Just in case we didn't know that Kieran McGeeney was quite an intense chap, we certainly do now. Conor McGregor's trainer, and all round godfather of MMA in Ireland, John Kavanagh, has given us an insight into just what makes the Armagh manager tick.
McGeeney's been in the news quite a bit this week over suggestions that he trains his players too hard, but according to Kavanagh, if that is true, it probably pales in significance to how much he demands of himself.
McGeeney has been an disciple of Kavanagh's SBG gym for a couple of years now and although we assumed he would be able to hold his own against some of the best fighters in the country, the level of fitness that the 43 year old continues to show is quite incredible.
Kavanagh was quoted in the Irish Mirror discussing how, at the beginning of his training, he set McGeeney an exercise purposefully designed to wear down fighters before they can be built back up with the proper technique. It sounds gruelling, but if you're Kieran McGeeney, it might as well be a light jog.
There’s a drill I can do that wears people down. If you wear someone down, then you can teach them technique.
The drill would normally take between three and five minutes. After three or five minutes, even somebody quite fit will be sore.
I did it for sixty minutes and McGeeney never stopped.
