waterford were the winners by 5-15 to 3-18. This victory allowed Waterford to advance to the Munster final where they played Limerick. Waterford justified their favourites tag and won the game with relative ease courtesy of a hat trick of goals by Dan Shanahan. Waterford later saw off Cork again after an All-Ireland quarter-final replay to set up an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Limerick. Many expected the game to be a mere formality; however, Limerick savaged a tired Waterford team by 5-11 to 2-15. It was a major shock to Waterford and to the hurling public at large who expected Mullane's side to canter home. Mullane himself was largely disappointing in this game having had a virus for several weeks leading up to the game.
In 2008 expectations were high that Waterford would retain their Munster title and challenge for the All-Ireland once again. After a disappointing National League campaign and a nine point loss to Clare in the first round of the championship a players meeting was held where it was indicated that some of the team no longer wanted Justin McCarthy in charge.[4] He subsequently resigned as manager and was replaced by Davy FitzGerald. From that point on Waterford successfully completed the qualifier phase of the championship before defeating Wexford and Tipperary in the respective quarter-final and semi-final. After forty-five years Waterford had qualified for the All-Ireland final. Reigning champions Kilkenny provided the opposition and were aiming to capture a third title in succession. A classic game of hurling was expected by many, but Kilkenny started stronger and two goals by Eddie Brennan in the first 20 minutes effectively killed the game. 'The Cats' ploughed on to record an enormous 3-30 to 1-13 victory over their near neighbours.[5] It was one of the most one-sided finals in decades and an embarrassing defeat for Waterford. There was some surprise after the defeat when Mullane was omitted from the All-Stars team. He was, however, subsequently named on the GPA Team of the Year.[6]
Provincial
Mullane has also lined out with Munster in the inter-provincial hurling championship where he played alongside his championship rivals from Tipperary, Limerick, Clare and Cork. In 2007 he won his sole Railway Cup title following a defeat of Connacht.[7]
Honours
De La Salle
Waterford
Munster
Championship Appearances
| # |
Date |
Venue |
Opponent |
Score |
Result |
Competition |
Match report |
| 1 |
10 June 2001 |
Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork |
Limerick |
0-1 |
2-14 : 4-11 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 2 |
26 May 2002 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
0-1 |
1-16 : 1-15 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 3 |
30 June 2002 |
Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Thurles |
Tipperary |
0-4 |
2-23 : 3-12 |
Munster Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 4 |
11 August 2002 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Clare |
0-1 |
1-13 : 1-16 |
All-Ireland Semi-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 5 |
1 June 2003 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Limerick |
1-0 |
4-13 : 4-13 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 6 |
8 June 2003 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Limerick |
0-0 |
1-12 : 0-13 |
Munster Semi-Final Replay |
Irish Examiner |
| 7 |
29 June 2003 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
3-1 |
3-12 : 3-16 |
Munster Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 8 |
20 July 2003 |
Nolan Park, Kilkenny |
Wexford |
0-5 |
0-18 : 1-20 |
3rd Round Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 9 |
16 May 2004 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Clare |
0-4 |
3-21 : 1-08 |
Munster Quarter-Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 10 |
6 June 2004 |
Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork |
Tipperary |
1-0 |
4-10 : 3-12 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 11 |
27 June 2004 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
0-2 |
3-16 : 1-21 |
Munster Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 12 |
22 May 2005 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
0-0 |
2-15 : 2-17 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 13 |
18 June 2005 |
Dr. Cullen Park, Carlow |
Offaly |
0-8 |
1-26 : 1-15 |
Group Stage Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 14 |
2 July 2005 |
Walsh Park, Waterford |
