Aaron McKay joins the Newry Reporter Sports Podcast

  • 2 months ago
We sat down for a 45-minute chat with Armagh's All-Ireland winning full back Aaron McKay and he discussed:

- His goal in the final
- Paying tribute to his friend Peter Hughes who passed in 2015
- Training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
- His unique relationship with manager Kieran McGeeney
- Armagh having a target on their backs for 2025

And much more!
Transcript
00:00Hello everybody and welcome to the Newry Reporter Sports Podcast. We're joined this week by
00:25the man who hit the back of the net as Armagh defeated Galway in the All-Ireland Final,
00:28Drum & Tees, Aaron McKay. So we're here today with All-Ireland winner Aaron McKay. Aaron
00:34I have an easy question to start off for you. How does that sound? How does that feel to
00:37be an All-Ireland winner? It does, it sounds strange. Stuff you dream of. You watch the
00:44Dublins for the last decade and a half and suppose you're like, Jesus will anyone ever
00:49beat Dublin? Let alone a county like us who's only ever won it once. So yeah, it's a bit
00:55strange to hear that. It's been 12 days now, a bit of a whirlwind. Can you sort of, in
01:00broad terms, can you talk me through the last 12 days in terms of the celebrations and everything,
01:04of course your own involvement in that as well? A lot of alcohol, not knowing what day
01:12it is, not seeing the family as much as I should have because I'm probably still partying
01:17with the boys. Just mad, mad, like once in a lifetime kind of partying because you don't
01:25do that much partying because, or drinking even, because you don't have time and you're
01:29training so much and it's county club, county club. So I suppose it utilises that party
01:34time when you can. Obviously well-deserved celebrations and you took advantage of it.
01:39Is it tough now sort of getting back into normality, if you like, that things have
01:44probably, the dust is settling a wee bit now on it and it's back to normal? Yeah, I suppose
01:50it's a country you've forgotten about too and things need to get back to normal. You
01:56have to look after the child and the family again and work and all that things like that
02:00don't stop for anybody no matter what's happening so it's getting back in the routine again
02:04and just kick on again. I think you're the perfect man to ask about the final, of course
02:11your involvement in it. You would have been a child watching the likes of Ashley McConville
02:14score the goal in 2002, that's now Aaron McKay. Does that add something to it? Does
02:19that make it even extra special? Honestly, no, not really. At the time, I've been asked
02:27a load of times since the game, have you scored a goal? Personally, not really, it was all
02:33a team. I was just glad for us, there was no, oh I've scored a goal in another final
02:39kind of feeling at all. It was, we've scored, can we go on and win it? I don't even really
02:46think about the goal to be honest, I just think about us winning it. I don't know, maybe
02:50it's too early or something but that's just how I feel about it. So I take it now in the
02:55middle of your career, the other word I'll use is legacy, so the players legacy, what
02:59they've done, that doesn't really come into your thinking at all? No, not at all. If we
03:05had no one, my legacy would have been, I've been here for nearly 10 years and haven't
03:08won anything, which was ultimately probably the biggest driving factor for the whole group.
03:14We obviously want to achieve more, we're not happy with what we've just got,
03:21tired on our back now, but listen, I suppose we were the ones hunting there for a long
03:27time, now we're going to be hunted and it's up to us to upper level and hopefully achieve
03:33more. Was that sort of a tactical play or are you just giving the guidance that if you
03:38see the space to exploit it? I think in the first half you got four but didn't get the
03:42ball, so it wasn't like, people are probably saying, no offence, what's Armacade doing
03:46on the edge of the square, but how does that come about? We've heard Clare Donaghy and
03:51his basketball background, there's a lot of patterns and people have been commenting on
03:56the hand signals we do and all that kind of stuff and so we've a lot of different set
04:01ups and how we're structured and if you scan across the pitch, you know who should be in
04:06a particular position and you might see that they're maybe too far away to be there so
04:10you have to fill that void and then they'll replace your spot and so on, so it's not
04:15necessarily that I was supposed to be there, it's just that somebody in orange was supposed
04:18to be in that position in the build up to say, I think it's Walker who kicks it to Ben
04:23or somebody, so it's just identifying that that set up is active and you fill a void
04:30within that set up and that's just how it panned out. So that void is just the space
04:35that you saw the open gap? Yeah, if you see the goal back, Andy is exactly where he's
04:41supposed to be but his run creates almost the whole space to go into and probably nobody
04:47bar us will pick up on that kind of stuff, if he doesn't make that run the goal won't
04:52happen and obviously Supi's pulling the goalie player on the end lane but Andy's movement
04:59is nearly the most critical of the whole lot. And I think Supi's been credited with the
05:04line that if he knew it was you on the edge of the square he wouldn't have passed it,
05:06does that originate from him or does that originate from you? No, no, I totally agree
05:11with him, like there's a good few times even in league games and stuff over the years we're
05:15able to have the back post and it's like a tarpaulin, someone's carrying the ball and
05:18I'm standing waiting for a batman and they just fist it over the bar, maybe they'll just
05:22shoot themselves and we'll be doing video analysis back and we'll be standing watching
05:26on the big screen and I'm like, boys I'm standing there for the handiest paneling ever and I
05:31think it was Donald Blair or someone made a joke one night and they're like, ah but it was you,
05:34you know, if it was maybe a Supi or a Rain or something at the back post they would have
05:37got it but lucky enough he mistaked me for Rain so it worked out lovely. You'll get the
05:44ball in there every time you free yourself. No, I don't think so, they'll still turn me
05:48down, I don't want to run around in a mask with Rain or something. You saved it for the
05:51best moment though didn't you, that was your first goal for Armada? First goal for Armada
05:55and finally we were doing a walk around in the pitch before the game and a few boys at
06:00the programme were slagging me, I hadn't won a challenge yet and Dietz was actually telling me
06:06this last three weeks or something before the game he said, you're going to score, you're
06:09going to score, you're going to score and I was like, this boy is winding me up here because
06:12I never score and it's just kind of ironic that the boy is slagging me and Dietz going on about
06:18it and I did score. You kind of spoke it into existence then didn't you? Yeah, yeah. I hope
06:23you never score another goal again so you'll always have that one as just the one goal,
06:26that'd be a Puppers question. It's not a Puppers question, they're still not going to score.
