The end of any season is a mishmash of emotions.
For all but really one junior, one intermediate and one senior club, it's going to end in misery. The aim for most will have been to give the championship a rattle but the vast majority will fall short of that.
For a campaign that probably started with a team meeting back in December followed by gym work and relentless running through snow and mud, it's been a long, long year seeing the same faces, meeting at the same pitch and listening to the same voice as, bit by bit, the thing falls apart.
Come October or November, 50 per cent of the squad will have made up their minds that they're retiring from GAA. It's too much, they don't need the hassle anymore and, although, most of them will return again in January anyway, they're not joking around at this stage.
So the end-of-year messages in the WhatsApp group tend to take an eclectic tone.
1. Thanks
It does no harm to say thanks to the management team. Barring very rare exceptions, no player will have attended as many sessions and thought about the team and its preparations as much as the manager has.
Whether they did a good job or not, they tried to win.
2. F**k you
They lost the game and there's a sub with notions who didn't get on.
Action speaks louder than words, in this case. The management can do one.
3. Looking for the sympathy texts
Tell people it's your fault. They might tell you you're brilliant.
The risky thing about these texts though is that they often get ignored, either because people don't want to sympathise in a WhatsApp group an hour after a defeat or, you know, you've actually made a real mistake that they're still pissed off about.
4. You proved them wrong... whoever they are
5. The committee f**ked you over, to be honest
6. If you can keep this up...
They won't come to training, mate.
You'll have the same problems in January again.
