Bryan Cullen happy to be dealing with a whole new ball game

Of all the reasons behind his somewhat premature retirement Bryan Cullen doesn’t cite any concerns over concussion, although there really is no escaping the issue. Not when Cullen’s career has now crossed over from Gaelic football into rugby.

As strength and conditioning coach with the Leinster Rugby Academy, and former Dublin football captain, Cullen knows all about the demands of both games, and yet he stops short of making any strict comparisons, especially around the issue of concussion.

“I also played rugby as a youngster, and it is a physical game, no doubt about it” says Cullen, who captained Dublin to the 2011 All-Ireland title, then stepped away from the intercounty game last month, aged only 30

“Being closer to rugby now, and seeing it up front, yeah, it does take a toll on players, but that’s the nature of the game. But I don’t think I’m the most qualified person to be talking on that (concussion) issue, to be honest. And I’m sure the GAA, like any organisation, would follow best practice.

“And I obviously wouldn’t be disclosing any conversations that would be going on in Leinster Rugby. My remit is in terms of strength and conditioning, and in fitness and performance, making a player stronger, more powerful and quicker.”

Cullen is more open about the general demands of Gaelic football compared to rugby, at least given their amateur versus professional status: speaking in Croke Park at the launch of the 2015 All-Ireland under-21 football championship he highlighted recovery time as the main differential between the two.

Comparisons

“There are very different sports. Rugby is more of a strength, power sport. Gaelic football is a lot more about mobility, and lads have to cover a lot more distance. So it’s very difficult to draw comparisons between the two.

“Obviously rugby is a professional sport, too, but I suppose the sports science support in Gaelic football has improved considerably in the last 10 years. I certainly don’t think, and I can only speak from my own experience with Dublin, that they could be doing any more from the sports science support point of view.

“The lack of recovery time is definitely something that’s difficult in GAA. An example would be an away league game, I remember being up in Derry last season. We’d head off early on a Saturday morning, have a kick around on the Saturday, play the game on a Sunday, then get home at midnight. And you’re getting up at 7am for work the next day. That is tough. Put in a tough session midweek and you’re peeling yourself out of bed the next day. That is difficult, no doubt about that.”

Still that’s not the reason Cullen retired: although just 30, he felt that with 10 Leinster titles under his belt, plus the 2011 and ’13 All-Irelands, he simply lacked the desire to play on any further, especially when only playing a bit part. Cullen didn’t start any championship match for Dublin last summer, and played no part at all in either their All-Ireland quarter-final or semi-final.

“In an ideal world everyone wants to go out on a high. In reality, it doesn’t happen, for most athletes. Most footballers, generally, finish up on the bench. That’s what happened me.

“It was a very difficult decision, with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, mentally. But I’m happy with my decision, happy I made the right call. Had I been more involved, it definitely would have been harder to walk away. But I suppose the way things had gone for me in the last two years, also getting a little bit busier in work as well, I just felt it was the right thing for me to do.

Walking away

“But I had a fabulous 12 years playing for Dublin, and I’m lucky enough to be walking away with a bunch of provincial medals, national league titles, and a couple of All-Ireland medals. I felt I wasn’t chasing any titles towards the end of my career . . . so I suppose that made my decision a little bit easier.

“And as I said a couple of weeks ago, the enjoyment I got out of it was always playing football. I had a fairly reduced role under Jim Gavin, over the last couple of years, and I haven’t got to play much football. And when you’re 30, looking ahead to another three or four years playing, you want to play as much football as you can.”

Cullen will continue to play with his club, Skerries Harps. He admits that GAA players are more likely to retire at an earlier age than rugby players.

“Again I don’t think rugby’s a fair comparison, because it’s a professional sport, they’re being paid to play, so they’re obviously going to try and earn another contract and stay in the game as long as they can. But as amateur players we probably put our careers on the back burner to a certain degree. You can’t do that forever. There comes a point where you need to focus on your career and on your family.”

Spoken like a true professional.