Okay full disclosure. I am in awe of Gaelic footballers.
Their dedication is off the charts, their perseverance is a thing of legend,
they’re the beating hearts of communities up and down the country.
Nothing symbolises this commitment more than a GAA player driving alone to a
big match or a training session.
So I’m going to join them on it, to find out why these players can’t quit.
This is The Drive.
Ardal how are you?
Great to see you.
How are things?
Are you all set?
All set ready to go. Ready to go.
Let's do this
Not the longest spin now anyway, it's much shorter than my old commutes.
Do you always have a great will to play, to perform well?
Were you pushed by anyone, like, in particular when you were growing up?
My dad definitely was probably the biggest kind of influence for me, at a young age,
in terms of driving home, those principles of hard work and dedication and just saying, like
‘You wanna win this, you wanna do that, you can do it like, you just need to work hard’
What about criticism do you deal with that well?
I think people who say they take criticism really really well is probably telling fibs a little bit.
It definitely can get under your skin. But again, that's just another thing you kind of have to learn to manage.
And as well just being careful about where your taking criticism from and who it coming from like.
If you’re reading into like newspaper stuff, flicking through twitter and you’re reading things about yourself
or your teammates or your team,
then that's probably not the right kind of place to be going or right place to be listening to that kind of stuff.
Mannion looking to get off to a very very good start.
Three attacks by Dublin, three points by three different players, all of them from play.
You seem to be a rare breed amongst Gaelic footballers in the way that you walked away from
the Dublin set up at the peak of your powers.
People probably get frustrated with me, they don't understand, or they think like ‘you're still playing for the club.’
You owe it to the Club as well, definitely to go back and
give them your all after being kind of away for so many years in a sense with Dublin.
You can’t give 100% to the club all the time, we try but it’s difficult when you are doing both.
You seem to be like a very single minded individual.
Were you a stubborn child?
Ach, my mum and my family will probably tell you yes.
Don't get me wrong it was an extremely hard decision. Telling the team and the management was extremely hard.
I was choking up with tears like, telling the lads. I just thought it was the right time to kind of, to step away.
So this is our training ground here now, Silver Park.
Here’s Robbie, he's probably going to kill me cause we're late.
He’s used to that.
Robbie, how are you? Jump in here.
Make some room for him there.
How are you Robbie?
How are you Ardal, how are ya, Robbie Brennan nice to meet you. How are ya?
Lovely to see you yeah.
Can ya fit?
I can fit in there absolutely.
It’s only a small little, little car.
Robbie, can I start by asking you like, you know,
how did you feel like getting your hands on this fella exclusively for the last year or so?
With all inter county players, when you get them back, the experience they bring back themselves from the county is huge obviously.
And then you try and tap into all of that when there they're so eh, it doesn’t work for everybody, but luckily with Paul for us it does.
His own commitment to the club is obviously there for all to see.
Yeah it's huge, you know, it probably shone through even more last year when he did get injured.
He could easily have just said right ‘I'm out of here, you know I'm gonna miss the big days’
But he wasn’t, he was probably even more around the group and interacting with the younger guys et cetera when he was injured.
Presumably his absence made a big difference in the final itself?
Yeah of course it had to like, it suppose it goes for anybody at that standard if you’re missing them.
Would he have scored a point or two? I’d like to think so.
I’m not used to you saying nice things about me Robbie.
Its normally the opposite
He’s normally taking the mick out of me all the time.
Where is he? Why isn’t he here?
There’s time to pop over a couple of points, here’s a goal chance, and it's in the back of the net.
What happened to Kilmacud Crokes?
Having got so close is it not like impossible to get back to the mountain top again?
That’s what is so difficult about coming so close, because then you start thinking, oh my god, look how hard we had
to work to work just to get here and we have to go through all of that again.
But you get back on the horse and you're just back into routine training.
Do you remember Robbie, we came back here after that game that evening and
the Clubhouse here was all lit up and you could hear crowds already from the main road.
What we walked into then, was just like, the biggest warmest embrace,
it was just like the whole Club and the whole Community just put their arms around us.
Exactly how it felt, they put their arm around us.
Does it spur you to go again?
Absolutely.
Oh jeez yeah, yeah like.
Those are the kind of boost that kind of just lifts you back up, and you’re just like, I can’t,
I can’t come this close and let it slip and then, and then never, never win one like.
You can’t ever replicate that feeling of competing.
When there’s something on the line. That's what brings out the best in you and the best in everyone.
I suppose that's what sport is all about!
Why did you, why did you plump for Na Gael?
It just felt natural, once again it all kind of coincides with that feeling of Community.
I felt like I was really accepted at Na Gael, great memories were formed there and you’re going to do something that you enjoy.