Glad to be back home living the Gaelic way of life

SPORTING  PASSIONS Ciarán Lyng: Gavin Cummiskeydiscovers why Lyng swapped a career as a professional soccer player to play football

HURLING WOULD be my passion more than Gaelic football or soccer. Hurling was the first sport I played, then football then soccer in the winter when neither of the other two was on. Hurling was about the club, where I was from, and of course my father (Mick) is a big hurling fan. I started in town with Clonard, Dad’s club, then we moved out of there when I was 10 or 11 so I joined St Martin’s.

We’re senior football now but it is more to keep fit for the hurling. We won the hurling championship down here last year. I was in midfield. I don’t know how a talent for soccer came about. I was playing football and soccer at the same time when I got picked for an academy squad in Wexford – four times a week training. The Irish trials came next and when I made the under-16 Irish team and all types of trials and offers came in from England.

I went to Portugal with the under-16s for a tournament, Brian Kerr was coach, and at that point Gaelic games were dropped. For that trip I was the only lad who hadn’t yet made the move to an English club. I knew that from the earlier trips but I also knew if I didn’t go somebody from England would eventually take my place so the hurley was put away as I joined Preston North End.

I wish I had stayed home and sat my Leaving Cert. Now I know you can’t tell that to a 16-year-old lad who obviously wants to go.

But I definitely would say not to get sucked into the English way of life and the attitude towards Irish guys when they get over. I was naive and everything but my attitude was to work as hard as I could every day, stay back after training to improve. It’s not laziness but the feeling amongst young players was you don’t have to do extra work, you are good enough or you are not.

You get slagged by English lads for that and after a while the peer pressure sees you getting sucked into that mentality. After a while I found myself jeering other lads for doing what I used to do.

Of course, that is bullshit. Whoever shows the most enthusiasm has a better chance of succeeding.

My passion for sport is the GAA, hurling particularly. What passion did I have for an English soccer club? I wasn’t born and raised there. I didn’t know the history of the club. Outside of the top five or six teams in the Premiership everyone wants to play for another club so they view where they are as a stepping stone.

The passion when playing for Ireland was there and it was an amazing experience but coming home to the club and playing hurling and football again was special.

I dropped soccer when I first came back. I just had no interest after the way my time in England came to an end. I still like the game but I didn’t enjoy my last few months over there.

I don’t have as much time as I would like to play hurling anymore never mind soccer. I train with the club as much as possible but it is a full-time job being an intercounty footballer. I took over a year to get the hurling touch back while, because of soccer, I slipped back into football no problem.

Under John Myler I tried to be a dual intercounty player but you have to be hurling consistently. It was too much to take on.

I feel more at home on a hurling field than anywhere else. It is so much faster. Football has gone very tactical and there is too much fouling. I enjoy hurling. Flat out for 70 minutes. Good crack, like.