By Michael Fennelly

The role of Strength and Conditioning (S&C) is key for emerging talent in the GAA. The demands on playing senior inter-county are increasing yearly and you need to be in good physical condition to withstand the games and training regime.

A young 19-year-old coming on to a senior team is a big ask on the physical load, but if they have a respectable foundation laid in S&C, it can help with injury prevention and surviving those physical elements in your first couple of years.

I was 20 when I started lifting weights due to playing late into the year with Ballyhale Shamrocks in the AIB Club Championship and also being uneducated on the benefits that could be accrued.

There were a lot of myths going around of weights making you slow and offering no real value. If I could go back in time I would implement a few simple exercises into a strength and conditioning programme and really focus on building a strong core. I feel it is important to educate players at that age on the benefits and more importantly to keep them as healthy as possible for their future sporting careers.

Limerick for example have a team that’s amongst the youngest in the country with majority of players falling into the age bracket between 21-23. They are and have been ahead of most counties on the strength and conditioning pathway.

The majority of those Under 21 players who recently won All Ireland medals at that level would have gone through an Academy set up with strength and conditioning being part of the overall development plan. I was aware of their development programme in 2013 when I was down studying in University of Limerick so their programme must be close to 10 years in running now.

They have qualified professionals in the area of S&C heading up the Academy. Limerick are well aware that S&C is one element of sport and that’s why they had Anthony Daly employed for a few years working on the skills and coaching side of things.

S&C is not about getting big. It is about strengthening the tendons, ligaments and muscles to reduce injury first and foremost and to also increase power and strength. Our games are physical in terms of contact and also physical demands in terms of playing load. Playing load can mean how many kilometers you cover in a game, the number of high speed runs made in a game and sprints are some of the other physical external loads that our bodies must be able to withstand.

Both teams have gone to extra time in this year’s Championship and have proven their fitness capabilities. There is depth in both squads, but I’d be leaning in favour of Limerick’s bench. They have more options.

Injuries can play a big role in any game and the possible absence of Gearoid McInerney would be a big factor in this year’s All Ireland if it comes to it. Even losing only one player can have a huge impact on any game, especially an All Ireland Final.

Both teams will be hoping to have everyone fit and healthy in the lead up to the final. This can be a difficult area for managers and players as you want them going to full capacity in the training sessions, but you don’t want anyone getting injured.

Luck can be a big factor here as something as simple as a player landing awkwardly or turning to quickly could cause an injury to the knee for example. Contact is also a big issue and one that can be controlled to a degree but it can limit the intensity of a training session. Jackie Tryrrell and Tommy Walsh collided in a club league match which Kilkenny have normally played three weeks out from the All Ireland.

Brian Cody has always been excellent to release players back to their clubs. Unfortunately, that collision In 2010 cost Tommy a lot of discomfort in the final. Tommy being Tommy tried to play it down as much as possible, but there was damage done and I recall him not being able to raise his arm in the air. He played that game as that’s the kind of warrior he is, but unfortunately that injury limited his consistent dominant performance. That injury could have been avoided, but that’s the kind of mentality we had in Kilkenny, not to hold back and those two players probably captured it.

Galway on the flip side are more a mature team who have also benefited from a weights programme which only really started around 2011 for the senior team. Galway’s physical prowess has been clearly seen on the field and is down to a number of things and one that’s not really understood in my opinion. There’s a feeling creeping in out there of “bigger is better” and this is not necessarily true.

Dublin tried the bigger is better scenario a number of years back with Liam Rushe, in particular, putting on a substantial amount of muscle. Dublin probably had one of their worst years at that time and reinforced the importance of speed and agility in hurling. Hurling has a number of demands in terms of skill, agility, speed, fitness, power and strength to name a few.

You can’t just focus on one element as they all need to be performed and practiced, especially skill which most teams have an abundance of these days. This Galway team have been lifting weights for the last six years plus now and are reaping the rewards in terms of those demands I mentioned above and in particular the strength levels.

One advantage they may have, and no one can take credit for it, but their parents, is height. The team falls around on average between 6ft and 6ft 1 inches with the exception of Conor Whelan (5ft 11) and a few other giants.

