WEARING the number 13 jersey on his back and leaning back on his chair in Garvaghey last Monday morning, Connor McAliskey wanted to nail a few emerging myths about playing inter-county football.
Before he starts, present reporters check him for handcuffs or a ball and chain around his feet.
We listen for the merest hint of misery or sense of serfdom as he speaks about his young career with the Red Hands.
And so we reach an easy consensus that all is well with the world in the Clonoe man’s life.
Contrary to popular opinion, there is absolutely nothing joyless about playing for Tyrone.
Why would there be?
Tyrone’s inside forward will be making yet another appearance at Croke Park this afternoon against All-Ireland quarter-final opponents Mayo.
Earlier that morning, Mickey Harte referred to the notion of inter-county players being in some way enslaved by a tyrannical regime as a “sound-bite mentality”.
For re-assurance we decided to interrogate one of Tyrone’s alleged serfs.
“The people who say all of this aren't the people who are involved in playing or in the squads,” says McAliskey.
“I mean, nobody handcuffed me to Garvaghey.
“If I don't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. I would just tell Mickey: 'I don't want to play for Tyrone' and I would go off and do whatever I wanted to do with my life.
“And I know the other 36 other players here want to be here. We aren't pressurised to be a Tyrone county footballer.
“You don't have to and you don't have people telling you that you have to do it. It is not a job."
McAliskey adds: “I have my own job and if I didn't want to come to training after work, I wouldn't come to training after work.
“A lot of people think that it is really taking its toll on players. But those saying it are not the boys playing it or giving up their time.
“I can think of 100 different ways I could spend my Tuesday nights, but I want to be here training with Tyrone. That's my opinion; if you want to be here, be here. If you don't, you are not tied down.”
Last month, Tyrone won their first Ulster title in six years – McAliskey’s first since hooking up with the seniors in 2013 – edging past Donegal in the closing stages in Clones.
The Tyrone players celebrated their provincial success that evening and glasses were still being raised on Monday.
Fiction, McAliskey insists, always makes for a better story.
“People talk about Gaelic footballers not going out, not celebrating. I don't know where the boys are getting their information from,” says the 24-year-old.
“I think people are making it up: ‘Connor McAliskey has won an Ulster title and he is away to the ice-bath.'
“That's not what's happening. It is put out there in the media that people are not enjoying their lives. It's like someone is making up a fictional story about other people's lives.
“We took a couple of days, we went for a few [drinks]. After every Championship game you might have three or four weeks until the next game so the boys enjoy themselves.
“Everybody goes out, you are a team, you win as a team, you celebrate as a team.”
However, McAliskey acknowledges that the greatest sacrifices are made by the players’ families rather than the players themselves.
“The demand to play county football is huge. There is a lot of commitment required. But it's not just us who are making the commitment. Your family is changing everything around you, just to suit you.
“Like, my sister had a child and the christening was based around county football, so I could be there.
“I am just using that as an example - it affects your friends, and your family.”
McAliskey made his Championship debut against Donegal in Ballybofey in 2013.
It wasn’t a memorable experience. After firing over a point with his weaker left foot in the opening exchanges, he picked up a silly booking and was replaced after 27 minutes.
He feels he has matured considerably since those early days.
“I hit the ground running, got a lot of games in the McKenna Cup and was scoring well. I can remember getting the Ulster Writers’ Player of the Month and it was my first year playing county football.
“I ended up making the Ulster Railway Cup team after only two National League games. So I thought it was going well for me.
“2013 I maybe struggled a bit. I didn’t play for three or four games, and then played in the [All-Ireland] semi-final [against Mayo].
“Towards 2014 I was on and off [the team]... Last year was the first year that I nailed down a starting position and put in a lot of hard work and thankfully it’s continued through this year.
“But I’m definitely under no illusions, there are a lot of boys pushing as well, and I’m pushing hard myself and I know that I need to keep performing to stay in the team.”
