Ultimate dream of devoting life to sport

SPORTING PASSIONS:I SUPPOSE most kids in Ireland would grow up playing soccer at some stage, either in the playground or with their mates outside school.

Being from a GAA background there would have been no organised or formal soccer clubs in the area where I lived, so certainly my focus was on Gaelic.

When we got a chance though, whether at home with my brothers or in the playground at lunchtime, we always played soccer.

The first formal game I played was for the local club, Maghera Strollers, when I was 18. It was only for a bit of craic and to keep fit during the winter. I played a few games with them before I went to Australia and I really enjoyed it.

The only reason I started playing soccer again was on the back of Eamonn Coleman's dismissal as Derry manager in 1994. There was a bit of a spat between the players and the county board and to keep myself fit I started playing for Park FC in the intermediate league in Northern Ireland.

I'd played about 10 games at centre-half for them when some scouts started showing an interest. It started off with an Ipswich Town scout and shortly after that Manchester City and Stoke were in.

Then the word came that the Manchester United scout wanted a list of our fixtures. We were due to play an Intermediate Cup game against Donegal Celtic in Belfast so the United scout said he'd go and watch that game.

I think we won 3-1 and I was asked to go over to Manchester for a two-week trial. I had patched things up in Derry and the Gaelic was starting to come to the fore again, so I was conscious of that and said "Okay, if I'm going to go anywhere, I'll go over there and if I'm going to make it I'll make it at the top". I was 23 years of age at the time.

When I was there I was playing in the reserves alongside the core of those younger United players that became the backbone of the club - the Nevilles, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham - and senior players like Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis.

Alex Ferguson came to watch the second reserve match I played and called me into the office the morning afterwards. He said that while they felt I had done well during the trial period, they thought I was a bit old and inexperienced for what they required. I guess it was an honest enough assessment.

When we were beaten in the championship by Tyrone in 1995, it was a major low point in Derry football and Derry City's manager Felix Healy asked me would I sign for them.

I got injured shortly after signing and spent most of the year out injured. I was trying to split myself between soccer and Gaelic and I wasn't doing myself justice in either sport. At the end of the season, I decided I had to concentrate on one sport and at that stage the only decision was that I was going to devote my life to Gaelic to try to win another All-Ireland.

I would have loved to have been able to make a career as a professional sportsperson. I always aspired to be as good as I could be within my sport. I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to be as fit as I could be, to be as well prepared as I could be and to devote myself to sport would have been the ultimate dream.

I suppose that's why at 18 I went to Australia and accepted a scholarship to play Aussie Rules with Melbourne. I spent a year and a half there but I was out with a broken leg for seven months of that time.

I came back in June '91 and into the Derry set-up but later I had three separate offers to return to Australian rules - Richmond in 1994, Sydney Swans in '95 and Melbourne in '96. On each occasion I declined the offer because it wasn't the right thing for me to do at that time.

The year and a half I spent in Australia was a massive experience. I learned so much about sport and preparation for sport and saw how far ahead Australia were of what was going on at home. It really accelerated my development as a footballer and also made me a better person.

I would certainly be a supporter of the International Rules series. It's a great opportunity for GAA players to represent Ireland and it's the only international outlet we have. I always viewed it as a massive honour to play for my country and I think most players still feel that way.

The most important thing with this year's series is that it passes off without any of the unsavoury incidents of the past. If the series is competitive but clean, I think everyone will be happy to an extent.

After that, and very much to the fore in our thinking, is making sure we're competitive and that we put up a better challenge from a playing point of view than we did in 2005 and '06.