As cool as a cucumber.
It is often said that GAA players are born not made. That’s certainly not the case with Kildare’s Daniel Flynn who is only playing gaelic football for one reason and one reason only, because he enjoys it.
Flynn wasn’t born into gaelic football. He didn’t start taking it seriously until he was 16 or 17, but as he says himself, he’s not even taking it overly seriously right now.
Not in a bad way, because when you hear the 23-year-old talk you soon realise that he wouldn’t know it any other way. So laid back he’s nearly horizontal, it’s certainly a strange one for a modern day inter-county footballer but what’s rare is wonderful and the Johnstownbridge man’s attitude to the game is bloody refreshing.
It would take a lot to offset him, and when you see the towering full forward in full flight on the football field, it’s easy to see where this carefree style stems from.
Daniel Flynn with a sensational point for Kildare – catch all the highlights on @TheSundayGame, tonight on @RTE2 at 9:30pm pic.twitter.com/emal1Cyom6
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 16, 2017
He loves the physicality, the battle, the challenge. The game isn’t pressure to him, it’s something to be enjoyed and so many other players getting bogged down by pre-match nerves can learn from him.
“I don’t take it too seriously, like, it backfires sometimes, I can be a bit too relaxed but I just enjoy it,” he said in an interview with Colm Parkinson on Monday’s GAA Hour Show.
When he explains that his family aren’t big into the football, it becomes clear where this breezy attitude comes from. Where many youngsters are put under pressure by their parents, his case is quite the opposite.
“I wouldn’t come from a big football family. It was never something that was ingrained into us or bet into us. It was more, ‘you can do what you want,’ and ‘you can play it if you want.”
“I just fell into it, I suppose if you’re good at something you just stay at it and it’s going well so far I suppose,” he said.
Football doesn’t dominate his thoughts outside of training or playing. Far from it because in fact, he doesn’t even follow the game.
“Ah I still don’t have a clue what’s going on, I don’t really follow it. I just enjoy playing it with the boys…I’m the same now, I don’t really follow it at all, to be honest.
“I’d have a look or a glance at it.Â
“The school, St Mary’s Edenderry had a huge impact on it. We had a lot of boys there around the same age, that had a huge bearing on it.”
And it’s treating him just fine.
“I’m happy at the moment, I’m on a good path now, I’m nearly finished college, I’m happy out doing what I’m doing and just being at home, that social network for me is a huge bearing for me. I found when I didn’t have that in Australia, I was miserable, and if you’re not happy with what you’re doing, why are you doing it?”
“I’m enjoying full forward, I am. It’s great when there’s no one standing in front of you.
“When I was younger I couldn’t shoot to save myself.”
You can listen to the Daniel Flynn interview and much more from Thursday’s GAA Hour Show right here.
