Now Or Never

It might be a bit of an overstatement but I think this year is a make or break one for the lads at home. My buddy Gearoid has led the club to two Minors and an U-21 in the last three years. He’s in his second year over the Intermediates and needs to capitalise on the momentum and make some progress with them this year.

They have been doing a lot of core and conditioning work since November and he’s given them easy to follow weights, core and flexibility programmes to follow in their own time. Mark McManus, physical trainer with the Cork footballers carried out fitness tests a few weeks ago and all the structures are in place for fellas to progress.

However, it seems already that some young fellas may be getting a bit big for their boots and that is not a good sign early in the year. Fellas missing training because of study, turning up and not being able to complete a session or just disappearing off the radar all together. By all accounts, the numbers at U-21 training so far this year don’t match what they were last year which would be a worrying sign.

It baffles me how fellas can go AWOL like that but still go around talking a good game and b1tching and moaning when they do show up. Rich Sull has stepped away from the Cork panel this year which makes him available more for Kinsale. His attendance is just short of 100%. If it’s good enough for him it is surely good enough for everyone else!

I met Tony Griffin and a couple of others up in the field on Stephens Day and when the discussion turned to lads who were missing training he was dumfounded. Schooled in Nemo he was clear on the subject. It isn’t about whether you will go training or not on a given night, it is about whether you are in or out. If you are in then there is no question, you are there.

I was down in Killarney over Christmas and went into a bar called Jimmy O’Briens with Dad. There is not a GAA man either side of the County bounds with whom Jimmy is not acquainted. He was talking about the issue of top level players not having social lives but he said when he talks to any of the Kerry lads they say they have the best social life of them all. They get to train, play and spend time with their friends the majority of nights in every week. Fellas too often link social life with drinking.

The whole thing frustrated me when I was playing at home because it was affecting our chances to be successful. Now it frustrates me because fellas don’t know how easy they have it. The pitch is up the road, the programmes are given to them, the gym deal is sorted. They couldn’t ask for any more but it still doesn’t get the right response out of everyone.

When we train in Tervuren, it can take some lads an hour to get there. When we train in the Parc, fellas have to make the trek home saturated some nights because we don’t even have a roof to get changed under. It is rare Kinsale would have to travel more than an hour to play a match, not alone train. And we were getting nearly 30 out there at the end of last year.

For the students on the Kinsale panel, they should realise this is the best opportunity they will ever get to train properly and commit fully to teams. Exams and study are rubbish excuses. You can’t study 24/7 and there is no healthier way to relieve tension than to go up to training.

I would say virtually every one of our panel is working and the nature of the work is different too. At home, it seems most of the lads have fairly fixed working times and I can never remember too many lads missing training because they were working late. A fair chunk of our fellas work long hours, get caught with business dinners and work trips. Getting out in time to get to training can often be a big problem.

I suppose the issue with a lot of fellas at home is that they take it for granted that it will always be there and it will always come easy for them. Hopefully as the season gets going they’ll realise the value of it and turn their potential into success in 2010.