06:32And just on the game itself then, I know you talked about it's been a whirlwind couple of
06:36weeks, have you had a chance to sit down and watch the game and how do you sort of reflect
06:39on it, what are your thoughts on the game? I don't think I've watched the game sober yet.
06:45I don't think many people in Armada have. I think we watched it like the Tuesday or Wednesday after
06:51in Tolles in Camden or something. We were all in the drink at that stage and
06:56sure you're having a crack, you're not really concentrating on watching it.
07:02But I do, I probably remember the last 10 minutes the most. I remember after the goal and the legs
07:08of Rory went down injured and I went over to him to see if he was okay and I was actually giving
07:13off to him because I felt like we had all the momentum. At that time I was like, we're injured,
07:18can you kind of get up here and you're killing the whole buzz for us kind of thing and he said,
07:23no I'm bankrupt, I need to get off here. I don't know how long that stoppage of play was for but
07:29I felt like it took the whole sting out of everything we'd got going at that stage.
07:34Not to blame it on Rory, he does look serious injured but that's really it. And then obviously
07:40the Joey's block, unbelievable. Grimbo's shot off the post, I remember Ben Grady's turn over
07:47and you're thinking, lovely we're away here, we've done it. Niall has the ball and you're thinking,
07:52he just pops it over here, it's smelt it, hits the post and you're going, oh my god,
07:57is this going to happen again? And God was still in that pain to get off the pitch.
08:01But Joey, Joe Backler, or Blackler I believe, saved the day. About the last 10 minutes,
08:08that's all I remember, chaos. He's another one of the heroes then, one of the unlikely heroes,
08:12if you like, Joe McElroy as well. I think he's been our player of the year,
08:18him or Blaine to be honest. I know the boys were on about the RTE team of the year and all and
08:25Joey wasn't even in it. I know they might only go best off championship games but from the start
08:31of the year, National League right to the end, Joe and Blaine, Joe in particular has been absolutely
08:37unbelievable. Selfless, man-marking boy, he's taken him out of the game. His energy was
08:42unbelievable. In extra time against Kerry, he's still running as hard as he was then as he would
08:47be in the first 10 minutes. Phenomenal stuff. It's funny, one of my mates was at the game and
08:52speaking about extra time, he saw this lad zipping about, I think McElroy maybe went 12 in that game
08:56and he was looking at the programme. McElroy's been on since the start, he wasn't around but
09:01probably just does the dirty work that doesn't make headlines and things like that. That's
09:07exactly what it is but I think he knows his colleagues and peers that we recognise him and
09:14we'd be very grateful for him. Another name you've mentioned is Blaine Hughes, he's a lad who's
09:18obviously come out of the panel and come back in and just had an unbelievable season. Probably the
09:22whole defence, I think 14 clean sheets in 17 games, you're a part of that too and the whole unit but
09:27it's been probably the bedrock for our man's success. Yes, as the camera keeper said, if you
09:32want to win all-irons, you have to have a range of defence or solid defence. We're one of the best
09:37in the country and I think 190 had showed us statistically over the last 10 years what teams
09:43were conceding to win all-irons. Was it Kerry in 22? I don't think they even conceded a goal in
09:49Championship football, maybe it was one anyway. So he was like, this is the targets we have to
09:53adhere and I said, no, jeez, how are we not doing this? We're playing against that gallery of teams
09:58but I think we only conceded three, was it, in Championship. Two of them was in the down game
10:03and one of them was an OG and the other one was a real scrappy one. To be fair to Blaine,
10:11big challenge, Ethan basically got to starting as a number one, played a completely different
10:17kind of role as a goalkeeper, which is very dominant now across the country, you can see in
10:22the club football, you can see it go very wrong in the club football as well, even in the county
10:26too. But I suppose it took a lot of courage for him to first step away, know what he's leaving
10:33behind in the Championship as we'd gotten to the Ulster final after him being a part of the team
10:37so long. Maybe he was the only one happy we didn't win that first Ulster final. But then to
10:42rent these in the second league, come back, fight for his place and play as well as he did all year,
10:48his kickouts are second. I know some people were giving him a bit of slack in the final,
10:52but he was carrying a bad knock as well and to be fair to him, he stuck it out there.
