Everyone loves a good comeback story.
Players being dropped is no new thing, in any sport you hear of players not making a team, they dig deep and come out the better side.
Michael Jordan was told he was too small to play for his high school team is always the famous tale told but then you hear of even more remarkable stories.
Mayo’s Tom Parsons was on the GAA Hour at the start of September and revealed how he’d travel from Cardiff to Mayo to play intermediate football and how he trained in the sun, wind or rain every day:
“I’ll never forget, outside of my apartment in Cardiff, there was this green patch of grass. People would have been walking their dogs, doing what normal people do. But I used to be up and down, running, soloing footballs, kicking it against the wall, catching it, like a lunatic, you know.
“I remember one guy, he used to walk his dog, at the same time every day when I’d be out training. He never said anything, but after about a month two months of watching me do this, through the winter, he couldn’t help himself. He asked me ‘Are you crazy? You’re running around here kicking balls around the place, what are you doing?”
Parsons was dropped from Mayo but has had a sensational comeback and is now nominated for an All-Star award after a spectacular season as his county fell agonisingly short of an All-Ireland title.
But one man that was fortunate enough to lift the Sam Maguire was Paddy Andrews, he was in a similar position to Parsons after being dropped in 2011 ahead of Dublin’s winning season.
“They didn’t miss me too much, they won the All-Ireland,” Andrews joked.
“It was hard, I was only a young lad and it was the right call, I always said that.
“I think it absolutely helped me become the player I have become today, I’ve said that many times before I absolutely agreed with it at the time and that’s the sort of coach Pat (Gilroy) would be, he wants the team to be successful.
“It’s always about the team and everyone rowing in the right direction but as a kid, that’s what I was, a baby, you mightn’t see that as clearly then but you definitely get a sense of clarity after something like that happening, I have no regrets about it, it was a great lesson to be able to learn at that stage.
“Thank God I was able to come back and I think it was a key part to becoming the player that I am today.
“I worked a little bit harder, playing intercounty football or hurling at senior level is incredibly difficult to do, there are such demands on you physically, mentally, your time.
“I suppose I was just the same as any young player, lots of players are dropped when they’re younger and you’ve got to learn and come back, it’s ultimately what you want to do.
“Are you happy to leave it at that or do you want to try and push yourself to be the player you can be?
“You just learn from it, what do I have to do to become a better player? Take the feedback, it mightn’t always be nice it generally won’t be if you’re dropped. You’ve got to learn a couple of lessons and just work as hard as you can and try to improve as a player and a teammate and that’s ultimately what I tried to do. I’m still learning now and I’m still trying to be a better player too and try to become a better teammate for the guys and that’s just the culture that was there.”
And the work seems to have paid off as Andrews now has four All-Ireland titles to his name to go along with his eight Leinster medals and four national league medals.
Paddy Andrews was in Holy Spirit BNS in Ballymun today at an AIG Heroes event. The AIG Heroes initiative is a programme that leverages AIG’s sporting sponsorships to help provide positive role models and build confidence for young people in local communities.
