It was like Frost/Nixon only with fierce mild winter weather outside.
Diarmuid Connolly does not do many media interviews. He is rarely called upon, he says, for Dublin media duty but he is more than happy to represent St Vincent’s.
And so it came to pass that the Dublin forward sat down with SportsJOE’s Colm Parkinson for a 25-minute GAA Hour interview on Monday of this week. The pair got off to a tentative start before cracking right into it and contributing to a compelling interview.
Connolly tried his best to dismiss talk of ‘targeting’ one player or the other and agreed with the viewpoint of Mayo’s Lee Keegan – players are not going to sit back and let an opponent score points just because the fans are unhappy with close-quarters marking.
“I can’t control what other people want to talk about in the media,” he said.
“Yeah, I could come out with my own [player] statements and I suppose I am, here today, in a way but ex-players in the media have no relevance to what I’m thinking about. Most of those things, I don’t even see or hear so… whatever.”
After answering a few questions about black cards and man-marking, Connolly took issue with the notion that he would look to get both himself and his marker a yellow card to ensure he had an easier time of it as a game progressed. “The thought never crossed my mind,” the 29-year-old argued.
Connolly did admit he has done some work on curbing some instincts to react when he is getting rough treatment. “It’s just about staying in the moment,” he said, “rather than worrying about what happened five or 10 minutes ago.”
It was when Parkinson suggested to Connolly he may be perceived in a negative light because much of the general public are unaware of the man away from the game, that the interview picked up a notch. Here is how that moment played out:
PARKINSON: “Do you think the fact that you don’t do much media – and that we don’t really know you well enough – make people feel more entitled to make judgements on you?
CONNOLLY: “What? That’s a sentence, isn’t it? You’re entitled to make judgement on me because you don’t know me? What?!
PARKINSON: “Do don’t feel they don’t know you.”
CONNOLLY: “Would you like if someone did that to you Woolly?”
PARKINSON: “What do you mean?”
CONNOLLY: “Make comment on you and they don’t know you.”
PARKINSON: “But they do it all the time.”
CONNOLLY: “Is that fair? Is that what you’re asking me?
PARKINSON: “No, it’s absolutely not fair.”
CONNOLLY: “So is that not common sense then? … So you’re entitled to make a comment on me because you don’t know me.
PARKINSON: “I’ll tell you from my point of view… ”
CONNOLLY: “So you’re entitled to make comment on me because you don’t know me?”
PARKINSON: “People may feel more entitled, or comfortable, as you seem so distant and away. If people knew you that bit better, they wouldn’t feel as easy saying the things that they do.”
CONNOLLY: “Yeah but I still don’t agree with people making comment on people they don’t know, just because they see them on the telly.”
PARKINSON: “Yeah but that’s the world.”
CONNOLLY: “That’s naive and ridiculous really, isn’t it?”
The exchange takes place from 22:50 in the podcast [below] but the whole interview is worth a listen.
Diarmuid Connolly makes his long overdue GAA Hour debut and talks to Colm Parkinson about everything from the black card to his rivalry with Lee Keegan and how he honed the ability to kick accurately with either foot.