10:58That's one of the incredible stories. I don't think the general public actually knew about
11:03that at all. It was only sort of come out after the game. Was there a panic?
11:07It happened right in front of me. I don't know why he was even hitting kickouts in an area he
11:12was because we were doing a shooting drill and Joey Mack was going to catch a pass and Blaine
11:18wouldn't have seen him coming and he just came right across the back of Blaine's leg and I was
11:23like, oh my god, of all the days for this to happen and he stayed down and we just carried on as
11:29normal. I remember I passed Ethan because he was kicking to Ethan. Ethan must have been around
11:33midfield or 45. I suppose he knew me going up here because this way doesn't look good. So it
11:39looked bad. He's going to make it out that it was even worse, but he grinded it out and he
11:45done his job now. Absolutely and then last one just on the game itself. After the game you had
11:49the PH6 jersey on. Can you explain what that is? Yeah, so one of my best friends, he obviously
11:56played for my club Dumb Tee, David Garrickson in 2015, Peter Hughes and he used to always wear a
12:03PH6. So I probably had a wee bit of sentimental value with the number six. Obviously I wasn't
12:10wearing six myself as a spare jersey. I didn't go and peel the one off the earring, but it was
12:15something that I had noted down even before the season had started that if we had won something
12:19that I wanted to wear a number six with the PH on it for him and lucky enough we won. I asked
12:26Punky the kid, man, will you go grab me a number six and Barnaby, who's another Dumb Tee man,
12:31he's our physio, he had written it down on the jersey for me and I suppose it was just something
12:36that, just to show the family that we don't forget because you play years of football even in the
12:46club now, even when I see the number six myself, I'm like, he should be wearing that number for us.
12:50So just something to pay respects to them and show the family we don't forget that.
12:55It's incredible really. I think every single player in the Armagh squad, if you pick them
12:59out, that there is a story there, that they've lost obviously some, of course Niall Grimley's
13:04story of course and there's other boys as well, Ciarán McGeaney, the Markins boys like that have
13:08lost people and does that bring the group together, the fact that these are all fighting for the one
13:14cause, that these all have people that are near them? Yeah, I suppose when you know people's
13:21troubles or background stories of what they're going through because you can go to training
13:26some nights and lads just aren't at it and they could be getting barked at but you don't know
13:31what's going on at home or what's happened or what is going on in their head and one thing to
13:37be fair to management and all is like, to be fair to Gieser, there's nothing he can't do for anybody
13:43off the pitch and in fairness to him and his role as well, he's helped us because I'd be a bit like
13:51regimental and you know if someone's messing about they'd be giving it off to them and all but
13:55even though he showed me that you need to be thinking about what's maybe going on and that's
14:00you know a family or what's happening back home and I suppose there's boys who've shared their
14:05stories amongst the group and then it gives you a newfound respect like you know you obviously
14:10don't go around speaking about things like that to everyone what's happening but it helps them
14:14cope and probably helps them understand you know that we're here for them as well and you can
14:21understand why they're missing out but their family you know maybe six nights a week during
14:26the winter time when we're training like dogs and you know it's just a good thing for a group to and
14:31you find it bonds the group stronger together when they know that kind of stuff. You're probably right
14:37in the middle of it now so I don't know if you'll have the wider perspective but I think from the
14:41outside looking in the story of the Sarman group even from when you started in 2017 the division
14:45three team didn't get out of division three that year on the road stuck together really the same
14:49group of players I know obviously new players have been blotted in but a lot of the boys have
14:53been there now a long time to go on this journey from division three to winning an All-Ireland
14:57like can you have you sat down and thought about that the crazy journey how do you sort of
15:02how do you put that into words and in your own mind about how this has happened?
