Ó hAilpín craves a good break

With the formalities out of the way, Derval O'Rourke hit Grafton Street to buy herself something cool to wear on The Late Late Show. Seán Óg Ó hAilpín took the train back to Cork, his next appointment a relegation football match with Na Piarsaigh this weekend. Success always has a flip side.

Both were in Dublin's City Quay national school yesterday to launch the Spar Kids Fit for Life campaign, aimed at encouraging healthy eating habits in primary schools. Both were also reflecting on their off-seasons.

O'Rourke, naturally, is enjoying it a little more, her European championship silver medal over 100 metre hurdles now on the mantelpiece beside her World Indoor gold over 60 metre hurdles.

Ó hAilpín is still coming to terms with Sunday's All-Ireland hurling defeat to Kilkenny - which ended Cork's hopes of the three-in-a-row.

He said on Sunday he didn't want to hear those words mentioned again, yet Ó hAilpín has realised it was being a bit ambitious. And it seems he is coming to terms with it. His club, Na Piarsaigh, are out for the next three weekends in relegation play-offs to maintain Division One status and Ó hAilpín is happy to lend a hand.

"I trained with them on Tuesday night," he said. "You're better off. Just throw the boots back on, get rid of the feeling. It was a bit of a novelty as well playing football, after eight or nine months of only hurling. I hadn't kicked a ball since April, but it's important that we stay up.

"After that I'll take two or three weeks and do nothing. Not even look at a hurl, not look at a gym, not look at a swimming pool. Just relax, and do some of the other things I don't get time for during the year. We need that. We're only amateurs.

"Even Setanta and some other guys I know in the professional code take some time off and do nothing at all. Then head down again for next year."

That hiatus means he'll bypass next month's International Rules Series with Australia: "Well I haven't heard from them yet," he added, "and I'm not expecting it. To be honest I think this year more than any other year I'm looking forward to taking a few weeks off.

"It just happened by luck anyway that I got involved the last two years. I'm looking forward to a good, uninterrupted winter, to recharge the batteries."

Four days after the final, the All-Ireland-winning captain of 2005 was a little clearer on what ultimately went wrong in 2006.

"It does prove how difficult the three-in-a-row is, of course. Whether directly, or more indirectly, it does bring its own pressures.

"But the Kilkenny team we played on Sunday only had something like five players from 2004. We had more or less the same team. That's no excuse, though, because we were beaten by a better team, but you have to take that into account.

"I actually think we did very well to keep it going for the last three or four seasons. As winners there are a lot of different functions you have to go to, going around to the clubs and the schools, and all that is important to the promotion of the game.

"But I think a lot of our players can look forward to well-deserved winter breaks. Not so much from training, but from what I would call the outside pressures. And next year, instead of being followed, we'll be followers. That brings it's own new freshness and spirit.

"For a change we don't have to be looking over our shoulders. I think in ways it's easier to look ahead, than look back over your shoulder."

O'Rourke obviously shares the idea of taking a complete break from her sport: "I think if someone brought me to a track right now to race I'd cry. The only bad thing is I got a call the other day from the IAAF to run the Grand Prix final on Sunday.

"If I'd been told two weeks ago, maybe, because there's a lot of money. But I've done nothing, so it would be just ridiculous to even attempt it, so I've said no.

"Like I went horse-riding last week, and my coach Jim Kilty would totally lose the plot if I did that during the season. I've had three weeks off, and I'll take two more weeks. I need to appreciate it all a little bit, and then go back and really want to be there again."

She credits Padraig Harrington for helping her keep success in perspective, ensuring it never becomes a burden.

"Just after I won World Indoors I sat down with Padraig, up in his house. He made me tea and we had biscuits and I was a like a kid, and he was the father giving me advice. But he was great. He just said that all the stuff that comes with success mightn't seem like much at the time, but it does drain you. You have to control it.

"So I'll enjoy it for these few weeks, but the minute I go back training I'll shut everything down again. And focus totally on getting ready for the European Indoors next March. I want to win that."

Success - and its flip side - still drives success.