I used to leave college at 4pm, get a bus into Dublin city and get a lift from there to training in Roscommon through rush-hour Dublin traffic. We would train for two hours and then another two-hour commute back to Dublin. It would be about 12pm before I got back to my house. That was three times a week. You would be fairly exhausted by the time you got into the house. I would be tired going to lectures the next morning and studying in the library in the afternoon.”

At the age of 22, Sean Mullooly made the decision to leave the Roscommon panel to concentrate on his final year of college and the freedoms that come with it. The decision was a blow to the plans of the Connaught champions and caused a stir in Roscommon.

For the first time Mullooly speaks about his decision and confirms that it was made to pursue final-year studies without the ties and pressured demands of an intercounty lifestyle, as well as being able to spend the summer abroad in America.

There may be a misconception that a young player leaving an intercounty panel is due to a lack of interest, of a ‘softness’. Imagine. But the old attitudes of elder statesmen still hang tough within GAA circles. These viewpoints on Mullooly have been flashed about. It was when I sat down to speak with the agricultural science student, you understand that this certainly isn’t the case.

While his passion for the game and Roscommon football is evident from his tone throughout, the importance he places on final-year education and having a life while you are young is more than understandable. This is magnified when you get into the nitty-gritty of the demands that were placed on the Roscommon man.

But firstly, let’s rewind.

“I was thinking about leaving since the beginning of the year, but I wasn’t sure. As the year went on I began thinking about it more and more. Then I pulled my hamstring against Tipperary and was out of action for six weeks,” Mullooly explains the thought process before deciding to leave.

“The following Tuesday I was getting a lift to training, where all I would have been doing is getting rehab. I remember thinking to myself: ‘I have to do this four-hour commute, spend two hours there for training and all for just rehab, for the next six to eight weeks The thoughts of the pressures for study and exams, starting work in September and the pull to go to America this summer were all too strong. That tipped the scale for me,” he said

“The following Saturday I called Kevin (McStay) and asked him could I call over to the house to chat. I sat down and explained how I felt. I told him that study was getting too much and the pressure was on from all sides. He said he knew by the text what I was feeling and, credit to him, he was very understanding and accommodating. He gave me an open invitation to return to the panel. It was a relief that he understood where I was coming from.”

I asked Mullooly about regret. Was there an inner thought that meant he may regret leaving a situation many would do anything to be in?

“Not really. For a few days after you are waiting to see how you feel about it, but looking back it was the right decision. I am starting a three-year graduate programme at KPMG in September so I knew I wouldn’t be around the next few years, so this summer is the last I will have free to myself for the foreseeable future.

“It is a huge weight off my shoulders to be honest and the difference in my life is huge. I have two extra evenings now to meet friends, go to the cinema, go for dinner, study or do what I like.

“But look, I thoroughly enjoy playing football and I love playing for Roscommon. If I’m training I like to give it 100% and this year I just felt I couldn’t give that. So for the next few months I just want to enjoy my final semester in college, study a little harder and go do some travelling for my last free summer and, unfortunately, something had to give.”

It was a fair answer.

This whole situation is born out of the professional demands placed on amateur players.

Over the last two decades intercounty GAA, at all levels, has evolved into a mode of professionalism that is both criticised and admired.

While many of the aforementioned elder scholars of the game, as well as noted pundits, are not the biggest admirers of this evolution, Mullooly takes the opposite approach.

“As it stands it is as professional as an amateur sport can be. I mean, I would like GAA to be professional. I would love to play the game full-time and I would presume that is how other players who play intercounty feel too.”

Since breaking into the Roscommon seniors in 2014, the Strokestown clubman established himself as one of the pillars of the Rossies defence and his physical old-school style of centre back play has been met with acclaim in many GAA circles.

A steller man-marking performance on Aiden O’Shea last summer bolstered Mullooly’s CV, albeit a heavy defeat in the replay ended the westerner’s summer. This summer, Mullooly will cut his clothe stateside in Chicago for Wolfe Tones GAA club. One can denote from speaking to him he is excited at the prospect. As he says himself, it may be his last chance to do so.

There is little doubt he will return for Roscommon in the future. An open invitation to re-join the panel was a testimony to an understanding manager who realise that lives must be lived off the pitch.

With excessive pressures on intercounty stars to perform on the sports field as well as in college, one would have to commend McStay’s approach. As for Mullooly, the pressure turns from performing on the pitch and the exam hall to the latter only. CL