15:06There is a lot of the boys there from back then and obviously there's fellas who've
15:12stepped away for one reason or another or retirements and so on boys you just couldn't
15:15commit anymore but like I remember we'd sit down start seasons and we'd plan out you know
15:20where we want to be and like back then you're writing down get promoted from division three
15:26and like some fellas are writing down winning All-Ireland and I'm going like we can't even
15:30get out of division three we couldn't win a national championship the first round match
15:33how are we going to be like and that was Dublin in their palm how are we going to win an All-Ireland
15:38and so I suppose like there was a core group of boys there and they just kept driving standards
15:44all the time and obviously with management pushing them on as well and then when you
15:49ultimately achieve them goals the shorthand goals like of division three promotion and two to one
15:54you know the goals become higher and then I think when we beat Dublin in Croke Park one night in the
15:59league game and we went and beat Toronto the next week after I think I think them two games back to
16:06back for the first time where the whole group had now like obviously there's a lot of work to go
16:10from 2017 missing out from division three to division one beating previous All-Ireland
16:16champions and the current All-Ireland champions of the time where you're going we're good enough
16:20to mix and match with these boys we can beat these boys and for me down two weeks where the first
16:25time the whole group actually believed within themselves to write down winning All-Ireland
16:31and actually believe it so like now after that time frame now I know obviously 2021 is a
16:40difficult season because of straight knockout and all that with the Covid but from 23 or 22, 23, 24
16:47on it was all about winning All-Ireland and the group fully believing that you can achieve them
16:53goals which is mad to think of where you come from in the previous maybe four or five years
16:57so I guess probably just about believing in yourselves like and the group did now not
17:03everybody within the group maybe at that specific time did but I think particularly in the last two
17:09years between last year I know we lost those final penalties but when you're not losing games
17:14and you're only getting beaten penalties then you go and see how well Derry had done yeah well
17:18Monmouth even put it up to doubling in the semi-final you go we can just get a wee bit of
17:23luck in one of these shootouts and win or get on another step forward and just do us a lot of good
17:29and then luckily enough we didn't need a penalty shootout in the All-Ireland series this year thank God
17:34it's funny you've sort of turned what is undoubtedly negative into a positive there
17:38I think the thing about the penalty shootouts is it amongst the supporters anyway it sort of felt
17:42like the more that'll happen you kind of lose belief a bit that I think it kind of corrupts
17:47it for the group that's interesting because you would think this is never going to happen
17:50for us kind of thing but as you said you you're actually gaining confidence despite
17:55now there's nothing wrong there's initial maybe say like a week in the aftermath particularly this
18:01year after us finally because it happened back-to-back and now maybe the Derry us final you
18:08could say it was a toss of a coin I like I feel like we were the better team this year in the
18:11us final against Donegal we went 15-11 up I think it was or 14-9 we should have kicked for home in
18:17the last quarter and we didn't and you're going there's another one we've kicked away is it ever
18:21going to happen but then like Keezer sat us down and he was like what do you want to do just walk
18:25about and maybe go through like and we were drawn in the group of deaths you must say in the All-Ireland
18:30Series and just finish your season and let it be right like this or do you want to give it another
18:33rattle like and suppose that's what we've always done no matter when times have went badly like
18:38again you say way back to 17 temporary soccer punched us lost a league promotion
18:44beat by Downing Ulster and then we went in a decent on the championship like so
18:48I think even back then not entirely the same team but we always responded well and came back so
18:56like obviously after us playing this year it was different in that we were coming from the exact
19:02same spot 12 months previous but I don't know it's hard to put into words how
19:08how a group of lads can can do that again because even like your own family be like yeah he's
19:13wasting their time or I don't know how he's doing it or then you listen to people like you go over
19:18the character of the pool and listen to people saying this and that about such a such player or
19:23they're probably saying about me too or geezers this geezers that and these people have no idea
19:28what's going on in the group and it's ultimately it was a kick of a penalty away from being the
19:34polar opposites and that that was the most frustrating thing and then you're thinking
19:37right we need to prove all these people wrong so that's it can't come full circle. I think the big
19:42thing you're talking about the sort of narrative and the talk about it and don't get me wrong I
19:45think Jim McGuinness is a brilliant manager but I had to laugh after the penalty shootout that
19:49Jim McGuinness was a genius and Ciarán McGuinney didn't have a clue and yet it was
19:53what do you do the game was a draw if you like and just obviously kicking the ball. Yeah that's
19:57that's frustrating yeah for the group to listen to sort of probably geezer in particular the
20:02criticism that he was taking. We get criticism like obviously but like he gets I don't know how
20:09he puts up with you know like signs outside his house and all and like I know his father and
20:14mother really well like and you're like why like like this man's lifted Sam himself he went away
20:21for a few years with the Derry's come back and like what he inherited from top to bottom wasn't
20:27a system like a Derry or Trone current underage set up like and I would have been part of that
20:32underage set up at the time and it's been like they switched around you know like and if you
20:37look through the whole thing now from top to bottom like it's it's elite elite so like
20:43Armagh's expectation I think fans sometimes their expectations exceeds what's the possibility is
20:49you know like like I say like they're expecting us to go and win a Lyra against Dublin's and
20:52their pumps and us not even getting out of the wizardry and then geezer's head's obviously you
