O’Connor: Injury woes in the past
Until this season. This year they’ve been holding them in the meeting room under the stand in Elverys MacHale Park. A miniscule change for most observers but for those who have seen the county develop under Horan it represents a big step.
The Mayo manager and his backroom team created a process-driven routine for the players. Aimed at delivering consistency on and off the pitch, MacHale Park was a place of work while the hotel five minutes away was the venue of the chore of dealing with the press.
All change within the camp is measured though. While the press conference went on, players buzzed themselves into their private gym just 20 metres away for their nightly workout while the ride-on lawnmower billowed in the stand. With that noise in the background Cillian O’Connor slipped in to take his seat in front of the assembled media. You expected to see his game face, instead he looked relaxed, completely relaxed.
“I don’t know what you’re going to ask me lads. We don’t even know who we’re playing!” he joked on the Thursday before Cork beat Sligo before adding: “I’ll try not to give you the same answers as James.”
The reason for the cool persona? The venue played a part. This was home but while Horan and Aidan O’Shea maintained the typical GAA standoffish body language, O’Connor seemed content to be there. He’s injury-free. For the first time since 2012 he’s had no shoulder issues or niggles holding him back. After dislocating his shoulder in a club game he tried to rush the recovery process for a county U21 final with Ballintubber. The ramifications of that decision delayed his recovery and last August he popped it again in an All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone. He held it in place for the final but once the season ended he knew he had to have surgery.
“It was the last week in October. It was a relief and a little bit awkward because it didn’t allow me to play in the club championship semi-final which was a tough decision because I wanted to play in that. I had to think long term about my own future and I got it done anyway. And it is old news now. I hope I don’t have to think about it again.
“It is great to have a couple of months of injury-free training under your belt. Even just mentally to have that, you start enjoying your football more and you are not strapping your body with tape or having to mind yourself. You can focus on making the team and playing well.”
At the time of the All-Ireland final he was shielded from all the speculation about his injury and focused on the Dublin game. It was only in the aftermath that he realised how big the story had been and got a chance to evaluate whether it was on his mind in the game.
“I would like to think it wasn’t. I don’t think it was. I think when the ball was thrown in, that is kind of it: your natural instincts come out to play your natural game. I would like to think it didn’t hinder me.
“The only thing that did play on my mind was the training. You like to get your two or three weeks’ quality training in before a big game, even mentally to get your touch in and my training was probably disrupted. I wasn’t able to do everything up until the final week.
“You can’t predict these things. You have to take them as they come and manage them as you can and I think we did fairly well. I wouldn’t dwell on it now at this stage. It is gone. It is old news. I am injury free this year and long may that continue.”
One thing that isn’t old news though is the perception outside of Mayo that their forwards don’t cut it at the elite level. For a former two-time young footballer of the year and last year’s top scorer in the championship those kinds of statements could cause reasonable ire. But he chose to ignore it.
“No, it doesn’t bother me. I would have heard people say that but it doesn’t bother me in the slightest,” he said.
“It is each to their own but the general debate or online chat rooms and that... I don’t personally think I have anything to gain from listening to those things. As long as the Mayo management team think I am playing well and am worthy of a squad position then I am happy. They would be the only ones I am trying to impress. After that you have take everything with a pinch of salt.
“The people in the loop, genuine football people, can weigh things up themselves. People who throw out rash comments or generalisations like that are probably best ignored and I don’t think that there is anything to be gained by engaging in those conversations or even listening to them at times. They can be tiring. So no, everyone is going to speculate as to why teams win and lose and that is natural but there is no reason for myself to be weighing in or getting involved. We will have our own review and that is all that matters for us.”
When he heard how the Cork footballers were treated after the Munster final loss to Kerry he, like his fellow inter-county players up and down the country, empathised with them. A modern-day phenomenon players are subjected to but one which he feels in unacceptable.
“I wouldn’t have too much first hand experience of it. I wouldn’t go trawling through things. But I am sure if you went looking there are loads of things online about Mayo or Galway or Roscommon.
“Supporters are as keen as anyone so they will naturally speculate about the performances or why teams win or lose. I think that is fair enough. But I think there is no place for people just openly slating individuals, amateurs who work nine to five or students who are doing their best and trying to represent their county.”
That’s the message he’s giving the younger players in the squad as well. A change in press venue and his fitness levels were not the only noticeable alterations to their set up this year. The introduction of several of last year’s All-Ireland minor winning squad, including brother Diarmuid, has helped turn him from rookie to veteran just four years after he joined the squad as a teenager.
However, when it’s your brother you’re talking advice on an inter-county career is not always heeded.
“He is always trying to look for an edge. If he gets any more ahead of himself I will be telling him to get his own lift to training,” he laughed.
“It is strange. I was saying earlier, it is funny. Lads you would have seen playing U14 or U16 or minor are suddenly playing in the club and county and doing well for themselves. It is nice to have Diarmuid there but it reminds me that another year is passing and another crop of players are after your jersey.
“I think it is a healthy thing to have. But specifically this year. Stephen Coen, Diarmuid, Adam Gallagher... the way they have adapted to football. Adam was a regular starter in the league and put up big scores. He played like he was there for years. They do put pressure on us and drive us on and nobody can relax. There is no guaranteed start.”
“Diarmuid hasn’t even played much for Ballintubber seniors. I have played maybe four times with him in the club and four or five with Mayo. It is strange. He is hungry and the way you are at 18 or 19, you have no respect for reputations or big names, they are just mad for playing and that they are the kind of people you need in there.”
Informed that Diarmuid had told media before the All-Ireland minor final last year that he didn’t look for his older brother’s advice, he added: “That’s what I mean now with that crap. They get cheekier every year.
“Ah no they don’t need any help. But they have that confidence and it is great. They bring it to the senior set up and even the build up to big games and the crowd and how to block out the chatter. They have been there before.”
More subtle changes. More things staying the same. What Mayo can offer this year’s championship will undergo a substantial test tomorrow against Cork.
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