Name: Eamon McGee
County: Donegal
Club: Gaoth Dobhair
What was your lockdown routine: Open the zoo at 7.30am and it’s just chaos until 7pm
Best thing about the lockdown: Time with the kids
Worst thing about the lockdown: Time with the kids
Favourite training drill: Games
Least favourite training drill: A S&C coach’s warm-up
If you didn’t play Gaelic football which sport would you be playing: Soccer or e-sports
Five dinner guests and reasons why you’d invite them: Roy Keane for the row; Lana Del Rey for the music; Brian Cox and Pope Francis for the debate and finally Michael Jordan for the cigars
Best sporting memory: All-Ireland 2012
Worst sporting memory: All-Ireland 2014
Best sick-note excuse: Neil Gallagher always had the runs when tough training would come up
Favourite film: Vanilla Sky
Tell us something we don’t know about you: I’m trying to design a computer game at the minute
Toughest opponent: Michael Meehan
Fastest team-mate: Kevin Cassidy
Favourite GAA player: Declan O’Sullivan
Guilty pleasure: Chocolate and Pringles
Best pitch you played on: O’Donnell Park
Ideal day off: House to myself, read for a while and hit the PlayStation then.
Any match-day superstitions: What's that? If someone wears the right pair of boxers they will play better? Na, not into that
Most annoying team-mate: Christy Toye: any particular viewpoint I hold he will go on the opposite
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Name: Gearoid McKiernan
County: Cavan
Club: Cavan Gaels
What was your lockdown routine: Thankfully I’m back working, so I’m back to some form of normality and routine
Best thing about the lockdown: Getting to spend more time with family and fiancée that I wouldn’t usually get and just in general getting more free time to myself
Worst thing about the lockdown: The uncertainty of not knowing if my wedding will be going ahead (in October)
Favourite training drill: Anything that involves shooting
Least favourite training drill: Bronco Test
If you didn’t play Gaelic football which sport would you be playing: Big soccer fan so I’d give that a go
Five dinner guests and reasons why you’d invite them: Tyson Fury would be the host, Wayne Ronney and Roy Keane would have a story or two to tell, Cian Mackey to provide entertainment, Joe Brolly to keep a bit of order about the place
Best sporting memory: Making my Cavan senior debut (away to Westmeath in Division Three League game in 2011)
Worst sporting memory: Losing to Derry in the Qualifiers in Breffni in 2016
Favourite film: Not a film but I’d go with The Last Dance series recently
Toughest opponent: Too many to name
Fastest team-mate: Dara McVeety
Favourite GAA player: Anthony Tohill and ‘Gooch’
Guilty pleasure: Anything with chocolate on it
Best pitch you played on: Breffni Park
Ideal day off: Netflix, chocolate, drinking coffee, watching any sport on TV
Any match-day superstitions: Same seat on the bus
Most annoying team-mate: Anyone that is currently a Liverpool supporter
Socially distant week...
AS we take our first steps out of lockdown, it is great to see the Manchester City players giving new English Premiership champions Liverpool a guard of honour – before walloping them 4-0. It was reminiscent of Tyrone’s, ahem, guard of honour for sworn rivals Armagh in 2003.
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EVERYONE would love to have Jurgen Klopp as the manager of their team, but the German let himself down in his post-match interview with Sky Sports’ Geoff Shreeves after he watched his side lose to Man City. With the league title in the bag, you would have thought Klopp could have left the small-mindedness and belittling language towards Shreeves, especially given the soft-ball nature of the questions.
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BARCELONA’S league challenge suffered a serious wobble in midweek after only managing a 2-2 draw at home to Atletico Madrid, but the game – one of the few matches that has been worth watching from start to finish since football returned to our screens - will be remembered for the greatest footballer that have ever played the game scoring his 700th goal.
And what a way for Lionel Messi to reach that incredible milestone – with a Panenka-like penalty. Couldn’t agree more with Northern Ireland international Ryan McLaughlin who started a Messi versus Ronaldo debate on Twitter.
‘Serious question here,’ posted Ryan. ‘Why do some people think Ronaldo’s better than Messi? What’s he better at than Messi... Heading?’
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WHOEVER writes the Gaelic Players Association [GPA] didn’t go to charm school. Their latest press release typically misjudged the temperature of the GAA community in relation to the club versus county debate and got their messaging all wrong. With the usual caveats of digs at the media over the player insurance ‘gap’, this was a lesson in how not to write a press release and how not to get people on your side.
And yet, the point here is: if and when teams crash out of club championships, county players should be allowed to train with their county team.
The problem is the players will not be covered until September 14, with many squads already training away. Yesterday, the GAA appeared to stiffen its stance on breaches. Will it make a difference?
So, as we go forward, there are sure to be a steady stream of injured county players being rushed to local club pitches for photographic evidence of where the dastardly twisted ankle occurred.
