Castleknock player speaks about playing aggressively, turning 30 and learning Jiu Jitsu
“As a child you dream of competing for All-Ireland finals, not Grand finals,” he explains.
He’s very easy-going and chats to the children: where are they at school, is Mr So-and-so looking after them, are they playing football? Autographs performed, pictures taken, he wishes them well, as the woman thanks him profusely. Which is both a challenge and a comfort when asked about this season. The group may have won the All-Ireland but Kilkenny wasn’t started in the All-Ireland quarter-final or semi-final. The public narrative was said to be that Dublin management were frustrated at his desire to tend to the team’s machinery by recycling ball and running around with it, probing as opposed to moving the scoreboard.and he was the championship’s top scorer from play with 2-24.
“I love the challenge of playing in different positions but the best football that I’ve played is maybe being aggressive, taking your man on and looking to go at the goal and has been at centre forward or full forward – closer to goal. I also get a great satisfaction out of making a big play for someone else.”
“Each year I have a different focus. One year I might want to be more powerful and so I go to the gym and work on leg-based stuff. Another year it might be more endurance-oriented and I’d do more running.”“It does, a lot of the time. This year I really wanted to go after the defensive side of my game and get my body into a position for concentrating on hard work. I played with a real emphasis on offence in recent years.
Maybe it’s the vivid memories of being a supporter but Kilkenny views the highs of success through the prism of its impact on Dubliners and seeing the celebrations this year after returning to the top of football. “We were very disappointed. I mean people were so kind to us after the game, coming up and saying, ‘thank you for everything you’ve done for Dublin,’ in a final kind of way as in we can’t be expected to be able to compete at that level again.
“Oh, big time. The energy they bring and big plays in big games. Stephen kicked two great scores. Paul kicked five, one from a mark. Jack gave the ball to Collie [Basquel] and a free followed. You need 15, 20 guys who can make a big play in big games against quality sides.”These days, he is knee-deep in his club Castleknock, who play Ballyboden in Saturday’s Dublin quarter-final in what is a celebratory year for them – the 25th anniversary, which they will be marking.
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