All of these stereotypes about inter-county players being boring, cliched people are wide of the mark anyway.
What do we actually expect from our GAA players?
Because they are just normal people. Yes, they’ve a a supreme talent and a status to go with that. Yes, we all look up to them and admire them greatly.
But, the majority of us wouldn’t know these people only for the fact that they’re footballers or hurlers. Some people out there seem to expect inter-county players to be these bright, friendly personalities that talk to everyone and ignore no-one.
And then if they came into a pub and did exactly that, they’d be classed as cocky, and one of the lads beside you would probably mutter under their breaths, ‘Christ, it’s all gone to that lad’s head.’
It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t for these lads. How about considering that these players, like many of the rest of us, might actually just be shy, reserving figures by nature? Don’t forget, they only started playing GAA for the playing reasons, not for the fame and the status that being an inter-county player goes hand-in-hand with now.
The Dublin players suffer it more than most. The national glare is on the Scullys, Rocks, Kilkennys of this world at all times now because they’re the highest profile players in the country.
A conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that the Dublin players are told to give dull and lifeless interviews whenever they’re on the microphone. That could indeed be the case, but how would you feel if you were put in front of the cameras for the first time in your lives when it’s not something you really want to do.
Reckon you’d talk the hind legs off your interviewer? It’d be more likely you’d throw in a few cliches just to try and get out of there. And anyway, even if a lad wasn’t shy, he probably wouldn’t want to come across as this lad who thinks it’s all about him anyway.
Niall Scully gave was interviewed on RTÉ after he was named man-of-the-match in Dublin’s clash with Tyrone earlier this year. He deflected the attention away from himself and onto his teammates in his responses, he talked about putting the head down for the next game.
It was pure GAA and some even criticised him for being emotionless.
Dublin goalscorer Niall Scully says their performance won't be good enough against Tyrone next week and rejects idea they were 'saving themselves' pic.twitter.com/77DwVNmOX7
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 14, 2018
Fast forward one month and Dublin are All-Ireland champions. They’re in celebratory mood and Marty Morrissey is interviewing Niall Scully on stage in front of thousands of Dubs.
That’s when Niall Scully showed his character.
“I don’t care if it’s me putting it in the back of the net or any of the other dopes, once we’re winning I’m happy enough,” he said.
https://twitter.com/FarrellyParaic1/status/1037796293593186304
A bit of fun, a bit of craic. When the shackles are off, these lads can show their true personalities.
