FIFTEEN YEARS.
It sounds more like a prison sentence than an inter-county career. Certainly Anthony Nash was locked into a dream. He wanted to win an All-Ireland, was desperate to do so with Cork, and was seconds away from fulfilling that goal in 2013.
Seven years later he called it a day. Fifteen years on from when he first got the call from John Allen, he decided there were other things in his life he had to prioritise.
His was one of the longer inter-county careers in modern-day hurling – but Nash firmly believes that as the demands increase, careers are going to be much briefer.
“This time of year is actually a great time to be an inter-county player,” Nash, The42’s hurling analyst, told the GAA Weekly, a podcast available to members.
“Gym work in November for an inter-county player is about getting your mind right as well as your body into shape because the better you are feeling and looking, the better you are going to play the following year.
“I used to love Novembers because you are out of the eye of the public for a while. Bear in mind, as an inter-county player, you are constantly judged. It is a definite break from that. Managers allow you go out for a couple of pints at the weekend. If you trained Saturday morning, you could go out Saturday night.
“Players need that mental break because it is so intense. To put it into context, in the next couple of weeks, every (inter county team) will be getting back together. You are only two months away from the League starting.
“The break is getting shorter because of the intensity of the season.
“The thing that (stressed) me towards the end of my career was having to be somewhere at a certain time. That’s why I loved the flexibility of training this time of year because if I had to get a gym session done, I could get it done in my own time, often in the mornings before work. You then had your evenings off.”
There is only so long amateurs are prepared to park the other aspects of their lives to give this kind of commitment.
“Careers are going to get shorter; the demands get to you mentally more than physically, because lads are missing summers away they see their buddies are getting.
“If it keeps going the way it is, a player’s inter-county career is going to get shorter and shorter because people are going to get sick of it. You are looking at fellas going back in a few-weeks-time (to collective training) and doing that four times a week. Fellas are going to get fed up of that. Inter-county careers will get shorter or else fellas will go off like the Dublin lads (Jack McCaffrey and Rory O’Carroll) and come back onto the scene after a break.”
Nash also looked forensically at Ballygunner’s titanic clash with Limerick champions, Na Piarsaigh, suggesting a reunion between the defending All-Ireland champions, Ballygunner, and last year’s beaten finalists, Ballyhale Shamrocks, is on the cards. Also revealed were his thoughts on the most passionate area in hurling’s heartland. You may be surprised by his answer.
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