Dublin |
1-2 |
4-17 : 1-03 |
Group Stage Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 15 |
9 July 2005 |
Cusack Park, Ennis |
Clare |
0-4 |
0-21 : 4-14 |
Group Stage Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 16 |
24 July 2005 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Cork |
0-1 |
1-13 : 1-18 |
All-Ireland Quarter-Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 17 |
4 June 2006 |
Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork |
Tipperary |
0-2 |
1-12 : 3-14 |
Munster Semi-Final |
RTE Sport |
| 18 |
18 June 2006 |
Cusack Park, Mullingar |
Westmeath |
1-2 |
3-22 : 1-14 |
Group Stage Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 19 |
2 July 2006 |
Walsh Park, Waterford |
Galway |
0-4 |
1-25 : 2-20 |
Group Stage Qualifier |
RTE Sport |
| 20 |
8 July 2006 |
O'Moore Park, Portlaoise |
Laois |
1-3 |
2-17 : 1-13 |
Group Stage Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 21 |
23 July 2006 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Tipperary |
0-2 |
1-22 : 3-13 |
All-Ireland Quarter-Final |
RTE Sport |
| 22 |
6 August 2006 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Cork |
0-4 |
1-15 : 1-16 |
All-Ireland Semi-Final |
RTE Sport |
| 23 |
17 June 2007 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
1-4 |
5-15 : 3-18 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 24 |
8 July 2007 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Limerick |
0-3 |
3-17 : 1-14 |
Munster Final |
Irish Independent |
| 25 |
29 July 2007 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Cork |
0-2 |
3-16 : 3-16 |
All-Ireland Quarter-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 26 |
5 August 2007 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Cork |
0-2 |
2-17 : 0-20 |
All-Ireland Quarter-Final Replay |
Irish Independent |
| 27 |
12 August 2007 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Limerick |
0-0 |
2-15 : 5-11 |
All-Ireland Semi-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 28 |
1 June 2008 |
Gaelic Grounds, Limerick |
Clare |
0-8 |
0-23 : 2-26 |
Munster Quarter-Final |
Irish Examiner |
| 29 |
5 July 2008 |
Walsh Park, Waterford |
Antrim |
2-2 |
6-18 : 0-15 |
2nd Round Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 30 |
19 July 2008 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Offaly |
0-2 |
2-18 : 0-18 |
4th Round Qualifier |
Irish Independent |
| 31 |
27 July 2008 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Wexford |
0-3 |
2-19 : 3-15 |
All-Ireland Quarter-Final |
RTE Sport |
| 32 |
17 August 2008 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Tipperary |
0-3 |
1-20 : 1-18 |
All-Ireland Semi-Final |
RTE Sport |
| 33 |
7 September 2008 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Kilkenny |
0-3 |
1-13 : 3-30 |
All-Ireland Final |
RTE Sport |
| 34 |
14 June 2009 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Limerick |
0-4 |
0-11 : 1-08 |
Munster Semi-Final |
Irish Independent |
| 35 |
20 June 2009 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Limerick |
0-6 |
0-25 : 0-17 |
Munster Semi-Final Replay |
RTE Sport |
| 36 |
12 July 2009 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Tipperary |
1-5 |
2-16 : 4-14 |
Munster Final |
RTE Sport |
| 37 |
26 July 2009 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Galway |
0-1 |
1-16 : 0-18 |
All-Ireland Quarter-final |
RTE Sport |
| 38 |
9 August 2009 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Kilkenny |
0-1 |
3-15 : 2-23 |
All-Ireland Semi-final |
RTE Sport |
| 39 |
7 June 2010 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Clare |
0-3 |
0-22 : 1-15 |
Munster Semi-final |
RTE Sport |
| 40 |
11 July 2010 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
0-4 |
2-15 : 2-15 |
Munster Final |
RTE Sport |
| 41 |
17 July 2010 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Cork |
0-3 |
1-16 : 1-13 |
Munster Final Replay |
RTE Sport |
| 42 |
15 August 2010 |
Croke Park, Dublin |
Tipperary |
0-3 |
1-18 : 3-19 |
All-Ireland Semi-final |
RTE Sport |
| 43 |
12 June 2011 |
Semple Stadium, Thurles |
Limerick |
2-2 |
3-16 : 3-15 |
Munster Semi-final |
RTE Sport |
References
Teams
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Mullane, John |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
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| Date of birth |
28 January 1981 |
| Place of birth |
Waterford |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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