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THANK GAA IT’S FRIDAY

Thank GAA It's Friday Kieran Martin 2 Image Name: Thank GAA It's Friday Kieran Martin 2
Thank GAA It's Friday Kieran Martin 1 Image Name: Thank GAA It's Friday Kieran Martin 1

Ahead of the Leinster football final between Dublin and Westmeath, we catch up with Westmeath star Kieran Martin to find out how much preparation goes into beating the Dubs. Kieran is a Sports Science & Exercise Physiology student in Athlone IT so he knows the importance of marginal gains in top level sport. He’ll be hoping his studies can help given the Lake County the edge come Sunday’s meeting in Croke Park.

But Westmeath will be up against it to pull off a shock Leinster final win, with the Dubs looking hard to beat in 2016. That wasn’t always the case in the Leinster football championship. We take a look at a time when the now so-called weaker teams had no fear in front of the Hill. Meath’s Cian Ward, Westmeath’s Denis Glennon and Wexford’s Anthony Masterson all had days in the sun with their counties. They give their thoughts on how the Leinster championship has evolved in recent years and Dublin’s habit of crushing any obstacle in their way.

Donegal v Tyrone has become a regular fixture in the past number of years, with Donegal having the upper hand in recent championship clashes. However, the last time the counties met in a provincial final was 1989. We gathered a few of Tyrone’s stars from their 1989 Ulster final victory to reminisce about the final, which ultimately needed a replay to separate the sides. Eugene McKenna, Damien O’Hagan and John Lynch bring us back to the 1980s, when the Red Hand ruled in Ulster.

It’s also a big weekend in the Qualifier series. We are joined by highly regarded Clare football
coach Mick Bohan to get his insight into coaching in the modern GAA world. The Clontarf man
was formerly a coach with the Dublin footballers but he has traded that in for a spell with Clare. He has family roots in the county: his uncle is the great trainer Fr. Harry Bohan. Clare’s clash with Sligo is a far cry from Mick’s All-Ireland victories with the Dubs, but he’ll be hoping this summer is the start of a long journey with the Banner.

We’re also previewing the Connacht final replay with Mayo legend and current Roscommon
selector, Liam McHale. The Ballina native talks to us about bouncing back from a disappointing
performance the last day.

The show will be repeated on Sunday July 17th on RTÉ 2 at 1:20pm.
Twitter: @ThankGAA Email: ThankGAA@loosehorse.ie