It is unusual to see so many of the players reaching 6ft 1 plus and then to throw into the mix of Glynn, Skehill, Mclnerney and Joe Cooney who stand at 6’5'', 6’5'', 6’4'' and 6’4'' respectively. This is without mentioning their strongest player in my opinion, Daithi Burke, who stands at 6' 1'' and uses his strength and size most effectively. Padraic Mannion is only 25 and is 6ft 2 and will fill out further in the next two years.

Joe Canning at centre forward, who is also 6ft 2'', a big player and was a big teenager coming up the ranks like his nephew Jack and uses his physicality well on the field.

What’s important for these players is their speed, power and agility as bigger players can be less mobile. This is something I have no doubt Lukzasz Kirszentstein is focusing on for some of these players. Conor Whelan has definitely filled out over the last year two years and this hasn’t affected his speed. This is so important as an S&C coach to be aware of the players qualities and what he needs to improve on without compromising his biggest strengths. Whats Conor’s biggest strength? His agility and speed. He will not want to lose these qualities whilst putting on extra weight in the form of muscle.

The lead up to the final was always on focusing on business for me and important to perform well in each training session as there is only a handful of them left. You would be aware that the week of the final will be all ball work so the heavy training sessions will be over by then.

I always like doing a bit extra outside of training whether it was shooting, catching or going to the wall ball. This time was most important for me as I had time to think on the areas I needed to work on and take the time to try and improve a certain skill.

You don’t really get that time in training so it’s important to do it in your own time or with another player. Simple things like having your hurls ready and have one or two for back ups, boots are ready and maybe a back up for rain even though I normally went with the same boots.

The ticket affair can be a distraction especially if it's new to you. I believe Limerick are taking extra steps here to avoid distraction for the players with a family member being appointed to take charge of the tickets.

You might feel like you want to try to sort everyone out with a ticket, but trust me, the list is endless and the people who are important is family and close friends. I made one blunder in 2009. You’re dealing with maybe 70 – 80 tickets and you need to write them out with the numbers and see which ones are together and where they are. You might not be able to put some people up in the stand as they may have vertigo or some people might say they want three together and you have only four together.

The complexity of the tickets can be a serious headache and thankfully my father did most of the heavy lifting during my time as a player. But in 2009 I thought I had misplaced two tickets as the numbers I had written down weren’t corresponding to what I had. I had already given out some tickets too so it was difficult to find out did I actually in fact lose some tickets.

I thought I knew the seats of the two I lost so I was able to cancel them numbers and receive two new ones. I thought I got it right, but It wasn’t until the Tuesday after the All Ireland I was told two of my brother in laws had to watch the game in Quinns pub!

I think it was my two sisters who got rejected with their tickets so my brothers in law took the fall. The two lads didn’t make an issue out of it and I appreciated them being so understanding. I was a bit in shock and they were very good for not telling me initially and left it to a few days after the final.

My family didn’t want to spoil the celebrations in any way after the game and probably knew I had enough stress leading into that game as a captain who was not starting. There is also the money aspect of it which is a nightmare.

Paying out between €3,000 and €4,000 out of your account is not simple especially if you’re a student, practically impossible for some people. My father was very good to Colin and I and took a large portion out of that amount.

Receiving the money back is another headache and without a doubt you will spend some of that as it comes in. We got to two replays in 2012 and 2014 so you can only imagine doing the same thing over again.

You could take money up front from people but what if you can’t get them the tickets in the end and you're tracking another couple of thousand over the course of the two weeks that belongs to other people.

I’d personally like to see something improved here for the players and Limerick seem to be taking the right steps to reduce the burden on the players.

It is great meeting people on the streets or in the shops and wishing you well. At the same time I would limit my time down in the city as getting caught up into conversation on the game can be draining.

I found the less talk the better because it keeps your mind clear on what the job will entail. It’s a great achievement to be heading to Croke Park on All Ireland final day, but all of that goes out the window if you don’t play well or you lose.

The key is treating it like any other game. I didn’t want to be leaving Croke Park with a broken heart after feeling that your family, club, and county would be let down by not playing well. It happened twice in 2012 and 2014. Thankfully I got a second chance on both occasions within a few weeks to put things right rather than waiting 12 months.