ROAD TO GLORY
Long commutes will be worth it if we can land Sam, says Mayo’s Coen
IT’S not just Croke Park that has become a home from home for the Mayo footballers, so too has Dublin city. No fewer than 10 of Stephen Rochford’s panel are domiciled in the capital, although that number is halved in peak summer when the students are lured back to home comforts and closer proximity to county training.
It has long been pinpointed as one of the biggest challenges facing the Mayo set-up — the sixhour, 480-kilometre midweek round trip for training that places stress on time and hamstrings as they journey west.
Tom Parsons, Seamus O’Shea, Jason Doherty, Chris Barrett and sub goalkeeper Rob Hennelly all earn their crust in the capital while Paddy Durcan, Diarmuid O’Connor, Conor Loftus, Conor O’Shea and Stephen Coen are based in Dublin third-level institutions.
It is a journey easily made these weeks as they prepare to take centre stage on the biggest day in Irish sport, but for some it’s a lot of miles for not so much game-time.
Coen, for one, is likely to find that his travel time and gametime don’t quite make a favourable ratio.
He will start this Sunday on the bench but will join the final fray at some stage, as has been the case for 12 of his 17 Championship appearances to date.
But the notion that travelling to train and play for Mayo is some kind of sacrifice is utterly foreign to him.
And for that matter, if it meant he had to move back to protect an inter-county career that is only in its fledgling phase, that wouldn’t be an issue either.
‘That’s something I’ll have to consider but I suppose I’ll have to consider my studies as well and whether I want to advance my education,’ says Coen.
‘That’s important too, not just football.
‘Look, we don’t have to do this. We don’t have to play for Mayo if we don’t want to but we all want to and if that’s what it takes, then that’s what we’ll do.’
It is a declaration of intent from the 21-year-old, who has been flagged as a leader in waiting with reason — he has already captained the county to All-Ireland minor and Under 21 glory.
‘Basically, we all come home at the weekend anyway so that’s part and parcel of it.
‘Then there’s one midweek session when we meet and commute together. It’s such good fun we nearly look forward to the bus down.
‘Because I’m in college, recovery is a lot easier for me as well. In UCD you have a gym and a pool right on your doorstep so it is very easy for me to recover the next day after training.
‘But I suppose for the guys working it must be very difficult. At the same time, they still have to get the work done while they’re training.
‘Some guys have to take off work early but I’m lucky enough that my timetable is early enough in the day and I’ve plenty of time in the evening,’ explains Coen, who is the final year of his degree course in agricultural science.
In college, there is no getting away from ball — he shares a house with Monaghan star Conor McCarthy and Barry O’Sullivan, Kerry’s 2014 All-Ireland minor winning midfielder, while he shares campus space with Jack McCaffrey, Michael Fitzsimons and the Dubs’ new sensation Con O’Callaghan.
He is not in the least surprised that the latter has become one of the headline stories of the 2017 Championship.
‘He’s a great player, a super player,’ said Coen.
‘He was very good this year with the 21s and we were unlucky not to have him this year in UCD because he was hurling with Cuala. He’s a super player and his attitude is top class from what I have heard.
‘They say if your attitude is good you’re going to make it.’
That truth holds true for Mayo, whose attitude and character have been stress-tested more than once this season since a second defeat to Galway inside 12 months. What did not break them has made Mayo stronger, insists Coen.
‘We planned to beat Galway, but our performance wasn’t good enough on the day and they deserved to win.
‘There is a time when you have to say, right, get back to the simple stuff, get the basics right and you get working hard again. That is what we did.
‘There were times after Galway when Derry could have knocked us out. Cork could have knocked us out, but they didn’t.
‘Everyone has tried to beat us so far, but they haven’t so we take confidence out of that, but we know we have to go and win this game now.’