Roscommon's Daire Cregg back to podcasting reality 

Roscommon footballer Daire Cregg in attendance as Clean Cut Meals, the GPA and the GAA have today announced a three-year partnership. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Daire Cregg was back to reality by Tuesday evening, the high of beating Galway in Sunday’s Connacht final already giving way to the day job. 

There was a podcast to be recorded. There may even have been a little football talk. He is from Roscommon, after all.

Cregg works as a dairy specialist for the Irish Farmers Journal, co-hosting the Inside Dairy podcast, contributing to others, like Farm Tech Talk, and also writing for the publication. 

It’s his first job since graduating from UCD with a degree in Agricultural Science and Dairy Business and a Masters in Project Management.

“I'm covering anything to do with dairy farming,” Cregg said at the launch of Clean Cut Meals as the official ready meals partner of the GAA and GPA.

“It's enjoyable. There's a lot of flexibility and variability in the job and it's interesting. I enjoy being outside and I enjoy meeting people.

“There's probably one or two days a week that I'm doing a bit of travelling, maybe one day a week in the office in Dublin, and probably a couple of days at home as well.” 

Cregg’s connection to agriculture goes beyond his qualification. His family has a farm near Boyle. Dairy farming is familiar territory, unlike being the one asking the questions.

“I was very new on it when I started originally,” he said.

“I'm probably growing into it a little bit more but it's definitely different being on the other side of the fence.

“Without doubt there's a challenge in it too. The podcasts and the digital world has grown. The Farmers Journal is trying to evolve into that as well.

“The print edition and the paper is very important to a lot of households. But to try and keep growing, you need to grow the digital side so it's a big part of the company. You just get used to it and grow into it.” 

Cregg had a stellar league campaign but a red card in the Connacht Championship opener against New York led to him missing the semi-final against Mayo. He stepped off the bench against Galway, scoring three points, as Roscommon came from behind to win a thrilling decider.

“The fact that it was Galway, they were going for five consecutive titles, we wanted to put a stop to that,” he said.

“You have to soak it in, if you don't soak it in, you'd be wasting your time playing.

“We had a good Sunday night. We had a bit of a function afterwards for the county board, the panel members and families. That was nice to get away from the madness of it for a few hours on Sunday night.

“We went into (Roscommon) town afterwards but then Monday just the playing group had a few hours together.” 

Cregg believes Sunday’s win - completing a Connacht minor, U20, and senior clean sweep - added to the fervour but so too has having a predominantly Roscommon native management team, led by Mark Dowd. That their football features plenty of direct, explosive running no doubt helps too.

“Having a Roscommon management team definitely does have an impact on that as well, on that connection,” said Cregg.

“It's something we do go after and that we're trying to build, that connection with the supporter base and the Roscommon people because we're performing for them.

“I wouldn't pigeon hole us into any style of football. We're trying to achieve a blend of everything. You want, when the opportunity arises, to kick the ball. When the opportunity is there to control the play, we want to control the play and defensively we want to be as solid as we can be.” 

Other members of the backroom team include sports psychologist Richard Shanahan, originally from Cork, and former Dublin footballer Jason Sherlock.

“Jason is a really good guy on a personal level, he's interested in us as people which is important,” said Cregg.

“Richard is another really good guy and psychology is a big part of the game. It's something that I get a lot of use out of and I think a lot of the lads do as well.

“It's probably getting over a mistake or something like that as quick as you can, that's the biggest thing that I've taken. If you kind of lean into the mistake and you start to think about it and dwell on it, it ultimately affects your game. If you're dwelling on mistakes or poor performances you'll be left behind.

“It might only be a minute, it could be ten minutes. Richard is good for understanding that and knowing what the right thing to say at the right time is.” 

Sixteen months ago, Cregg made headlines when he suggested Roscommon have the potential to win Sam Maguire. He’s not thinking in those terms right now - not publicly, at least. Next up is Tyrone at Hyde Park on May 24.

“Every player wants to win an All-Ireland,” he said, “but that's a faraway goal.”