Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CUNNING’ PLANS IN RUINS
Saffron veteran Paddy fears his ‘comeback season’ has been brought to premature end
PADDY CUNNINGHAM is clinging to his Championship dream of playing summer football with Antrim for the first time since 2014.
It’ll be a remarkable feat if he can pull it off given he turns 35 in May and has battled Crohn’s disease for several years.
The free-taker was motoring nicely towards his intended goal throughout the Allianz League with four starts in their five-game Division 4 campaign, contributing 0-25.
Then came the COVID-19 crisis and Cunningham is now in lockdown in his Lisburn home, hoping for the best but realising there could be plenty more pain to come.
His Antrim career could well be over given that his comeback was always a ‘one-year gig’.
Cunningham said: “At this stage I’m just trying to be as positive as possible. I felt I was getting sharper and it’s disappointing that we just don’t know when we’ll play again.
“I’d worked really hard over the winter, felt I was getting sharper and coming to full fitness. From that end of things it’s a downer but there’s obviously a much bigger picture here.”
Cunningham skippered to the Saffrons to the 2009 Ulster final (above), blasting 0-11 that day in their defeat to Tyrone.
His return, even at 34, was a major boost this year given his strong club form with Lamh Dhearg and he was a key figure in Antrim’s march to second spot in Division 4. Cunningham suggested the GAA should play the remaining league games next January instead of the preseason competitions.
Everyone hopes to be back to normal by then but there’s no guarantees for this summer.
Cunningham said: “My gut feeling is that we’ll be lucky to play any football this year. Will it be September or October when we’re all back up and running? It’s really unknown at the moment. We’re learning things hour by hour, day by day.
“Being totally honest, my own personal opinion is that we’ll do well to play any football in the summer. It’s all in our hands of course to see how quickly we can flatten the curve and the more we can do right now the better chance we all have of getting on top of this thing.”
If there is no football Championship, Cunningham’s three points against
Limerick on March 1 could be his last intercounty contribution.
“I’m 35 in
May and I feel this is probably a one-year gig for me. I promised myself that I’d put absolutely everything into it and I have but I need to be realistic too, there’s not too many men playing county football these days at 35.”
In the meantime he’ll look on the bright side and try to maintain his fitness and keep his skills sharp at home. There’s a makeshift gym in his garage and he kicks ball in the garden with his son, Padraig. With Crohn’s, he’s particularly concerned about avoiding coronavirus.
He said: “Probably, if anything, I’m overcautious. I can’t take any risks. I’m in lockdown and not leaving the house.”