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Connacht SFC: 'We've moved into the Championship phase' - Parsons

GAA.ie looks ahead to Sunday's Connacht Football Championship Quarter-Final as London host Mayo - Ahead of the game we hear from Mayo midfielder Tom Parsons who reflects on Mayo's last away game in Ruislip in 2011, while London's Dave McGreevy admits that he and his teammates are looking forward to the challenge of facing the Connacht champions this Sunday, May 29th (throw-in 3pm, Irish TV grounds, Ruislip).

Sunday May 29

Connacht Senior Football Championship

London v Mayo, Irish TV Grounds, Ruislip, 3pm

By Cian O'Connell

Tom Parsons knows what it is like to travel a significant distance to play Gaelic Football.  That is precisely what Parsons did making the trek from Cardiff to feature in the Charlestown jersey.  Earning a recall to the Mayo panel was always a quiet ambition.

“I was in the team from 2008 to 2011 and released from the team in 2011,” Parsons said at the Connacht Championship launch.  “I was working in Cardiff for two years, but continued to fly home to play football with my club and in that time we won an Intermediate county and Connacht title and I maintained a huge grá and motivation to come back to play with Mayo.

“In 2014 James Horan called me back into the panel. For a five month period I flew home every weekend to train and play with Mayo until the summer of 2014 when I moved back home permanently and took up a position in the Mayo football squad for that summer.

“I suppose taking a step back from football in your mid-20s definitely gives you a chance to get more balance in your life and I have certainly come back to really appreciate the prestige and honour to represent your county and to put on a Mayo jersey.”

That sense of care and respect is why a sell out crowd will flock to Ruislip on Sunday to catch a first 2016 Championship glimpse of Mayo.  Firmly re-established as part of the Mayo squad it makes Parsons’ trips from Cardiff to Charlestown matter deeply.  “The logistics were often a 12 hour travel time. A drive from Cardiff to Bristol which was an hour. A flight which was two hours to Dublin.

“Quite often I had to fly to Dublin because the Knock flights were constrained to a mid day time. The travelling over and back was huge.  At one point in Cardiff I flew back nine weekends in a row to play with my club. That was over a winter period.

Mayo midfielder Tom Parsons.

Mayo midfielder Tom Parsons.

“I have huge motivation to play with my club. Throughout the two years in Cardiff it was great to contribute to my club’s success when we won an Intermediate title and get back to senior status.

“And I suppose in the two years I was away from Mayo they featured in two All-Ireland finals and I felt there was something I had to offer to that Mayo team and I worked extremely hard in Cardiff.

“I took up different codes. I took up boxing athletics and soccer which helped develop me as well and I came back in 2014.  When I did get the opportunity I came back with a heightened motivation to play with Mayo.”

The London footballers embark on significant adventures crossing the capital city to train throughout the year.  Ciaran Deely, the former Wexford star, is in charge, and is renowned for his methodical approach to training and preparation.

London's Allianz Football League featured a string of gutsy displays, including a win over Waterford, while recent challenge matches were played against Louth, Wexford, and Cork.

Mayo, though, will provide a particularly stern examination on a flagship day for London GAA in Ruislip, and Parsons has taken particular satisfaction from the central role he has occupied so far in 2016.  “Yeah, it’s great,” Parsons admits.

“I think I have played every game in the FBD and the National League in the campaign and that may be a first for me so it’s great to get that run of games. It gives you confidence. It’s great to be playing with Mayo, my debut for Mayo was in 2008 against Sligo, and I was off the panel to the 2011 championship to 2014.

"So there is a huge grá and motivation to play with Mayo and that is still there. Every day it’s magic to put on a Mayo jersey and get to represent your county.”

Parsons is encouraged by the approach Stephen Rochford wants to adopt.  “Stephen has brought a real positive energy to the squad. Are we working on anything really specifically new to other years? Probably not.

“Gaelic football is a really simple game and we're really focusing on those skills and reducing the quantity of errors that are made in big games.

“So training, you can really see the change in intensity in training at the moment. We've really moved into the Championship phase. Stephen has brought his own footballing experience, he's a real football manager who wants positive football, that's moving the ball at pace by hand or foot.”