BRENDAN O’BRIEN: Programmes and press boxes — not at the Sigerson!

Like most sports journalists, this columnist served an apprenticeship that called for a frequent presence at games where press facilities amounted to a spot inside rather than outside the rails and the height of any literary ambition was being able to read your notes as the rain sent the ink trickling down the page.

No-one is saying it was anything like breaking rocks for a living but it sure did test a man’s resolve. With little money and less experience, it was all a cub reporter could do to navigate a way to pitches sequestered down back roads and via the confusing complexities of this country’s public transport system.

The standout memory in that sense was taking a bus to Monaghan one gloomy February morning before hiring a cab to and from Clones for a day that lasted over 12 hours and ended up costing far more than it paid but that pales when compared to one colleague who once gunned a moped all the way from Dublin to Athlone for a First Division League of Ireland game.