Behind every good athlete, there’s a better significant other.
Being a club GAA player is not easy for anyone. They talk about highs and lows but, during the season, during the week, it only ever feels like lows sometimes.
I used to come back home to a mother who had washed my kit and prepared my pre-match food and sharply cut off her question about how we did by just saying, ‘No’. That’s all I could give her after everything she had given me – I simply did not want to talk about it and I would not.
Then it all starts again on a Monday.
Anyone that’s ever gone out with a footballer or a camóg or a hurler are probably all too aware of the tension that surrounds match day and the build-up to it. They’re probably far too familiar with not being able to book holidays because of what might or might not come up on the horizon and they’ve long since given up on trying to make plans for the weekend – any weekend.
The stress, the uncertainty, the time commitment required is bad enough for the player but then the significant other is hanging on in there having to put up with it too.
One Mayo Gael sent us a recount of how she feels around the high season for club hurling. Ballyhaunis won the county championship again and made it to the Connacht final but there’s always good people in the background making all this happen.
Some people call them championship widows. Others would just call them saints.
“There are days where I feel like telling my husband where he can shove his hurling.”
“With two kids, it’s no lie that it’s tough some evenings when you are minus those extra pair of hands in the evening. Training can be 2-3 nights a week, and you’re left trying to explain to a crying child why Daddy’s not home, or why they can’t go to the pitch with him.
“There are days where you get that smell in the back hall, and then find the smelly gear, another load of washing on top of an already large pile.
“There are days where your friends ask can you go on a day or night away, and you’ve to check first are there any games on as otherwise you’ll have no-one to mind the kids, unless I go to one of two wonderful set of grandparents.
“The months of October and early November is a washout just in case there maybe are any replays.”
Then, you get to the pitch, the centre of everyone’s little universe, and it makes some sense after all the slog.
“When you stand on the sideline watching your significant other and their team mates playing all the above seems worth it.
“The immense feeling of pride you have is hard to put into words. To put on your local colours and scream at the top of your voice, is the best feeling in the world.
“To players on a team, they look at their team mates and management as not only friends but as a large family.
“That’s how I felt last Sunday when Ballyhaunis Hurling team took on Ahasragh Fohenagh in the Connacht Intermediate Hurling Final. Underdogs going into the game, as no Mayo team has ever beaten a Galway team in the provincial hurling final. Many thought the game would be over at half time, sure Mayo can’t hurl.
“Ballyhaunis proved them wrong. After 60 minutes of an extremely tense game, a late goal from Ballyhaunis put us a point up. In the final seconds, Ahasragh scored a point to level the game. The game went into extra time, even though the next game is not until February.
“Both teams gave it everything, players were cramping but after 80 minutes, the teams were again at deadlock, and the whistle was blown for a replay.”
Ballyhaunis went back to the well one last time to face their Galway rivals for a shot at history. They played their fifth championship game in four weeks and just about everyone’s lives in the parish were on hold.
“The dedication and commitment from club sports is something every town should be proud of.
“In my own club Ballyhaunis, the Hurlers just don’t give up. Warriors until the end, determination, skill, commitment, strength and heart are the qualities needed to bring home the first Connacht title to Mayo.
“I’ve no doubt it will happen.”
It didn’t happen.
Ballyhaunis lost by 13 in the replay.
A season that promised so much, players who gave up so much ultimately fell short of where they wanted to be.
The beautiful thing about it all? They’ll be back at it in January. They all will.
And they’ll have the support from home. Because they couldn’t do it without that support. They couldn’t get anywhere near it.
