IN the beginning Chris Curran was glad of the break – but after two months of lockdown the Cliftonville midfielder is itching to get back playing again.
No-one quite knows how the next few months will work out and it may transpire that the Reds will never get to play their Irish Cup semi-final with Glentoran, originally scheduled for Tuesday April 7.
Cliftonville’s last competitive game before lockdown was a 2-0 league victory over the Glens on Saturday March 7.
“Initially I wasn’t missing it,” Curran said. “Because I’m getting a little bit older now you welcome the breaks when you get them, and it’s helped me.
“Sometimes it can be a quite intense regime, hard training and the matches come thick and fast at that part of the season. It’s around that time I start to feel it, to be honest, because usually at that stage of the season I’ve quite a lot of minutes built up and the knee and back start feeling it and everything else.
“I’ve been enjoying the break up until now but at this stage I’m starting to miss it and I just want to get back amongst the lads and start playing matches.”
The Cavan native, who works in financial services, has been a smash hit with the Reds since signing from Ballinamallard United ahead of the 2013/14 season under the late Tommy Breslin.
Now well rested and enjoying many aspects of working from home, Curran says he will never complain again about the whirring speed of life when the football is in full flow.
“We all moan about, I suppose, the hardships of life and being busy. For a semi-professional player like me it can be difficult. I’d be doing anything between 45 and 60 hours a week in my job and I’ve to balance that with three nights per week training and a match or two matches per week.
“It is difficult and it can be challenging, but I’d take anything to have that back now. I suppose that’s one of the lessons I’ll take away from it.”
The Cliftonville players are doing their bit for the NHS during lockdown with all the players getting their hair dyed blonde to raise money.
“During lockdown, I think people have appreciated the amount of time they’ve had with their families and their loved ones, whether it’s through Zoom, Facebook, face-time or online quizzes. I’ve seen and talked a lot more with family and more distant relatives over the last six or seven weeks than I have probably done in years.
“That’s been a bit of an eye-opener for me and I’ll continue that when things go back to normal, or whatever normal is going to be.”
The 30-year-old Swanlinbar man also plans to spend a little more time with his team-mates away from football when they return.
“We were always two nights per week under Tommy [Breslin] and we then transitioned into three nights and we are now firmly three under Paddy [McLaughlin].
“And Paddy won’t make any apologies for how hard he works us. He’s relentless in his pursuit of being successful. I’ve no problem with that and have welcomed that. All the time we spend together is work-based, meetings and matches.
“I think if we were to go back to normal at some stage, I’d like to spend a bit more time with my team-mates off the pitch. The dynamic of the changing room has changed over the last couple of years, and there are a lot of younger players coming into the team.
“I watched an interview with Roy Keane last week and he was asked how he clicked with the younger players and he said he didn’t spend enough time with the younger ones coming into the changing room, so probably that is something I’d like to do, to connect a bit more with the players and get to know them a bit more off the pitch.”
