ARMAGH FOOTBALLER KEVIN Dyas thinks that people’s perceptions of his side are being blown out of proportion because of the reputation of Kieran McGeeney.
Recent rumours have suggested that the Orchard County players have been going through a gruelling pre-season schedule with McGeeney scheduling eight or nine training sessions per week.
Dyas has rubbished these rumours however, saying that they are just like any other county team.
“We train together on a Tuesday and a Thursday as I’d imagine most teams would and then we have a game at the weekend. Between that we’ve our gym sessions as most teams do. That’s it really. Training sessions that people were saying was going on weren’t true really.”
Speaking yesterday Dyas was keen to point out that McGeeney’s reputation leads to a lot of false claims being made about his side.
“There’s this perception that Geezer is flogging us every day of the week or every day of the month, that’s he ruthless with lads if they can’t make training.
“But for me personally, I’m working in here now (PwC in Dublin) and he’s been more than accommodating if I can’t make training because of work, it’s absolutely no problem. I know he’s the same with lads working in Belfast or some of the lads with kids, there’s never any issue with not being at training.”
The unsavoury scenes at the recent Tyrone and Armagh match which saw 19 cards, including four reds only stood to add to the perception however. But the 27-year-old thinks that it is McGeeney’s well-known appreciation for MMA that leads to a lot of over-exaggeration.
I don’t even think it’s the Armagh [versus Tyrone thing], I think it’s the whole fascination around people trying to have a pop at Geezer. Everybody knows that Geezer is into his MMA stuff and people automatically associate that with a scuffle on a GAA field. There’s no connection between the two at all.
It certainly seems that the Armagh players are perfectly happy with McGeeney and understand the impact his reputation brings in terms of media coverage.
“I think once Geezer’s name is involved, it’s automatically blown out of proportion. It’s unfair but I suppose that’s just the way it is, he’s probably used to it at this stage.”
-Additional reporting by Fintan O’Toole
