Kildare's O'Callaghan 'paid price for joke that went viral'
Kevin O'Callaghan of Kildare during the Allianz Football League Division 2 match against Cavan. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Fracturing his foot during the nascent years of his Kildare senior career was the break Kevin O'Callaghan needed.
He’d played under Cian O’Neill and was called up by Jack O’Connor when the Kerryman was appointed manager ahead of the 2020 season.
“He dropped me off the panel," the 26-year-old from Celbridge says about O'Connor.
"I got two years playing with my club and two years to invest in myself and put the gym time in, and on the pitch as well, to get myself to a position where I have the physique to play inter-county football.”
O’Callaghan, who works for the head of sales for Fitness Equipment Ireland, is now one of Kildare's first choice midfielders. When he’s not on the phone or on the pitch, he’s got his “side hustle” as an online personal trainer.
“You're just looking to help young athletes do what I've done, essentially,” says O’Callaghan.
“My own transformation in the gym has helped me massively in terms of how I can perform on the pitch. Helping young athletes understand that even if your skill levels aren't up there, you can still potentially make a county panel; if you put the right work in and get yourself to a good composition, get a yourself to a good fitness level with good size and strength, you can still have a place in Gaelic football.
“It’s very easy for me to coach somebody who might be an 18 or 19-year-old GAA player who maybe doesn’t know as much as they should or they want to learn more because athletes will always want to learn and be better. I do coach the general public as well.
“I have had a few clients with massive transformations, losing 20kg over five or six months, it’s a slow and steady process but it’s hugely rewarding work.”
Ahead of Kildare’s Allianz Football League defeat to Fermanagh in early February, O’Callaghan referred to himself as an ‘influencer’ in a profile posted on the county’s social media accounts. It received some negative attention.
“That was a joke that went viral and I paid the price for that,” O’Callaghan says.
Kildare lost all seven of their league games this year, finishing rock bottom of Division 2. This weekend, in the Leinster quarter-final they face a Wicklow side which had a surprise victory over Westmeath on Sunday.
It was a particularly “tough” league campaign for Kildare. O’Callaghan heard some “wild stuff” said about him and his teammates.
“You just have to take it with a pinch of salt, some people are saying negative things online from a place of insecurity or sadness in their own lives, so sometimes you just have to pity them,” he says.
“Sometimes you have to look at it whereby some people might not have much money and they paid money to come and see us and left disappointed, so you’ve to look at it from that side of things as well.
“I have been the [focus] of a lot of the kind of abuse online as well and I don’t mind that either. My main thing with that is if I don’t know somebody personally then I am not going to take their opinion [seriously].
“You have to work on it. Obviously it’s never nice seeing bad things said about you online. Obviously some players might struggle and if they do hopefully they do talk to somebody about it.
“It’s water off a duck’s back for me, I’ve heard it all before and hear it again, I’m sure. You just have to take it with a pinch of salt, you need to have a thick skin to play any sport to any high level.
“Nobody is ever going to go through life without criticism if they are doing anything or trying to improve on themselves in any way shape or form.”
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