Niamh O’Sullivan retired from intercounty football earlier this year after back-to-back All Ireland wins.
She is now focusing on her club Dunshaughlin & Royal Gaels LGFA.
The football star explained that there are big differences when it comes to training for your county team versus your club team, however, the gap is slowly closing.
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Niamh told RSVP Live: “When you are playing with your county team, people think that it’s two or three nights a week training, but in fact, it’s nearly five or six nights. You have your training nights, but then you have your video analysis nights, your gym nights that are separate to these. It’s a big commitment.
“I’m very lucky because I’m a primary school teacher and being able to leave at 3PM, walk out the door and I only live down the road from my school. I have all the afternoon and the evening to get dinner before training. My jobs works well when it comes to balancing football, my career and my personal life.
“When you have people working in an office from 9AM-6PM, it is very demanding on them. A lot of them would come straight to training and some of them wouldn’t have food in them.”
She added: “Clubs are not exactly like that, but it’s going that way. Some clubs are now doing gym sessions. They are doing their three or four nights on the pitch and then games, so it’s still heavy going with clubs as well.”
Niamh noted that players love what they are doing, so they adjust and make time for it.
She explained that when it comes to training with your club versus training with your county team, there can be big differences.
“When you’re training with your county, it’s your life,” she said. “You make the excuse to be there. You wouldn’t be going on holidays and missing training so else you’ll be down the pecking order.
“It’s very different with clubs. I’m not saying club players aren’t training hard, of course they are because they’re giving as much time, but it’s a bigger commitment with the county as there’s more involved.
“Our club manager Shane Farrelly is very sound letting girls go on holidays, within reason, and he gave us breaks to refresh the bodies and refresh the minds. When you give girls that chance, that they have a break, they come back chomping at the bit which is what we wanted this year. He’s been very fair to us and everyone has been giving it 120%.”
Niamh is also part of the historic launch of AIB Club Championships which sees all four Senior finals from the four codes - Gaelic Football, Hurling, Camogie, and Ladies Football - taking place at Pairc Tailteann.
Speaking about it, she said: “It’s truly amazing and fantastic. It’s a step in the right direction in hoping that all those four codes will amalgamate under one association.
“We’re so grateful that AIB has come on board this year to sponsor the Ladies All-Ireland Club Championship. It really showcases AIB’s commitment to the Gaelic games and to communities across the country.”
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