Kieran McGeeney's involvement in the world of MMA is a source of wonderment to Irish sports fans. His training at John Kavanagh's SBG gym is hardly an orthodox hobby for your typical inter-county manager, but then McGeeney could hardly be accused of being 'typical'.
The Armagh icon features on this week's Thank GAA It's Friday, and RTÉ have sent us on an enticing promo clip which shows the Orchard boss explaining how and why he got into MMA in 2009.
While it might come as a surprise that he's not a major fan of regular gym exercise himself, the anecdote about taking a bit of a leathering from a smaller man at SBG pretty much explains why a competitor such as McGeeney would be drawn to such a physical sport:
I'm probably coming here six or seven years. I was looking for something for the Kildare boys to do for the pre-season. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a big fan of the gym with mates and stuff like that, it can bore you to tears.
I came here and some wee small fella basically handed my ass to me! I was just fascinated by the idea that somebody could just dominate you like that there.
I suppose the biggest thing I learned coming here... You might have thought you were good, you might have thought you were able to handle yourself, but you soon find out that you couldn't.
Almost seven years on, and McGeeney is still on the mat.
Thank GAA It's Friday airs at 7pm on RTÉ Two this Friday.
