As good as it gets for basketball lifer Conor Meany

In a week when the plight of the inter-county GAA player has been prominently described as "depressing", any conversation with an Irish Premier League basketball player is worth starting with asking what that experience is like, writes Kieran Shannon.

Especially when it’s UCD Marian’s Conor Meany.

There’s hardly a more articulate or discerning player in the league than the 28-year-old. Here’s someone who has been the co-commentator on national TV for every cup final since the one he won in 2011, works in social media analytics for a living, whose current bedtime reading is Malcolm Gladwell and box-set viewing is the fifth season of The West Wing. If you are to follow one Irish basketball personality on Twitter, follow Meany.