20:57know on the guillotine if we don't win them games but like I suppose when you see as a group if you
21:04see geezer getting all the abuse as bad as he has so anytime we get abused like you kind of have
21:11to go and go gee we think we're getting a bad look at what he gets and then it kind of rallies
21:16the group again then you know like it's not his fault somebody missed the penalty or it's not his
21:21fault I think yeah like we actually had a great chance late on extra time against Donegal and
21:27score put us four or three or four up in extra time and he missed like he won each score every
21:32day of the week like that's not his fault he missed it like his job was just to send us out
21:37and win a game so like it's insane the criticism he receives but ultimately now like we've won
21:45what Armagh won one of their in 140 years now now he's finally won another one so
21:51like I don't want to say any bad words like but he can show off a lot of people yeah yeah
21:57I think that's part of it like a big thing of course we're not unfriendly you want to win for
22:01yourself you want to win for your family for your county your club that's why I'm dead but there was
22:04certainly the fight that Armagh wanted to win that for for Ciaranellini yeah um like he was
22:10slagging me because and his mom as well she was digging through the house she found the muslim
22:15stuff he used to receive when he was playing and one of them was from me I think I was like seven
22:19years of age and I was all I'm not going to say the stuff because it's cringy now but uh it was
22:25funny because he showed me at one time he was like oh if you're slagging me again I'll have to show
22:30you this and uh but it's funny how long of an impact it's had now where like at that age I was
22:37I'm sure I was the only one who's currently in the team that back then those things the same
22:41not just guys like obviously Ponder Grains Mcdonald stevie mcdonalds and all to now come
22:46full circle where the guy you used to watch play yeah has motivated you to keep playing the game
22:52to now coach you to win the thing that he had you seen him win so it's mad how it's come full
22:58circle yeah that there's another side diggy isn't it that most people don't know him yeah like he
23:05might be the biggest media man all over the last week or two he's all right yeah he's been actually
23:09seen him smile yes yeah i've never seen him before but uh like diesel does the bjj as well and um he
23:19would come in the nearly team tours as well we'd roll sometimes and so like and obviously you've
23:26been with him for nine or ten years so you build out a friendship like and and you read stuff people
23:31be like oh he never smiles never talks he doesn't even know him like they genuinely don't know him
23:36like he is he's a lovely man and like i can go out and chat to him as easily as i can chat to anyone
23:42else now some people obviously don't feel the same maybe just because the reputation he has
23:48and then obviously the keyboard warrior but like i don't know it's hard to put into words i don't
23:54know how he deals with it all to be honest like i suppose he just doesn't care maybe it's been
23:58not going on that long maybe that's why he went away from our article there in the first place
24:01because he's probably sick of listening now at all but no like i can chat away to him about anything
24:07i give him the worst of bad manners when he's snagged him i've snagged him yes in the whatsapp group
24:11but his haircut um like there's time for snagging and there's time for not snagging yeah but same
24:17with anybody like yeah you mentioned there would be jj the brazilian jiu-jitsu obviously you're
24:21heading to that after this is that did he actually get you into it or did you do your
24:25own thing or how long have you gotten involved i knew he done it and i'm like i'm gonna be a
24:30massive qfc fan i know but i watch it like i suppose you know when the whole conor mcgregor
24:35thing started yeah but then so sev torres owns team torres and um he's married to
24:43now is amy torres and my fiancee they'd be cousins so i've known him for 12 years or
24:49been at his wedding or not and uh he's always going on to me about
24:53he doesn't understand gaelic at all really like so he'd be slagging me
24:56but uh he'd say come on in come on in and then it was after it was after the shoelace lost to
25:04manhan last year my head was absolutely wrecked and i was just sick of football didn't want to
25:09look at the football pitch and i was like you know what i'm gonna go in here and when you go in there
25:14it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done like there's no room for egos and just became
25:20obsessed with it like and then a few times but then i ended up opening the geezer after a few
25:24weeks ago i was like oh jesus christ i'm looking at him 12 months of the year now i'm in football
25:29now i'm looking at him in here and then he ends up kicking the absolute lump out of me and then
25:32yeah but um no i love it like it's very addictive um he went back to it the other night after the
25:40tuesday night and you know you think like oh i'm after the one in northern ireland
25:47um yeah yeah doing my head in but polar opposite no sense to be nearly concho annams taking the
25:52class stopped me with all the higher belts and they kicked the shite out of me for about an hour
25:57which taught me no harm like yeah it takes you down from that exactly yeah yeah but that's good
26:02like you mentioned now that there's no egos or anything like that and is there anything that
26:06you've adapted do you feel like from jiu-jitsu that you can take into other aspects a of your
26:09life but also in obviously gaelic football but the one thing obviously with it is it's all grappling
26:13and it's all close so like i was thinking as well for you know improving your tackling and things
26:18like that there and you're not thinking of going out to sleep but um so as well like i had that in
26:24the back of my mind this is going to help my tackling if needs be um and then i suppose it
26:30was from the training mindset like everyone's talking about how much training gaelic footballers
26:36do club or county and oh it's too much it's too much and then after a few weeks of seeing the
26:41boys that go in there regularly like but my fellas come in there and they go 10 o'clock to do a gym
26:45session then they go 12 o'clock and do a jiu-jitsu session and then they might go away for an hour
26:49and come back two o'clock and do a maitai session and then come back in the evening time and do
