Enda Smith cuts the shit on player burnout

That's the nature of the beast.

If any man had reason to complain about being burned out, if any man wanted a break from the game, then Enda Smith is that man. The Roscommon maestro has been training for the last year without stop. This time last year he was just back training with the DCU Sigerson Cup team who were about to begin their league campaign. The college season, under the strict guidance, and by all accounts, intense training regimes of Niall Moyna, ran right through to February. All the while, he was commuting home from his DCU base to Roscommon for training with the county. By February, Roscommon's League campaign was in full swing. League ran into Championship, and February into August without breaking stride, without taking a breather. The Rossies' were knocked out by Mayo on August 7th, but that didn't spell the end of Smith's season. He was straight back into club action, and that only ended last weekend when Boyle won a county league final. Time for a break? No way Jose, as he now is in with the Ireland International rules team who train at Abbotstown, and who are preparing for a trip Down Under in the next few weeks. Smith was speaking at the AIB Launch of their miniseries, "Behind the Gates," a four-part documentary that followed the Roscommon footballers for a year, and he spoke of his massive, unconditional desire for training, for playing.

"We had a league final last weekend, that's kind of the end of the club year so, this weather, I'm just training away with the international rules, and doing a small bit in the gym," he began. "When February/March hits, it's peak national league so you're down to business then. The Sigerson cup is brilliant football, really passionate, really dogged through January, February," he added.

He's flat out. He's a busy man, but he's busy doing what he loves, and he wouldn't want it any other way. So often, we are fed the notion that inter-county players are forced to make this massive, inhumane commitment. That they are abused, over-trained and are being forced into it. That not only their bodies are jaded, but also their minds. That's not how Smith sees it. To be an inter-county player, you have to be ambitious, insatiable, you have to be restless. You're hungry to achieve. Not only that, though, because the GAA can be a release to them from their working, everyday life. Enda Smith is currently working with AIB in Dublin. Last year he was a masters student in DCU. All the while, football training was something he looked forward to at the end of a tough day, not something he dreaded. You don't need any more motivation to go training other than the fact that you're going to a place where you have teammates who are similar to you and who you get on with, and you're going to training where you're playing the game that you love. That's how Smith feels.  

"You find if you miss a week or even two weeks of training, even at this time of the year, when you've no club or county games, you miss it definitely, but you also feel as if you're way off the pace. The last thing you want to be doing is chasing your fitness when the league comes around," he told SportsJOE.

You can't afford to take a break, but you also don't want to.

"Say if you get injured in the middle of the year, and miss two or three weeks, you feel so far left behind when you come back to training. I don't think you can afford to go from one extreme to the other, like going from an inter-county set-up to doing nothing, you can't do it, but also, you don't want to do it," continued the Boyle club man.

Even when the time does come, even when on holidays, he'd still be out jogging, keeping active, because that's the nature of the beast. Inter-county players aren't lazy, it's go, go, go and that's how they like it.

"You might go on a holiday for a week or two weeks, but you're always tipping away at the gym, you're always out running, lads might be playing a bit of soccer, and all that, that's just in your nature. "When you're in a routine of training all the time, it's hard to get out of it, and you don't want to get out of it either," he said.

And when you've a year like the Roscommon footballers did this year, winning a historic county title, how could you even dream of taking a break from the magic?   Roscommon footballer Enda Smith was at the the launch of AIB's four-part miniseries, "Behind The Gates" at St Audoen's Gate in Dublin. Documenting Roscommon's remarkable rise to provincial glory from behind the scenes, the series provides a unique, never seen before insight into an inter-county setup and can be viewed on AIB's Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels.