Sometimes, all a lad wants is a break from the game.
And then when we get that small break, we’re rearing to go again.
So often as GAA players, we complain about the sacrifices we have to make to survive, the sacrifices we have to make for our teams. Be it the long commute home for training, the slogging through the muck and dirt of a quagmire pitch in the depths of December or the 8.00 mid-summer Sunday morning training sessions.
They all seem so ridiculously tough and unnecessarily arduous. A bad performance in a game and we just ask ourselves are we doing all this for heartbreak?
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But often we take things for granted. That long commute home for training may be a bit of a slog, but we forget about the craic we have on the way down with our teammates who are in the same situation. Sometimes we forget about the slagging that goes on in those Sunday morning runs in the mud. Sometimes we forget about the cause.
And players shouldn’t be blamed for forgetting. That’s the way it goes and some time away might just be the best thing in the world for a lad.
Paudie Foley had played for the Wexford under-21s for three years. He’d been on the county’s senior panel under Liam Dunne for a year.
He was playing club hurling and football, at adult and under-21 level with his club Crossabeg/Ballymurn. After revolving his life around the game for years, the big, burly half back wanted a break.
He decided to spend the summer of 2017 in America on a J1 Visa. It was a blow for Wexford. But only a short term one, because now he’s back. Now he’s reinvigorated.
“I went over to America, San Francisco, for three or four months. A great experience. I fully enjoyed the summer away, definitely, just to clear your head and come back with new hunger for playing again,” he told us ahead of the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup final.
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The DCU student spent the summer working over in the states. He was living with other Irish lads, he played a bit of hurling with the Tipperary San Fransisco team. He enjoyed the break.
“Yeah, I played with the Tipperary team over there. More for a bit of enjoyment, a bit of craic, like. Brilliant, just living with all these lads from around Ireland, all these different hurlers. Out there enjoying the summer, just a bit of craic more than anything.
It was the best thing in the world for the half back. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, the J1 Visa, and one that few regret. If he had decided to stay at home, there would have been something unfulfilled inside of him.
“Definitely. I felt I’d been on the road, I’d played three or four years U21 and then my club had led me onto November, December. Then I was back training again. So, it was a year-round kind of thing. I just wanted this complete break from it. Definitely, it has renewed my hunger and I’m ready to go with all teams – club, county and Fitzgibbon.”
He sees huge potential in this progressive Wexford team under Davy Fitzgerald this year.
“This year, my hunger’s back, that’s where I want to be. I’m delighted to get the chance to go back in with the Wexford squad. I just want to drive it on and see what happens this year because we have the potential, we’ve been showing it so far. Just, hopefully, it’ll keep going good.”
As for himself, he wants to push on and really leave his mark on the inter-county scene this year.
“Definitely. I’m pushing on now, I’m 22/23 and I’ve been around the Fitz team for the last two years, this is my third year now. I feel like I am a leader now and the best way to lead is through performance.
“That’s the thing, just going out every day and trying to start well in a game and driving everybody on. I am confident in my own performances with Wexford and with the college as well. I feel like I’m excelling and my fitness is where it needs to be, at the top.”
His time is now.
