SPORTING PASSIONS SEÁN ÓG DE PAOR:I WAS actually born in Dublin and I spent about my first four years there. When you're up in Dublin, the choice of sports to go to, certainly back in the early 70s, would be a lot more than what you'd have anywhere else in the country.

So my early sporting memory would be of a rugby match at Lansdowne Road. I remember some fella had his togs ripped off him and I just thought this was hilarious because he was in the middle of the park and he had to change his togs in front of everybody.

Certainly growing up, Gaelic football would have been the number one. We moved back down to Carraroe and while we played Gaelic, we played a fair bit of soccer in the schoolyard.

I remember on Saturday nights desperately trying to stay awake for Match of the Day. Still to this day the theme music reminds me of my childhood and trying to stay awake for it – nine times out of 10 I wouldn’t have been able to.

Euro ’88 and World Cup ’90 were magical times. But during World Cup ’90 I’d started playing with Galway and any time an Ireland match was on, people would go to the pub to watch it.

I stayed away from that because I felt it wouldn’t be the right thing to do – Galway might have been playing a week or two later in the championship.

So I’d stay at home and watch it and it would kill me because I knew well that there’d be a great atmosphere down the local pub.

I remember I was over in London working later that summer and England played their first home match after the World Cup in early September at Wembley.

I travelled for about an hour and a half on the tube to watch them play against Hungary and Gazza was playing.

There I was stuck in the middle of English supporters and I had to stand up for God Save the Queen.

I found that a bit strange, but I felt I’d better do it because otherwise you’d stand out like a sore thumb.

In the early ’90s, myself and a couple of mates went inter-railing around Europe and we ended up in Barcelona.

There was a pre-season tournament involving AC Milan and Espanyol and I was going to go to that match with my Barcelona shirt on.

I would have thought that the rivalry between Barcelona and Espanyol would be something similar to Galway-Mayo – you go to the match and you can sit among the opposition and wear whatever jersey you liked.

But luckily we went into an Irish pub before we went and the barman said “you’re taking your life into your hands by gong to the match with that jersey”.

He gave me a pub T-shirt to wear instead.

I think soccer was a more honest game when I was growing up. Now the manliness, to a certain extent, has been taken out of it – you can’t touch players or they fall. It’s also become very elitist.

When I was 15 or 16 a lot of teams could have won the old First Division in England whereas now you have your top four.

I think they should operate a salary cap because that would bring more teams into contention.

I know rugby union players have played it from a very young age but I’d actually be scared going out on to a rugby pitch.

They’re real men and seeing Brian O’Driscoll’s try against Wales, it was just so brave to put his head in there.

While I would have a passion for soccer I think if you threw Cristiano Ronaldo into the All-Ireland final between Kerry and Tyrone last September he’d wither. Whereas if you threw the likes of Brian O’Driscoll into it, I think he’d flourish.

Like the rugby team, Galway ended a famine in 1998. It was very special and the whole county rejoiced. I know we won it again three years later but it wasn’t as emotional.

At the same time it was even more satisfying for us because it affirmed that during that three-, four- or five-year period we would have been in the top two teams in the country.

I don’t think the rugby team are going to be happy with just winning the Grand Slam.

I always thought that if I won one All-Ireland my hunger would be satisfied but in actual fact it gets worse.

A Grand Slam is similar to an All-Ireland in a way. The old way the championship was run you had to win all your matches and you had to have a bit of luck.

So looking at the Irish team raise the cup, it was kind of funny because I was saying to myself, “I know the feeling that’s in their stomach, that sense of achievement”.