These lads aren’t here to make up the numbers.
Their All-Ireland quarter final was called off last weekend due to an unplayable McGovern Park, but the Fulham Irish manager, Greg McCartan is fully convinced that his team of expats were going to put it up to Corofin.
And he’s convinced that they’ll do exactly that when that rescheduled game takes place on January 21st in Ruislip. Because Greg McCartan knows. He knows what his panel of 24 are capable of, but more importantly, he knows what they’ve come through to get to where they are.
Class by @FulhamIrish https://t.co/9p2BYw8QzO
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) December 9, 2017
“Honestly, I couldn’t have dealt with a better bunch of lads,” says the Down legend to Colm Parkinson on Thursday’s GAA Hour.
“They’re so keen and so eager to play this game, because it means a lot to them, they’re probably never going to play in a game like this in their lives again, so we want to make sure that on the day, whenever the game does take place, we’re not going to be cannon fodder for Corofin, we actually want to give them a game.
And this isn’t some bullshit “we’re going to show up and give it our all on the day.” No it’s not because these boys have made sacrifices.
Like proper sacrifices. Like that time they forked €150 out of their own pockets to stay overnight in Cookstown, Tyrone because they couldn’t get a challenge match in London.
“We’ve had a couple of challenge matches with London, which helped them and us, because it meant we weren’t just training for the sake of training.
“We flew home for a weekend too, to play up in Galbally with Paddy’s St. Mary’s team. That particular weekend we flew home, all the guys put the money into the hat, 150 quid each to stay up in Cookstown for the night,” said the Fulham Irish manager.
“We paid for our own flights and everything else, with 24 lads all paying their own way.”
They want to be here and they sure as hell want to give a good account of themselves.
“We’ve had 24 or 25 training sessions ever since we won the London Championship. The commitment levels are unbelievable, and I’ve no fear, when we’re putting that much effort in, there’s no way that we’re going to lie down for Corofin,” said the manager.
And it’s tough out in London. The Irish lads have jobs. There’s not many GAA clubs and they all have to travel far to make training.
The facilities aren’t state of the art, but being honest, they do it for the thrill of it, the love of it, the scent of home and the GAA, and the lack of a dressing room won’t stave this desperate craving off.
OUT NOW – Greg McCartan on GAA life in London, Davy Fitz v Paddy Power and Dublin's siege mentality https://t.co/BC3mKzkggK
— The GAA Hour (@TheGAAHour) December 14, 2017
“We train at Wormwood Scrubs Jail. There’s two playing pitches there, but we’ve no changing facilities so we change on the side of the field. If it rains, the lads run down to my van and they put the gear in my van.
“We have temporary lights there, that are run off generators, the type of thing you’d see at festivals and stuff. That’s what we have, we haven’t got a clubhouse or anything.
They’ve a humble set-up, but it’s that humble set-up that reminds them players why they’re going to these crazy lengths to play.
“I know Tír Chonail Gaels, when they’re training, they get food, they’ve showers, we just wouldn’t have that.
“There is a facility beside us, the Linford Christie running track, but half the time we go in there you’d have it locked before 9:00.
But the lads still come. They’ll come from far and wide.
The game may have been called off, but our blanket defence was still in full force last night in Leicester Square. Safe home @CorofinGAA . #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/J8sEdSZAUP
— Fulham Irish GAA (@FulhamIrish) December 11, 2017
“That’s the effort the guys are putting in. Some of the guys are travelling 80 minutes on a train to get to the pitch, they do the training and then 80 minutes back home again, sitting in their training gear in the height of summer or in the middle of winter.
“These boys aren’t doing it for no reason. There’s nothing in it for them, apart from the fact that they love the game. They’re a joy to deal with.
“Most of the guys are working in offices in high-end jobs. So they show up for training up the side of the field in suits. People are wondering where the hell are these guys going.
But it works for them. It brings them closer together.
4 provinces
14 counties
27 clubs
1 Fulham Irish
1 County champion pic.twitter.com/mGuqK5i2cs— Fulham Irish GAA (@FulhamIrish) October 23, 2017
“It’s generating that family, parochial thing. It has worked for us.”
Colm Parkinson doesn’t envy them.
“Togging out on the side of the pitch is poxy of the highest order, especially if the weather’s not well. It’s a nightmare, trying to put on your socks balancing on one foot, and these are professionals arriving suits,” he says.
“You think it’s bad in Ireland, and then you see lads in other countries and how they keep that going, and keep the GAA alive, that they’ll come across a city, in their suits, in the rain, throw their suits in the back of Greg McCartan’s van, go out and train, put the suit back on over filthy legs and head on home, I don’t think people realise the culture. It’s unbelievable.
But he does admire them.
You can listen to the Greg McCartan interview here from 32’30” from Thursday’s GAA Hour.
