Longford footballer Mickey Quinn explains why he is taking this championship season off, explains what it is like for a player such as Conor McKenna after coming back from the AFL, looks at the leadership of Dublin, the versatility of Armagh, and much more.
Longford football Mickey Quinn believes that Conor McKenna is benefitting from being thrown in at the deep end with Tyrone.
The Eglish man has not had to go through a pre-season since returning from the AFL — where Quinn once plied his trade — and it is unlikely that teams have been able to put the same amount of preparation into their systems.
This has perhaps contributed to the free-flowing and high-scoring football we have seen, and it has allowed McKenna to hit the ground running and play off-the-cuff.
“His general play, I don’t even know what position he is playing for Tyrone,” says Quinn.
“Having that bit of freedom for a player like that, you have to allow for it. What he brings, he scored 2-2 (against Mayo) and then whatever else he had a hand in.
“He offers that much that you say ‘you do you, and keep doing it’.
“He has has a fitness level, he is a playmaker, he can score, he can be a line-breaker.
“When you have a player like that who can impact the game as they want to, you just have to let them off.
“When you start to pigeon-hole them, and I found that a bit in the AFL and it was the same talking to other guys in a similar boat, it’s very structured and positions and tactics, and ‘you should be here when this is happening’.
“Conor seems to be the sort of player and reads the game. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but you’d prefer to be that type of player than be solid and ‘I done my role’.
“They are the type of players you want to watch. Everyone wants to turn on the television and watch Conor McKenna.
“He’s probably the player at the moment where people are saying ‘Tyrone are playing, I want to see him’.”
Click play on the video at the top of the page to watch Mickey Quinn discuss the big talking points of the weekend, his decision to opt out of the championship this year, Meath playing on the edge, whether Dublin are there for the taking, Monaghan’s scoring power, and much more.
