I’m listening to a superb podcast episode of The GAA Social at the moment. It is an interview with the great Jackie Tyrrell, winner of 9 All-Ireland hurling medals with Kilkenny.
Tyrrell’s obsession with hurling, his commitment, Brian Cody’s management methods, stories of Tommy Walsh and Henry Shefflin rolling around on the ground in training, and Henry Shefflin being Tommy Walsh’s boss off the field-it is a fascinating interview and look into the mind of a winner.
But toward the end the interviewer asks him did he (Tyrrell) enjoy it and it seems that the answer was no, he was too busy getting prepared and doing battle and obsessing over food, diet, training, winning, losing to actually enjoy it.
Which would make you wonder, what was the point?
Tyrrell says that his happiest day on (or off) the field was when he won the county championship in Kilkenny with his club James Stephens. Yet he was sent off that day and spent part of the match sitting on the side-line.
You would really wonder, however, about the trade-off between achieving and winning medals and enjoying an amateur sport.