Kerry legend Marc Ó Sé dispels long-held belief about GAA’s warm weather camps

Warm weather camps have become the new fad in GAA with the likes of Tyrone and more recently Kildare leaving Ireland to train.

One man who has had his fair share of warm weather camps is Kerry legend Marc Ó Sé. Speaking on the GAA Hour, Ó Sé recollects on the time his brother was concerned about if that the squad should bring a change of clothes fit for the town.

 “I remember one year we were going and Pat O’Shea was telling us exactly what we were to bring and I remember when we were inside the meeting and Tomás (Ó Sé) says ‘Pat, will we bring our going out gear?’ and Pat, unfortunately, ‘Do lads, do bring your going out gear.’ "I’ll tell you if Pat had it all over again he wouldn’t be saying the same thing."

With a hectic and exhausting training schedule, Ó Sé revealed that most players used the down time to relax and recover.

 “A lot of fellas were sleepy because you were training so hard and then you’re going to bed early because you know you’re up the following day and it’s going to be a hard day again so a lot of fellas when they did have the chance to relax they were.”

Going out to the local nightclub is a young man's game, according to Ó Sé, with the older lads being more prone to staying in their apartments.

 “The younger fellas, if they got an opportunity they might get a taxi into the local town, I think some of our fellas were going into Albufeira and places like that.”  “When I got older I was just relaxing in the apartment but that’s the way it is, younger fellas have that energy and they go off with their friends and they head into town.”

Ultimately, the drinking culture has completely died out on these trips away, with the three-time All Star explaining that a final night blow out made the squad feel counter productive, undoing all their hard work.

 “The big thing from our point of view was, as we went on in years we were allowed out the last night but then you’re coming home the following day on the flight and you’re feeling hung over and it is as if your trip is pointless. "You’re going over here to do a bit of work and you should come back feeling great and we felt there wasn’t much point in going out the last night if you were going to come home feeling awful and that was kind of cut out as time went on and there was more of an emphasis on just working hard out there.”

Bringing a new meaning to an Irishman abroad. You can listen to Marc Ó Sé talk about warm weather camps below from 15:40 https://soundcloud.com/sportsjoe-gaa-hour/marc-ose-on-training-holidays-and-brian-hurley-on-his-horrific-injuries