Aidan Forker: 'Injuries and disappointments are the only guarantees in sport'

Why does Forker keep on going, having already captained Armagh to All-Ireland glory in 2024? Is it a form of addiction?

Armagh’s Aidan Forker. Pic: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho

Aidan Forker was tightly man-marked at the launch of the All-Ireland SFC in Trim, by his seven-month-old boy who is speedy on all fours.

The experienced Armagh defender has two other sons, nine-year-old Leo and four-year-old Ross.

"Three boys, good craic!" smiled Forker who at the age of 34 hasn't started a game in more than a year. He's only made two appearances - for a couple of minutes against Dublin in the League and Monaghan in the Ulster final - in 2026.

Armagh will take on Louth on Sunday in Round 2A of the All-Ireland SFC and, while fully fit, the chances of Forker starting, and probably even featuring, appear slim.

And yet he continues to push himself to the extreme, exhausting the services of a physio in recent months and installing an oxygen chamber and pilates reformer machine in his house to speed up his recovery from a calf injury.

"I came on (against Dublin) and then tore my calf the following week," said Forker. "I went and got a scan and I ended up having a Grade 2 tear in my calf. Listen, that's sport."

So why does he keep on going, having already captained Armagh to All-Ireland glory in 2024? Is it a form of addiction?

"It's in the realm of it, yeah," he nodded. "It's on that spectrum, for sure. I don't know anything else. I've been part of this group from when I was 18, 19 years of age. It's been my whole adult life really."

Forker said he learned a long time ago the value of simply showing up, of being there year after year. Eventually, good things typically happen.

"I obviously have a good relationship with Geezer (Kieran McGeeney) and he would have told me he didn't win his All-Ireland until he was 31," said the powerful defender. "And I was 31 actually when I won mine.

Aidan Forker, Tadhg Morley and Ciaran Caulfield. Pic: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho

"Kieran would have had nothing else in his head but an All-Ireland. It's the power of staying the course really."

But it's easier said than done, especially with three kids under 10 at home.

"My wife is just amazing," he said, referencing Eimear. "I don't know how much longer I'll get away with it! She loves it, she loves the sport. They're all at the games, so I'm lucky."

Inter-county football isn't typically a married man's game, and you won't find many still at it with three kids.

"Tadhg Morley has a wee baby due in August, he was saying," said Forker. "Not too many of the Kerry boys have (children) but Ethan Rafferty would in Armagh, Aaron McKay has two. There's a handful of us have babies at home, yeah. But I don't think there's too many county players with three children, to tell you the truth."

Forker made his Championship debut in 2012, against Tyrone, and has given unbroken service ever since.

It was in season 15 that he finally won an Ulster SFC medal, after beating Monaghan after extra time last month. He came on in the 89th minute.

"A lot of people are saying about it being a weight off the shoulders but I wasn't feeling that at all," said Forker. "I wasn't feeling that we owed anybody anything, or that the fans were putting us under pressure. We stayed away from all the headlines and social media buildup, so it wasn't really feeding into your psyche. You were empowered to go and try to win it for the man beside you, who has not got over the line previously, and all the disappointments. You were driven by that."

And if Monaghan had won, Forker would have made his peace with that. He often thinks about something former Down player Ronan Sexton, who lined out against Cork in the 2010 All-Ireland final, said to him.

"I was in class with Ronan in university," said Forker. "He was a mature student in my class and he'd seen what I was putting into it, all the work I was doing in the gym and what we were trying to do. He was basically trying to tell me to calm down, slow down. 

"He said sometimes you don't get out of football what you deserve. And I wanted to prove him wrong. But he was probably right, because you don't. You put a lot more in than you get out of it. I'd say injuries and disappointments are the only guarantees in sport."