26:54maybe boxing like that's four sessions a day otherwise we're doing four sessions a week
27:00all we hear is one's moaning and giving off and then fellas might do that type of day for five or
27:05six days of the week you're like boys you have no idea what you're in are these fellas are absolute
27:09animals on the are like and some of them aren't even getting paid you know yeah they're like
27:12amateurs as well just like us yeah and like our fellas might struggle to be motivated to train
27:17for an hour an evening in lurgan or in armagh cambridge they them fellas are animals so it
27:23probably completely changed my mindset around training hard and like to the point where like
27:28i was going in armagh like going to a gym session and then i'd shoot out the road and
27:32go down do it like one time easier like i was doing these kind of stuff but because i was thinking i
27:38need to i need to train like these fellas because like i'm not doing nowhere near enough training
27:44whereas the outside world will be going on about it i'll get players are doing way too much so it's
27:48probably put me completely 180 on that whole mindset of training too much like because you can
27:52do they're obviously the running and the football you know affects your hamstrings and hips and all
27:57the jiu-jitsu is a totally different kind of sport so you can still load the body differently
28:01yeah and get a workout as i say so no i was gonna ask about would you be worried about doing jiu-jitsu
28:08during the season you know you could you know you know what i mean the collarbone or shoulder
28:13anything could go wrong your leg you could you don't know yeah is there any worries about that
28:17sort of thing no i'm not putting them in your head don't be saying that again and i was doing
28:24the right bits throughout the league and stuff when i could doesn't clash with um i'm not training
28:29obviously but uh gizmo came out before we played before we played carrie and i was on the physio
28:38table and he was like are you still doing the jitsu i was like yeah he was right no more until
28:44this season's over and this is the time he was the sling actually they're thinking in my head
28:48and going he's gonna be saying this here because he's jealous he can't do it so i was like yeah no
28:54and i think we played carrie that weekend and then i was back in jiu-jitsu on monday
28:59and there's a big fella darren young from st petersburg and he does it as well in the area
29:04he sees me coming in he was actually at the carrie you haven't seen him after the match
29:09what the fuck are you doing here yeah but it's just it's really like a it's a place to go to
29:15forget about football yeah yeah when you're rolling somebody you don't have time to think
29:18about football or think about anything you're just thinking about how can i not get my arm
29:21broken we yeah we like locked up here but so yeah i don't do it in the offseason but i do it
29:28all right don't do it yes on season but yeah i'm doing it but yeah i wouldn't have to either too
29:33much about it no not at all it's funny that you mentioned about that something like you know
29:38you're sort of fighting for your life sort of thing but that's actually therapeutic yeah it
29:42doesn't make sense probably no it is because i was chatting actually with neal about it we
29:47some of the leadership group have to take the team out once a month to do some team bonding
29:51things somebody's do bowling somebody's might do paintball somebody's might go somewhere for
29:56pints and i talked to boys to team torres and and off and i have some class actually when neal says
30:02to me he's like i hated that hated that why he's putting their arm around my neck like what like
30:07he's all yeah yeah yeah it was fair like and i was like i actually enjoy that like the sense of
30:13you know i need to do something to save myself here i don't know what it is but it's enjoyable
30:21to be in a scenario where you're fighting to stay conscious like but obviously other people
30:27completely hit that which is fair yeah look i'll pull you back to football yeah
30:33podcast uh you mentioned obviously the carrier game i think that's a good point to pull back in
30:38and you it's funny um the different stages when you talk about the word belief and belief
30:42specifically that you can win the all ireland because you have now three seasons yeah essentially
30:47that you could win the other island i think for a lot of people probably came you beat us common
30:51in the saturdays a double header but yeah not even as much or not being as common it was the
30:55fact that dublin got knocked out in the same night and then all of a sudden it was like wide open
30:59wide open did you feel that can you talk about it in the group when you're in that moment or
31:03how do you sort of approach it we wouldn't focus on like obviously you're talking to
31:07phenomenal um we'll just focus on who we're playing next like so i know obviously the way
31:13the whole draws worked out this year where if you had someone in your group yeah i can't carry on
31:17but we would just say like we play we play you know we focus on them in terms of pre-game analysis
31:23we focus on what we're going to do and that's it like uh the keys around desi fire obviously
31:30have a friendship there so there's been friendlies over the years even when jim was still over
31:34dublin and like years back they would have absolutely scotched us in front of us and then
31:40more recently you know it's nip and tuck or we might win they might win by a few and we've beaten
31:47them that was the last time we played them as a croaker in that time so i think maybe that idea
31:52of us looking at them now as a group of going oh we can't pretend boys are just from a different
31:56yeah planet like it's gone like yeah was that a big thing with kerry probably
32:02trying not to play the jersey if you know what i mean that yeah just look at them as what they
32:06are the 15 players that they are and don't get me wrong obviously kerry fantastic to say as well but
32:10so can teams fear that they see the bads and they think well this is kerry and how do you avoid that
32:15again and say that we can't beat these boys probably would have been guilty of it in the past
32:20and most of our group but i can say in the last three years like for me and i feel the group is
32:29the same that whole notion is gone like we played kerry in armagh two years ago and like i think we
32:37lost maybe it was three like and clifford actually got a goal that day but it was a fortunate enough
32:42goal i think ethan slipped or something and then like and they were they were well at that day as
