We are utterly spoiled for quality sports writing today, with Henry Winter's revealing interview with Jon Walters one of the best interviews we've read for some time.
Not far behind, however, is former Mayo footballer Mikey Conroy's sit down with Kieran Shannon of . Shannon consistently produces terrific interviews in Saturday's Examiner, but for this piece, all he had to do was sit back and let Conroy talk.
And boy, can he talk. The interview is littered with terrific anecdotes and is well worth a read in full.
Our favourite relates to James Horan's time in charge in 2012. Conroy had returned to the set-up after a couple of wild years in self-imposed exile, and while his hunger had returned, his thirst didn't quite go away either.
After a league defeat to Donegal in Ballyshannon, some of the panel decided to drown their sorrows on Sunday evening. What with it being a Bank Holiday Weekend, some players - Conroy among them - decided to roll on into Monday.
Training resumed on Tuesday night, with Horan unimpressed that the players had gone on the piss on Sunday. Mention of Sunday, however, offered Conroy and Co. a bit of comfort. That was until Richie Feeney's honesty got in the way...
Lads, I know you were drinking Sunday night.” Now, that meant he hadn’t heard about the Monday Club which had been in full swing; if he had, he wouldn’t have had much of a Mayo panel left. But anyways, he says, “Lookit, I don’t mind if you were drinking on Sunday. I just want you to admit it.” So at the end of training lads started going up in ones. I said, “I was there, James. Look, I was just pissed off, getting three minutes when I’m out six nights a week training.”
He said, ‘That’s fair enough.” He respected me for that.
But then Richie Feeney made an awful mistake. He said, “Yeah, I was there on the Sunday and the Monday.’
Horan: “What?! What happened Monday?”
Amateur mistake! I thought I’d schooled Richie better than that! Never admit to the double day! Never admit to the doublespill!
That, according to Conroy, was that for the Monday Club.
Read the full interview here.
