Don’t forget your boots

In his column in this week’s Gaelic Life, Paraic Grimes explains why preparation is crucially important for every player.

He recalls his days of playing vocational schools football with St Ciaran’s Ballygawley. En route to their All-Ireland Vocational Schools final against St Brendan’s Belmullet, he recounts the moment that the teenage version of himself realised he wasn’t prepared at all.

“It’s at this point where I tell you that the wheels almost came off before we got as far as Kelly’s in. You can imagine the excitement attached to being involved in a game like this one. It was not dissimilar to the buzz of the club champiosnhip. So in my youthful haste I forgot to put my football boots in my kit bag.

“Scrubbed clean the night before, and still sitting in the spot I left them as I sat completely oblivious on the team bus that morning.”

So what did he do? Did he get to play in that All-Ireland final, or did he have to sit in the stand in his sock soles?

Find out in the current issue of Gaelic Life.

Click here to buy the digital edition.