32:47well and we played them last year in chile and we were well in the end i came i dropped the ball
32:52later on actually pretty much cost us and you know like there's twice we've played kerry and
32:57they've been reigning champions last year eventually we are so close here like that's
33:02two years in the bags for it like i said before we're a bit dublin bit thrown like a whiskers
33:07away from it and carry you know all our champions recently and they're like we are so so close and
33:12like it's not like they're playing half teams and so on yeah like they're near fallout like again
33:18it just further builds that belief that you're so so close and then obviously this year when we drew
33:23them we had built on our previous games experience against them like they obviously have some serious
33:30talents players like i've never heard of clifford like he's unbelievable um so you just plan the
33:36best you can i suppose the way geezers always built it up like they've got two legs and two
33:43arms we've got two legs and two arms and ultimately like if you want to beat the best you have to
33:49one train like the best and you have to beat them as well to become the best so there's no
33:56you know like inferior inferior complexity yeah you were five points down in that game
34:01with about 25 minutes it's crazy to think obviously the course of history how it changes but
34:07how did you pull that game back uh it looked to be going one way when obviously carry got that goal
34:13um when they got their goal did that what's that what's that five five the third goal was then
34:18played but it's funny because um kieran donnelly said before he left the hotel he said i'm going
34:25rattling off all these games that we had played over the last few seasons where we had been behind
34:30and we weren't bit now he'd also mentioned a few games where we had been ahead and we had lost not
34:35lost i hadn't been bitten so we'll draw ultimately and you know and it was probably one of the
34:40he says this boy's right that's so many games there we are when i was i think he rattled off
34:44like 23 games or something he'd mentioned its own group game last year in moma yeah and he said we
34:51played uh i think it was like 55 minutes with 14 men and we could have won it nearly anything he
34:57said ashton connelly had a wee soccer moment he could have maybe scored a goal to win it
35:01and he was just like these are never bit these are never bit and that was against all these teams
35:06and then so i think anytime now we play matches where we even go behind like that like there's
35:12never times when you're going oh here we're being like you know we give it up like it just doesn't
35:19enter our heads also like it's nearly like a fear of being known as quitters like especially after
35:26all the holiday cover shootouts and stuff like that there nobody wants to be remembered as
35:30a bunch of quitters so like and either well born to boast kind of you know any day about it so
35:39and one thing a lot of people from the arm and i can't mention probably more so after he won the
35:44all ireland but i think the two games fall in the security game on the goalie game like
35:47arm i haven't had luck at all over the last couple of years but he's got the principle ball in those
35:51games which ultimately you need the likes of the goalkeeper the mistake that led to barry's goal
35:56against kerry moments like that that are man yeah seem to never get you finally got it but you do
36:00any team that's ever won the alliance you can always pin back moments can't you and say
36:03but that's burnt the wall goes another way yeah you don't want it it's a it's a long time coming
36:11i suppose like but even then i know someone was on with the barry goal against kerry and it was
36:15luck but if you want to go back like ben creely throws a lot off him and goes and puts pressure
36:22yeah to make the mistake yeah he didn't just have the handiest free catches and like now don't get
36:27me wrong like they did have a huge shot the final that had supposedly at all like listen we pushed
36:32that over a little extra time don't know what happens after that so i suppose it's just we're
36:37delighted we got a bit of luck for once because it's warranted yeah and then actually after that
36:42kerry game and we got sent the photo we used the photo of you right post match and i didn't notice
36:47it at the time but afterwards between your eyes oh i had a massive gaping gas you see it was hard
36:52got it to tell us so the high ball came out at the end um i don't know blame you know me he's
36:58complaining and crying about me coming back to babysit so obviously when turbo fisted his point
37:03we knew that terry needed a goal and he was screaming at me to come back so i turn around
37:09i see clifford there and i see i think steven o'brien from a line up and a long ball in so all
37:15my mindset is to box out clifford and not let him jump because i know rain was there as well so
37:22um i boxed clifford don't let him jump rain just jumps out catch the ball decides to use my face
37:27as a step stands me and then just for good measure blame after i watch it back blame comes over and
37:34he decides to use my face as a step also so i don't know which one of them busted me up but i
37:39don't care i actually don't know how the ball got out because when i watched it back yeah yeah i
37:44think ryan said he was worried he was gonna get blown out for too long and just dropped it and
37:48lucky enough blaine was quick enough but like it could have ended up anywhere at that stage
37:52it's like the houdini the tv cameras it's like ryan has it and then you don't know where it is
37:57the next thing blaine's coming out the ball yeah he can't go for it and you know it's hard i wish
38:01there was a behind the goal yeah camera angle yeah but at least i'm not coming with the ball
38:05is the main thing and then well another thing about the group like we've touched on obviously
38:10that a lot in this interview already but after the final i think the unity the camaraderie the
38:15friendship it's for a county team it's it's unbelievable the level of values already
38:22camaraderie that he's having that unity it seems to be in the group like some serious bonds there
38:26isn't it sorry all right i think because of all the heartache losses and like the stuff you've
38:36mentioned with the whole thing like it obviously brings the whole group together
38:41and like over that period of time you'd say 10 years when geysers been here like you see them
38:48nearly more than you'd see some of your best friends or your club mates so like it's only
38:53natural that you become more friendly with them so like some of them boys in the group are some
