ULSTER CHAMPIONS NOT CAMERA SHY AHEAD OF DAUNTING CHALLENGE
The former All-star (below) was dumped off the Donegal squad in 2011 for contributing to a book without permission and admitted he may not even sign up for the county game if he had the choice again.
The converted fullforward is loving life as an Ulster winner with Gweedore and can’t wait to get stuck into Corofin tomorrow in the Allireland semi-finals.
Cassidy, 37, said:
“If I had continued playing for Donegal, there’s no way I’d be fit to play club today. Someone up there was looking down on me because if you were offered the two All-irelands, the club is the one you’d take.”
The 2002 and 2011 All-star claimed life as a club player is much more enjoyable to being involved with a county set-up.
Cassidy said: “A lot of boys will tell you that it’s .... actually a lot of boys probably won’t tell you this, they’ll tell you it’s great and it’s a great honour to play for the county. But I know myself, not alone that year I left, you were going back home and you were saying, ‘what’s the point in this?’
“Although it rewards you massively, it’s just there is no joy, it’s a job, and in order to make it the top you have to make it a job. That’s the sad thing about it. There is no down time.
“When you step away from the county scene, it’s strange because you look back and you think ‘would I do it again if I was asked?’ I’m not sure you would, well, I’m not sure I would. “A lot of people may be different but it’s 10, 12, 14 years of your life that you’re giving up. At the time, you’re in a bubble, it’s the most important thing.”
Cassidy and his Gweedore team-mates became social media hits when they posted their Ulster club title celebrations online last December.
Cassidy and Neil Mcgee even KEVIN CASSIDY claims
All-ireland club semi-final opponents Corofin recorded one of the Ulster champions’ recent challenge games.
Gweedore played St Brigid’s of Dublin in a recent friendly and Cassidy claims Corofin heard about it and made sure they had ‘two or three cameras’ to record it. ‘called out’
Corofin at one stage.
The former defender said: “I don’t even know where that bloody idea came from! I was going through my phone afterwards and I was saying, ‘if half the videos actually went up we’d be in trouble!’ It was just a bit of craic. People like to see people enjoying wins. I think people are just delighted to see that side of it.”
Cassidy added: “I’m sure other teams do celebrate, it’s just that we’re so worried now about letting people see it. Maybe it’s seen as a sign of weakness or something, I don’t know what it is.
“The club is different too, we’re all friends and nobody really gives a damn. If I was playing for Dublin and I put out that video, I’d be shot! That’s the way it is with county teams. Sometimes you need to live life too.”
Cassidy’s claim comes just weeks after the Leeds United spy-gate controversy which boss Marcelo Bielsa owned up to.
Cassidy said of Corofin: “Definitely, in my opinion, they are the best. That’s not me talking them up. They won it last year, they’ve been here four or five years recently.
“When you’re preparing for a team, you look into them and they leave nothing to chance. We came up to Dublin to play St Brigid’s in a challenge match and they had two or three cameras there filming it.
“They have everything tied down. That’s why they are at the top, because they leave nothing to chance.”
Cassidy admitted he and club mates rang Dubliners James Mccarthy and Eamon Fennell as well as some Crossmaglen players for advice on coping with the long gap between the provincial final and this weekend.
He said: “Corofin know what to do, they know how to approach it, they don’t have to ring anyone because they’ve been here before so it’s a massive advantage for them.”