Dubs GAA manager advises Drogheda players
Drogheda Utd player Cathal Brady admitted this week that he took the opportunity to get the inside track from Dublin's All-Ireland-winning GAA manager Jim Gavin last Saturday as part of the club's build-up to the FAI Cup final next Sunday at the Aviva Stadium.
The Dunboyne man was on duty at Meath GAA headquarters in Navan on Sunday in his other role as a physio for the Dunboyne GAA team in a league final against the local O'Mahonys.
Brady’s schedule is all part of the pressures that a part-time soccer player has to mix with his full-time job - at the Ratoath Sports Injury Clinic where he is a member of the team that also includes proprietor Edel Daly and Evan Scully, an acupuncturist.
Brady is looking forward to his first experience of an FAI Cup final and is confident that his Drogheda team can make it third-time-lucky in a cup final this year as they have already lost two, a Setanta and a League Cup.
“Jim Gavin gave us a different perspective on things when he spoke to us (Drogheda panel) on Saturday, he outlined the way he would do things for a GAA match, preparations and what’s involved in winning a big game.
“He gave us some great advice, but he pledged me to secrecy and warned me not to tell the lads down in Meath about Dublin’s secrets for success.
“I think he was serious too, he said he’d send some of the Dublin lads out to Dunboyne looking for me if I said anything, so I can’t tell you what he told us,” he added.
Brady enjoys the hectic schedule that he has to juggle between work at the Ratoath Sports Injury Clinic and football with Drogheda
“There will be a big crowd in the Aviva next Sunday and that will add to the atmosphere, but both teams have played in big games this season already.
“I’m hoping that I can make the starting 11, hopefully I have done enough over the last couple of games to impress the manager, but there are 19 on the panel and only 11 can start so there is a real competitive spirit.
“Any games we played this season against Sligo were tight and there won’t be much in it on Sunday,” he added.
Although he now lives in Ratoath, he has family and lots of friends in Dunboyne and they will all be cheering for Drogheda next Sunday.
“I’m a Dunboyne man and I played a little bit of Gaelic football with St Peter’s up until u-16, but I opted for soccer and I played for various representative teams in the North Dublin Schoolboys’ League, the Kennedy Cup and Foyle Cup at under-age level and also enjoyed some great times with Dunboyne FC,” he said.
“There is a great interest around Dunboyne in the cup final, all the lads in the GAA club will be either going to the Aviva or watching the game on television, I’ve been the physio for the GAA club for three years now and I was on duty on Sunday in Navan.
“There will be a big surge in Drogheda’s support for a day anyway, most of the lads I grew up with will be going to the game
“If we win it’s gets us into the Europa League next season, hopefully I’ll be with Drogheda next season, but it’s a difficult enough situation for Mick Cooke, it’s his last game.
“We were beaten in the Setanta Cup final and the League Cup final, but now we will be hoping that it will be third time lucky for us with the FAI Cup final,” he added.
Conall Collier