SEAMUS COLEMAN TONIGHT revealed he “dreaded” the Friday afternoon five-a-side when he was a teenager at Sligo Rovers.
Killybegs native Coleman, in 2006, was part of the Donegal minor side when he was approached by Sligo Rovers having been spotted in a friendly for St Catherine’s.
The Leaving Cert student made the decision to go to the Showgrounds as a raw 17-year-old and admitted tonight on Newtalk’s Off the Ball that he had to dig in his heels at Sligo initially and at the time missed Gaelic football.
That same year, without Coleman, the Donegal minors with Michael Murphy, Leo McLoone and Martin McElhinney won the Ulster Minor League and the Ulster Minor Championship, before reaching the All-Ireland Minor semi-final.
“On a Friday there would be a five-a-side and you would be picking teams and you’d be dreading it because you’d be getting picked last,” Coleman said of those early days at Sligo.
“Obviously you have to have something about you to get spotted. On the pitch, if I played 11 v 11 I felt I was fine and could hold my own. But it was in training and getting used to training, where you play a lot of two-touch games, you have to use your head and get your first touch right.
“It was stuff like that initially. Once I was on the put on the pitch I was grand. But a lot of football comes with confidence and I really kicked on then.
“I played Gaelic till I was 18 and would’ve come across a lot of them. I love playing Gaelic. The likes of Michael Murphy is a great player. I really enjoyed it when I played.”
Coleman has made no secret of the fact he would love a return to Gaelic football, lining up with his friends in Killybegs, when he soccer career comes to an end.
“I’m a home bird and I’ll go back to Killybegs,” the 27-year-old added. “If I still have something in the legs then I will play for Killybegs. That’s something I always wanted to do. I loved playing Gaelic. I’d love to pop over to the training pitch Tuesday and Thursday.
“When I went to Sligo first I missed Gaelic. I was playing minors and i had to pick between county minors and Sligo. I picked Sligo at the time and wasn’t really playing for Sligo at the time. The county minors did really well that year and I wondered did I make the right decision. Thankfully it worked out well for me.”
Coleman is looking forward now to the new Premier League season, having captain Ireland in two games at Euro 2016 – the memorable 1-0 against Italy in Lille and then narrow 2-1 loss to France in Lyon.
“It was great,” Coleman said of France in June. “The fans were brilliant. We were drained after losing to France.
“I only learned of the fact I would be captain before the Italy game. Martin O’Neill named the team just before the game and he let me know then. It was unbelievable. To be captain of your county in massive but especially so in such a big game.
“I wasn’t going around roaring at people. I just tried to do as best I could. There was no big changes in my game.”
Please click here to hear Seamus Coleman on Newstalk’s ‘Off the Ball’ speaking to Joe Molloy
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