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Sean Quigley: Being an inter-county player is a 365 days-a-year existence

18 Oct 2016
Posted in: Fermanagh GAA , County and Club
I’m away for surgery in Dublin today and, to be honest, I’m a bit
relieved.
It means that I don’t need to feed any bull to a manager about
why I can’t show up for a training session or a match. The knife gives
me a long auld doctor’s cert.
With the gilmore’s groin, I’ll be laid up and it’s gives me some time to chill out, to unwind after a very long season.
Roslea would normally be the benchmark in Fermanagh but we got
knocked out at the semi-final stage of both the championship and
league this year so we’re done. Don’t get me wrong, I love winning
with my club but the body was crying out for a rest.
There’s this idea that players tend to go on mad drinking
binges at this time of year but I don’t think you can afford to
anymore. Being an inter-county player is now a 24/7, 365 days-a-year
existence, the wheels keep on turning even if most laid folk don’t see
it happening.
Plenty of teams are probably already setting out their gym
plans and looking towards next year. October, November and December is
a time when you should be able to relax but you need to keep yourself
in shape now.
And it’s so hard to motivate yourself this time of year. You
can imagine then when it finally comes to the summer and lads have
been busting their balls for months on end after barely seeing a
football — it can be hard to keep the spirits up.
For those who are still involved with the club, you are
expected to come back from inter-county and immediately set the
benchmark for everyone else. The perception might be that you can
relax into this smaller environment after the wider focus with
Fermanagh, but there’s no such thing. You have to lead.
So for those who wouldn’t be close to players, they might not
understand the reality. You train through winter and then play county
up until June or July, then you’re back with the club, you get a small
break, and then the cycle starts again.
I’ve needed to get this operation done for about six months now, since before we were knockedout of the championship by Mayo.

The black card is one thing our game would be better off without. I
mentioned we lost a league semi-final with Roslea a couple of weeks
ago and I was shown a black card for the sort of tackle that the rule
was brought in for. It was a 100% nail-on-the-head job, so I’ve no
complaints with that one.
But look here, the issue is that every time there is a foul
now — both at county and club level — everyone in the crowd reacts by
roaring “that’s an effin’ black card ref, he has to go”. That’s not
what we want and it doesn’t help either how inconsistently it’s
applied. With some officials, there would’ve been ten black cards in
our game, so it’s gotten out of hand.
Think of James McCarthy seeing black in the drawn All-Ireland.
This man is after working so hard to get back from injury and then
he’s shown the line for almost nothing — it’s uncalled for. Lee Keegan
and Jonny Cooper suffered similar fates. What did any of this add to
the game? We’d be better off without.
Brian Fenton was my player of the season, he was Dublin’s go-to guy
this year and was outstanding in both finals. For a man who was an
unknown just over a year ago, he’s taken it to some level.
I’ve named my team of the year below and it’s only now when I look
at it in full that I realise there’s no Mayo forward in there. That
tells you the story really because at times they were toothless up
front.

Aidan O’Shea needed a big game and it didn’t come, Diarmuid O’Connor never reached his top level, and Cillian O’Connor was quiet at times too. Diarmaid Connolly produced some amazing scores but Cillian’s to draw the first final was amazing. He hadn’t been having a great game but what a pair of O’Neills he showed to smash over that leveller. It was a pity for him to miss that free in the second game.
With Fermanagh, I haven’t thought about the new season
yet or drawing Monaghan in Ulster because you’re just enjoying the
downtime while you can get it. I’ve a good excuse now to put the feet
up even though I didn’t go looking for it. I’ve spoken to other
players and sometimes an injury gives you a relief from the constant
requirement of being an training-training-training.
But the upside is that you build up an appetite while you’re
away. I’ve no doubt that after the six weeks it will take to recover
from the groin, I’ll be mad to get back.
SEAN QUIGLEY’S 15 FOR ’16
1. Stephen Cluxton
(Dublin)
2. Brendan Harrison (Mayo)
3. Jonny Cooper
(Dublin)
4. Philly McMahon (Dublin)
5. Lee Keegan
(Mayo)
6. Colm Boyle (Mayo)
7. Ryan McHugh
(Donegal)
8. Brian Fenton (Dublin)
9. Gary Brennan
(Clare)
10. Ciaran Kilkenny (Dublin)
11. Diarmuid
Connolly (Dublin)
12. Peter Harte (Tyrone)
13. Dean Rock
(Dublin)
14. Micky Quinlivan (Tipperary)
15. Paul Geaney
(Kerry)