I’D intended to chat about “paying the price” week. About the difference between having a dream outcome and a crystal clear goal. How when I was a cub I dreamt of playing for Manchester United but when it came to paying the price to even have the tiniest chance of that dream coming true I kept my metaphorical hand in my pocket.

With a dream so big comes incredible sacrifice. For a lot of us, it’s a sacrifice that we quite often aren’t willing to pay.

Goals can be different. More aligned with who we know we can be. There are clearer steps that’ll get us from A to B. And if we box clever, we’ll do what needs done to get there.

I’ll expand on that another day because it’s an important topic for the retired player. We can get lost in dream outcomes that we just don’t have the time or energy to give a proper go and it ends up creating a disheartened, defeated mindset.

And a defeated mindset is the antithesis of the man I’m going to tell you about today. I lost a good friend on Sunday. If you’re not a fan of my columns, blame Eoin Farrell.

Blame him because he believed in me more than anyone I’ve ever known. And that belief gave me the confidence to do a lot of things I otherwise wouldn’t, including writing columns.

I met Eoiny in the changing room of Les Mills gym in Wellington, New Zealand. Myself and girlfriend – now wife – had decided to scratch the travelling itch and move to the other side of the world.

We spent two months in Auckland while the Rugby World Cup was on and partied our way through the summer but reality set in shortly after and the novelty of being away from home, knowing no one and living cap in hand quickly changed the mood.

We said we would roll the dice once more before giving up on New Zealand and moving down to Wellington. The hostel we booked into gave us a free fitness class at the local gym so after three days of unsuccessfully looking for work and a place to stay I needed to clear my head and jumped into a class.

As I sat in the changing room, hardly fit to stand after not training in so long, I was met with a friendly smile.

“Ye kick any ball in those things?” asked Eoiny, pointing to my Tyrone shorts.

That moment changed the entire trajectory of our year away and hugely influenced how I saw the world. Eoiny took us under his wing, sorted work, introduced us to an incredible circle of friends and made sure we always had anything we needed. And he did this for no other reason than that was his nature.

He just wanted to see people doing well. And if he could help, he would. And he did.

The more people I told the story of how I met Eoiny, the more people told me the same story back. That whenever he came into their lives he went out of his way to make sure they felt supported, got connected to the right people and were always included in the craic.

For the good times we had together in New Zealand, that support and authentic want to help and see people do well didn’t end. He travelled half the length of the country to attend my first coaching workshop. One I couldn’t get men to travel three minutes to, he jumped in a car and drove three hours without a second thought.

A huge personality that positively impacted everyone lucky enough to have met him. A prominent figure of Maryland GAA, Wellington GAA and Westmeath GAA in his time. Most of all, he was an incredible person. He’ll be sorely missed.

RIP Eoin Farrell.