Paul Flynn talks us through that catch

Eamon Fennell summed it up best.

"Look at this magnificent bastard," he said. "Looking like a pacman about to eat a ghost." Paul Flynn was already well known as being one of the most agile, physically refined specimens in Gaelic football. He's 12 years a Dublin footballer now and he's ended four of those years as an All-Star. He's played the game during an age of ever-increasing professionalism and his athletic physique perfectly captures the levels of commitment and dedication being put into the game by players. Then, just as many may have thought he may have been pushing on past his athletic peak - the 30-year-old went out and performed one of the highest catches ever pulled off on a GAA pitch, in turn becoming an internet sensation. While playing for his club Fingallians against Fingal Ravens in a Dublin Senior Football championship game, Flynn plucked a full blown skyscraper from the Coolock sky. The moment was expertly captured by local photographer Kyran O'Brien, and the height Flynn stretched his arms and legs to, while retaining composure to catch the ball, unsurprisingly turned plenty of heads. https://twitter.com/EamonFennell/status/1041404296045244416 Image credit: @Kyran O'Brien The GPA CEO talked us through the moment at a GPA media briefing on Friday afternoon.

“Yeah, thanks for remembering that," he said. "Eamonn Fennell made it his business to ruin my day that day after that. To be honest with you, what happened was, I went to catch a ball, I let it go over my head and I had to lean back and catch it."

https://twitter.com/EamonFennell/status/1041671895190577152

“It probably looked good, but I don’t think it was the best technique for a catch. Eamonn Fennell made it his business then to do photoshop the life out of that photo. I’m good friends with Eamonn, so I laughed it off but yeah it was just one of those things."

To make it even better, Fingallians went on the attack after Flynn's heroics and scored a point that sent them on their way to their 2-20 to 2-12 win over their rivals.

“It ended up in a score after, I was in my own full back line and it worked up the field. I’m really enjoying the club championship, we’ve a game tomorrow against Templeogue Synge Street," he said.

Flynn is buzzing for Saturday's quarter-final against Synge Street because he's playing the football of his life at the moment. Indeed, he feels that if he hadn't missed Dublin's League campaign due to back surgery, he would have had a more prominent role with the in the championshp.

“I had back surgery in February, two years ago I’d groin surgery...Every year I was going back to the club and I was wounded and I wasn’t able to give my all. This year, I’m going back fresh and I’m able to go at it hammer and tongs," he said. “I didn’t play any League football this year, my season started when the championship started and I’d say it didn’t give me any real opportunity to showcase where I’m at. "It’s hard to get back in then when the championship has started and the team is quite settled...It’s so competitive in there at the moment. It would have been nice to get in there in the League just to try and get into that starting team which was always my goal," he said.

2018 was a case of those missed games costing him, and that's why he's even more determined for 2019.

“The one thing I’d say about it this year. I played the best football I’ve played in years, from my own perspective. 15 minutes against Donegal where I kicked a couple of points or when I was on the field against Galway for one minute and I got a point and I probably should have got a goal. “I just had that energy and buzz about me. Talking to the physios and medics, that back surgery (made the difference) - I had been managing that for a number of years, and it took out a few of those restrictions that I had.

His injury had been hampering him for a number of years, and he was just re-invigorated and refreshed by getting it sorted out.

“They took a large chunk of my disc that hadn’t been acting as a disc - it had disassociated itself from my disc and was blocking off a nerve canal. To get that removed was very good for my own performance and even my numbers on the GPS - they were the best I’d been hitting in years. That’s why I’ve been enjoying the club championship."

This man is hungry for more.