It takes more than brawn to make the perfect player

After attending the launch of the Ulster Championship in Donegal last week, I walked away from the event astonished at the physical conditioning of some of the players.

Rock-like biceps bulged out of sleeves which were screaming for mercy, while taut stomachs lay in the shadow of heaving chests. A few of the players looked like they could have stepped into a boxing ring.

Anyone who thinks that county footballers have developed their sculpted bodies solely from pumping iron knows nothing about the science of weight training. It needs to be stressed that I don’t believe any PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) were used by the players I observed in the Abbey Hotel.