McConville sidesteps retirement issue

GAELIC GAMES:RARELY IN club football history has a player walked in from a victorious All-Ireland final and straightaway been subjected to such open interrogation about his retirement. But then Oisín McConville is no ordinary player, writes IAN O'RIORDAN

At 35, he’s already collected practically every honour in the game, and winning a fifth All-Ireland club title with Crossmaglen was widely viewed as the likely crowning moment.

McConville is not getting any younger – but then who is? “Funny, a lot of people are trying to retire me now,” he admitted. “I’ll see. The thing is we’re nearly into the new season already.

“After matches it doesn’t be pretty. But I love it. That’s why I do it. And I enjoy the training, as hard as it is. But I’m married now as well. So I don’t have the full say. Only 50 per cent. But I’ve to go on a honeymoon now, and we’ll think about it then.

“It’s not about me though. The ethos and spirit of this team is strong again. We have players coming off the bench, and it’s time to give them a chance. And a lot of credit goes to Gareth O’Neill and Tony McEntee. After we lost in 2009, they came in and went back to basics. We also trained harder, and just became reinvigorated.”

Aaron Kernan – who was part of Crossmaglen’s last All-Ireland winning team in 2007 – collected his second medal here,and also paid tribute to the two men on the sideline.

“Those boys just talk sense,” he said. “We slipped off the hunger after 2007, and the work rate. But we’ve become such a close squad again. We plotted what we needed to, ground our way, and just did enough in the end.

“We were beaten by a better team two years ago, but today was about putting enough of a performance to win – even though we made life hard on ourselves. We said at half-time we were going to die on our feet today. We weren’t coming back into that dressingroom if we weren’t All-Ireland champions.

“We’ve done that now and if them older boys do feel that’s their last day then what better way to go? But those guys like Oisín McConville instilled the belief in this team, and it’s there now for the next generation.”