Sport

Brendan Crossan: The world according to Sligo footballer Neil Ewing

Sligo's Neil Ewing enjoying a rare crack at Tyrone
Sligo's Neil Ewing enjoying a rare crack at Tyrone Sligo's Neil Ewing enjoying a rare crack at Tyrone

UNLESS you followed the lower echelons of Gaelic football you probably would never have heard of Neil Ewing.

He represented the Sligo senior footballers for 13 or 14 seasons. A former captain, he played in a number of roles for the Yeats County.

I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but he was your archetypal journeyman footballer.

His studs rarely felt a podium, but he was honest as the day was long. Tough as old boots too. He could run all day, do the simple things well and when the opportunity presented itself he was very capable in front of the opposition’s goalposts.

Since 2008, he was woven into the fabric of the GAA’s uncelebrated underbelly – and yet, at the same time, players like Neil Ewing created a kind of warm glow, usually on heavy, wintry sod, far away from the media’s glare of Croke Park.

The ‘B’ roads to places like Collooney were like capillaries to the GAA's heart. For many, this is where the game was really at.

The miles that man did, miles that nobody seen. The miles that so many inter-county players do that nobody sees and for little reward at the end of it.

But, make no mistake, he doesn’t want praise or pity. For the pleasure was all his.

On Monday past, Ewing announced his inter-county retirement on his Twitter account.

As far as retirement statements go, Ewing’s was typically authentic and heartfelt.

In the statement he lamented how it was his concession of a late free that allowed Roscommon to win the 2010 Connacht title.

“Did everything I could, in my limited capabilities, to make up for that moment,” he wrote.

Signing off, he said: “Thanks to all the Gaels at Rathcormac NS, Summerhill College and NUIG for fostering the love of the game. Particular thanks to the great people, past and present, at Drumcliffe/Rosses Point. Peace be the journey.”

I interviewed Neil Ewing at pitch-side in the summer of 2017.

Sligo had just knocked Antrim out of the All-Ireland Qualifiers at Markievicz Park.

Given that he’d probably just ran the best part of 11 or 12km, Ewing’s interview was the most articulate I’ve encountered immediately after a game.

He spoke about the desperately unbalanced nature of both the GAA’s League and Championship and how the prevailing structures of the day had created and perpetuated something of a glass ceiling.

“People are talking about Championship structures but the League structures are the problem,” he said in 2017.

“People say the Leagues are great because the teams of an equal level are playing against each other.

“But I think since the Division One to Division Four came in there’s a situation that has developed that the best five or six teams are constantly Division One and they’re constantly playing against each other and they’re making each other better, whereas the weaker teams are constantly playing each other and they’re probably finding a level that’s below themselves.”

He said Sligo would learn loads in a Connacht Championship match against Mayo but wouldn’t be exposed to that standard for another 11 or 12 months.

I was inclined to agree with every word he said.

Division One makes for great TV but there is something fundamentally wrong with the how the inter-county game is structured when your Championship no longer sets the pulses racing.

Four years on from our pitch-side interview and having just announced his retirement, Neil Ewing’s views haven’t changed one iota.

He has actually written down his remedy for the GAA, power-point slides, the lot, explaining which direction the Association needs to go.

“I don’t see anything they’ve done [will make a difference],” he said.

“Short-term structures and things like that are like a sticking plaster. Until the GAA realises they have to take a 15 or 20-year approach to ensure the health of the game into the future… I think there is an open acknowledgement we’re probably on a slippery slope. Maybe we should forget about the sticking plasters...

“What is the ethos of the organisation? It’s about promoting participation in our games, ensuring that we focus on that ethos of the game and getting as many people playing the games as much as possible at the right time of the year and getting communities and friends and families going to those games.”

The GAA would do well to touch base with Neil Ewing.

He probably thought there were a few years left in his body but as with most inter-county retirements, injuries ultimately dictated the time-frame.

He still finds it hard to watch the video back of the day when he was blown up for a tackle on Roscommon’s Jonathan Dunning in the dying embers of the 2010 Connacht final.

Free-taker Donie Shine was having a stormer and was never going to miss with the last meaningful kick of the game.

That was the year that got away for Sligo during Ewing’s time involved.

They’d taken the scalps of Mayo and Galway on the way to the 2010 decider but were ambushed by the ‘Rossies’.

And what about all those unseen miles, the gym sessions, the self-sacrifice.

In an era where everyone talks about the demands placed on inter-county footballers, Ewing turns the debate completely on its head.

"I got huge enjoyment out of it," he said.

"I think it’s completely overstated the commitment that’s asked of GAA players. There are people running marathons, triathlons, people coaching three or four underage teams, there are people involved in loads of different sports where they’re getting no recognition whatsoever and give just as much if not more time than GAA players.

“So I don’t think I put too much into my inter-county career because it was a passion for me. There are not many other healthier pursuits you could be at, both from a physical point of view and a social point of view and the social circles that you have.

“People talk about sacrifices but I think it’s an antiquated view where ‘Paddy doesn’t get to drink 20 pints of Guinness at the weekend,' that he’s not living his life.

“For me, my life was being the best possible athlete I could be, being the best possible footballer I could be. It was getting to have three or four meals a week with 30 fellas and acting like 15-year-olds.

“I enjoyed kicking ball, getting on with it, doing it with a group of friends and trying to be the best you could possibly be. How could you regret that?”