Ciaran Kilkenny admits he defied a strict order from Jim Gavin on Dublin's recent holiday to Jamaica.
The Dublin manager urged his players to forget about football for the duration of their short break.
The 2016 Footballer of the Year nominee didn't heed that warning though, with good reason too. He kept close tabs on the O’Byrne Cup campaign.
His Castleknock teammates Shane Boland, Eoin O’Brien and Tom Shiels were all involved.
The Boys in Blue made it all the way to the final of the pre-season competition, where they’ll meet Louth this weekend.
The Castleknock trio have featured throughout the campaign, and Kilkenny was following their progress:
“I was touching base with me dad and I would’ve had twitter open over there, I was watching the games with keen interest.
“They’ve been doing very well, I was down in Newbridge the other day, it was some atmosphere. Kildare were 6 points up and Dublin brought the game back, the lads that came on performed very well.
“A lot of those lads have put their hands up to be picked on the national league squad, it’s great to see so much talent and ability coming through.”
Kilkenny isn’t concerned about the prospect of being rusty ahead of the Allianz League, he looked after himself on a recent trip to Jamaica and didn’t over indulge over Christmas.
The 23-year-old knows competition for places even at this time of year will be fierce; he’s pleased to see some of his Castleknock club mates in the mix:
“It’s great seeing the lads representing Dublin, it would’ve been a dream of theirs growing up and I would’ve played with these lads all the way up, they’re great friends of mine.
“Seeing them doing well, at the highest level and getting the experience of playing is great for the lads.”