38:59of my best friends now you know and i do see them more often than i'd see some of my own family
39:04more than my own daughter this last week but um no listen like obviously all our experiences and
39:11some of the boys stories and stuff it's just brought us really close together like i've never
39:15been within a group as close as our group and like it's funny like i'd be one of the jokers in the
39:22changing room and i'd snag anybody same there's loads of boys in the changing room snag me
39:27but if it's someone from outside the group it's like someone in the side by group like
39:32a lot stanford kind of thing you know and you know that your teammate when in our mind is
39:38doing the exact same for you or his teammates outside the group so that's just the way we are
39:43yeah and you mentioned your daughter your daughter and her fiance so that's again sacrifices that
39:47goes into the people who don't see i suppose every player is somebody don't they yeah i
39:52have to listen like everybody's got a partner nearly most of them anyway some of them are not
39:56great luck but anyway but uh now there's a right for you now kids and partners and uh
40:03in the long winter months when you're out training a lot and you don't
40:06be at home the whole time or it could be a revolving door one partner's in one partner's
40:11out and they're the ones that probably go through the most you know trying to organize babysitters
40:17and so on and when you're not winning yeah they're probably giving off to you know that
40:23you know all this here work isn't you know being rewarded so yeah after last week you know
40:30you're nearly glad for them as well to finally see some of the fruit of all the work that they've
40:34obviously sacrificed and given as well to allow us boys to train the way we want to yeah and then
40:41i nearly feel a wee bit bad asking this question it's only 12 days since he won the other island
40:45but you know what sports like already now we talked about it off air before we started our
40:50going into 2025 it's a different it's a different animal now for you guys you've been climbing the
40:55mountain but now these are the ones standing at the top of the mountain and it's other boys coming
40:59after you so how do you have you thought have you looked ahead at all and think about how this is
41:02going to impact going on my going forward like geezers insane like like two days after the play
41:08i don't feel so bad now yeah two days after the game straight away already like 2025 mode and
41:16the most of us want to drink but uh no listen like it's a great spot to be to be the hunting
41:26for once which is great although we've seen in past times i suppose like since rongario won in
41:342021 we've seen what's happened then the time after and like we don't want that to happen us
41:42um so and like i mentioned about the o2 team in 1-1 and they're an unbelievable team like and
41:50like you know they also got to the final game 03 and missed out and then in 05 they unfortunately
41:55semi-finaled it's wrong but that team was unbelievable like i think they're all five
41:58teams actually the pick of the teams they had so maybe it's a goal for us to go and win another one
42:06and i hope it happens like i believe it can happen again there's targets on our backs now
42:13you know nobody will take us for granted like i would have probably said when rosconn had
42:17drawn us in the quarter final stages remember seeing their potential opponents they were
42:22probably i assume glad or grateful that had drawn us so like that's the way we were viewed then like
42:29that's only a few months ago whereas now in the future maybe it won't be that where we're taking
42:36that lightly anymore so this we just have to deal with complacency can be an awful thing
42:42geezer definitely wouldn't let that happen um the training if anything will get worse i don't know
42:47how but it will but have a listen it's a good spot to be in and we'll just keep keep grinding
42:54i don't know one thing i'm sort of paraphrasing dr mcconville here but the point he was making is
42:58you have a monkey off your back now that there actually might be more more football in this
43:02armada team that you might be able to actually express yourselves a wee bit more that you don't
43:05have not i wouldn't say dealing with pressure of course you still have pressure going into county
43:08level but you had now have that in the bag you have the monkey off your back so to speak do you
43:12feel like that might happen that this might open these up a wee bit more even um maybe so
43:17we'd lost lots of finals we'd even lost the division two final this year
43:20and the immediate aftermath is like jesus what do we have to do to win a final um
43:27and then thankfully obviously in the end finally we had one so maybe now you're coming down the
43:32home stretch excuse me if it's like an oster final again or a league final yeah there's no longer
43:37that thought in the back players minds of oh we've been here before in the final and we haven't seen
43:42it out or oh it's going to be a draw the next time here and ultimately losing penalties or something
43:46again whereas we've been here we've done this just keep going and we can see it out so like
43:53thankfully and hopefully that experiences and there's hopefully in future finals
43:57yeah and then last one then no rest free we're here in drum and tea today nine days time we
44:01have a championship match against bali mcnab so uh straight back into it have you trained at
44:06all at drum and tea yeah what day is today it's friday i trained on wednesday evening
44:11um yeah back training and uh i'm actually going to france with uh patty burns and the other four
44:18so i'm missing the bad game so uh yeah the ones who've given me um support last week
44:28but um you know which is great for the club boys because they have structure around when they can
44:38get away and stuff like that they're on the no dates and but like for us it's you know you're
44:43so committed into one thing and as soon as it's over you have a really short period of time to
44:47either relax or celebrate it and then you're straight back into another thing and you're
44:50driving it on as well um so like yes it's what do you do like you only have a few years of playing
44:58football well i do only a few years left and i can't do it forever so yeah i keep going till
45:04i can't do it anymore don't think anybody begrudged you the time off look uh thanks
45:08very much for taking time to speak you hope you score a few more goals next year don't expect
45:16you
45:40you

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