De Paor: silly to walk away with the team doing so well
In the age of burnout and early retirements, there has been something oddly reassuring about his presence on the wing for Galway. He has been there for 12 years now, and yesterday as journalists and players gathered to publicise the Allianz double-header on Sunday, people wondered if there was some secret science only he and fellow thirty-something Kevin Walsh were privy to out west.
"Well, a lot of it has to do with my job," says de Paor, a teacher in St Mary's College in Galway. "The job is fairly complementary to the amount of training we have to do. We have a lot of free time, weekends free, three months off in the summer, finish at four every day. So any extra training we have to do, you can usually find the time for it."
It's not just the job, though. De Paor remembers a time when Galway footballers weren't living in the high altitude of Division One.
"For the first five or six years I was playing with Galway, we weren't that successful, we were playing in Division Three of the league. And while we might have been competitive, we weren't competing for any of the big prizes. So you would be a bit silly to walk away now.
"In terms of age, myself and Kevin aren't like the general perception of the players, but when you are still competitive, it would be silly to walk away. You want to keep playing as long as you can, especially when the team are doing so well.
"Ultimately, decisions on the future will be down to John O'Mahony and his selectors. And there is plenty of competition for places in Galway. You are looking over your shoulder if you go a couple of games without playing particularly well."
Galway's two thrillers with Tyrone have catapulted the Connacht champions back into the familiar territory of being among the favourites for the All-Ireland title. It was a mantle that looked a little worn after the Wexford trouncing in Tuam. Last Sunday in Salthill, the side played some of their most magical football since their gold standard year of 2001.
Following the quarter-final defeat to Donegal last year, a lot of their marquee names came in for some virulent criticism. "The criticism last year, you are going to have it. By virtue of the fact that we won the All-Ireland in 2001, people expect success every year. You have to perform at a higher level to any other team to capture the All-Ireland, and you can't keep performing at those high levels year after year.
"No team would be able to sustain that, so it is only natural that within the lifetime of a team, there will be peaks and troughs," he admits.
While Galway have been among the standard-bearers in the past few years, they haven't made much of a splash in the league. However, the complexion of the competition has changed, and teams are taking it more seriously. "Prior to last year, teams thought if you were successful in the league, it usually meant not doing so well in the championship. It was like that par 3 in Augusta," de Paor remarked. "But Tyrone proved last year the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. And teams are starting to understand that. There is no better preparation for the championship than the league and it would be nice to get a league medal."
It would be a strange year for de Paor and his colleagues to finally clutch a league medal, the one honour this Galway team have yet to win. After the Mattie Forde show in Tuam, the Tribesmen looked like relegation material. After two of the most pulsating games of football the country has seen in a while, they are 70 minutes away from that elusive honour.
"After the Wexford game, when we were beaten fairly and squarely by a very good team, but we did have to ask questions of ourselves. We had to sit down and refocus, ask ourselves where we were going," he said.
The No 6 jersey has dogged Galway football since Tomás Mannion called it a day. De Paor has played makeshift roles at centre-half, although judging from his Pearse Stadium display, Paul Clancy is growing in the berth. Few centre-halves would have silenced Brian McGuigan as well as he did.
Clancy is a former pupil of de Paor's in St Mary's.
"He is improving with every game, but it is a new position for him. He should be judged after 10 or 12 games, and he has only played three so far. He is getting better with every game, but even from school, he was capable of playing anywhere on the field really."
If Galway and Kerry meet or even excel expectations on Sunday, it will be possible to believe that all is right with the game of football.
After the past fortnight's drama, having the three best teams in the country conjure a few classics is not the swallow to herald a fine summer.
But it will be a nice taste of what might be to come.
