Older and wiser… but not feeling like it most of the time.
Sean Armstrong is a fine man and a tremendous GAA player.
For 10 years he had been serving his county and doing it with distinction since he came out of minors until he decided to call time back in 2014.
Now, Kevin Walsh has revitalised the 31-year-old and Armstrong isn’t just playing a huge role on the field for Galway with his dead eye accuracy and composed attacking play, he’s also an integral member of the changing room, a leader on the training pitch.
In an absolutely brilliant interview on The GAA Hour, Armstrong spoke with pure honesty about the complacency in the camp ahead of the provincial final with Roscommon and he also opened up about why he left the panel three years ago and how it’s going now.
Armstrong comes across as such a genuine everyman though – the sort that every GAA player could relate to – and his comments will strike a chord with every man and woman still toiling in their 30s – even if he’s still pretty young.
In doing so, he helped us realise the seven signs that every GAA player in their 30s can relate to.
1. You don’t realise you’re in your 30s
You might not know it, but everyone else does.
“I honestly forget sometimes that I’m 31, I still think I’m a young lad,” Armstrong laughed.
“But you see the young lads kind of gravitating towards you looking for a bit of advice or looking for a bit of knowhow off you and I’m enjoying that kind of role to be honest.”
2. You take comfort from the safety in numbers
You’re not the only one. There are others. Even boys older than you.
So it’s fine…
You are still a young lad.
“I look around the dressing room and you have leaders in every corner of it. You have Brads [Gareth Bradshaw] and Gary O’Donnell and [Finian] Hanley and [Paul] Conroy and [Michael] Meehan and [Gary] Sice. These boys have been around just as long as I have.
“There’s a nice blend there but it’s not like there’s a divide. There are no clicks. There’s a nice mixture between young and old and these young lads are mad to learn.”
One by one, the older lads will desert you though.
3. You’re an expert in back rehabilitation
“Anti-inflammatorys, pain-killers, getting into the sea, into the pool, a bit of dry needling and stuff like that,” the Galway star can rhyme off the remedies.
“You’re just trying to ease the muscles around the problem area. What happens is the disks are just sending the nerves crazy and then all the muscles spasm in around the disks so it’s just trying to get the muscles to ease off.
“I’m sick to the head of doing core work but anything to try and keep the back steady.”
4. You don’t realise how young everyone else is
At club level, this will come across in the form of the old-timers whinging at teenagers for their commitment levels, their conditioning, or for not dominating games.
At county level, it’s just more that you can’t believe players so good are so young.
“The likes of Damien Comer… I forget that lad’s only 23. I think he’s about 30 – he’s got such a good head on him. I know when I was 23, I didn’t have that head on me and I wish I did, to be honest.”
5. You’ve been forced to download apps
Sometimes it’s worth it though. Sometimes.
“I’m not much of a social media man but I had to get on Snapchat – the boys have a couple of groups on it and they definitely keep you young,” Armstrong said.
“They give you a few laughs during the day. They’re good, ol’ banter and you enjoy going down the back of the bus and playing cards or rooming with the younger lads because they definitely keep you young at heart.”
6. You can look back and be honest
“That year I thought myself I was playing very well. When I look back now, my attitude was wrong,” he admitted on The GAA Hour about 2014 and his decision to quit.
“But I thought I was playing the best football I had in a while. I wouldn’t say I was annoyed that I didn’t start in the Connacht final but obviously it didn’t go too well for us and I was hoping to get in the next day but they just kept holding me back in reserve and on the bench.
“I just wasn’t enjoying it and I felt if I was going to be around a squad and not enjoying it, I’d be more of a negative impact.”
7. You become a lot more wily
“If your corner back is going, you try and cheat maybe from time to time. I wouldn’t say cheat, but try and be a little bit cuter and once or twice not chase him and see if he’s more reluctant to go then.”
Listen to the full interview below from 13:20. It really is worth it.
