Captain Aidan Forker during an Armagh Media Conference ahead of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final at the Carrickdale Hotel in Dundalk, Louth. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Aidan Forker has learned the value of channelling the emotion of sport in the most productive way.
It wasn’t an overnight process. Earlier in his career there were a couple of times he saw red that he still looks a bit rueful about when he recalls them.
These days though the Armagh captain radiates calm both on and off the pitch.
His approach to high-performance is a thoughtful one. He’s well-read on the topic and likes to jot down notes on ideas he picks up along the way.
There probably aren’t many published essays on how to prepare mentally for an All-Ireland Final in a county that’s half-crazed by the prospect, but Forker certainly gives the impression of someone who knows how to handle the hype.
“Yeah, we're probably in the wake of a good buzz and it's nice for the county to be in another final which are quite rare,” he says.
“But your own performance head on and getting the best out of each other you're going there to win and you're going there to get the best out of yourself and perform. There's plenty of time for chat about buzz and memories and all of that craic afterwards.
“I think it only becomes special if you go and win it, to be honest. Otherwise you're just one of those teams that got to a final and didn't win.
“We need to get ourselves back and aligned to what we want to go after in the game in order to try to win it.”
Forker has vivid childhood memories of Armagh’s last All-Ireland SFC Final win in 2002 when his father brought him to Hill 16 and threw him up on his shoulders.
He can still recall how small he felt and the intensity with which his father shook his arms and shouted as Armagh claimed a famous victory.
Aidan Forker of Armagh celebrates after his side's victory in the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Armagh and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
So, he knows how much this All-Ireland Final means to every Armagh supporter and he can plug into that wellspring of emotion whenever he needs to, but it’s not something he’ll draw on heavily ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Galway.
“At times. It's fleeting. It comes and it definitely gives you energy, but it's not something I'm thinking about on the bus on the way,” says Forker.
“The way the game is now you just have to be on it from a focus point of view and going out there to do your job and make sure everybody around you is trying to do theirs as best they can.
“I think all of that is in you somewhere energy-wise. And it's about how you frame it and how you use it because you have to be super-pragmatic and super-practical about what you're going after in a game as well.
“So you can't really have that overload because it can be draining. Listen, it's in you some way, of course, that passion and that feeling. I think when you have your own kids you realise that as well a wee bit. It's about how you use it to fuel you.
“So, yeah, it's not something I dwell on a lot to be honest. It comes and it's nice, but when you're in a high-performance environment it's just about going after the next ball and executing your next pass properly and doing what you can for the team.”
Sunday's All-Ireland Final in a heaving Croke Park will be nothing like Forker has ever experienced before, but he’s confident that at this stage in his career he’s perfected the art of getting to the right emotional pitch for a game regardless of the occasion.
“Ah yeah. I'm pretty good with that,” he says. “Wee tweaks here and there of course and every game is different as well and your role is different. So, yeah, I think I've learned the hard way, some people might say.
“But, listen, that's what life is like. Life is growth and getting better. You definitely have to say you're better this year than you were last year and the year before it.
“If you're not growing you're dying and you're not going to add to it. I pride myself on trying to add to the thing every year. If I didn't learn from it I wouldn't be there, I don't think. And I don't think the management team would let you away with that, not learning from your mistakes or issues or where you were mentally.”
Aidan Forker of Armagh during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Armagh and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
You ask him to compare himself now to the sort of person and player he was earlier in his career and he can say with the benefit of hindsight that, yes, there is evidence of the sort of growth that he’s been chasing.
“I used to be very hard on myself, I have to say,” he says. “I think standards are important, personal standards are important. A key value I'd have would be about having high standards for everything that you do.
“There's a time to park it but you still have to go after it. So I think it's not about being hard on yourself in a way of punishing yourself. It's about being hard on yourself so you can be better, and I think I've learned that.
“I used to be a little more about the self-punishment rather than knowing this needs to serve me and I need to be better than this.
“So, it's flicking that to having higher standards, not, 'why did you do that?' Yeah, it's a mental battle all the time. I enjoy it. I enjoy that stuff. I enjoy reflecting on it.”
Sunday will be a battle. Armagh will surely benefit from having a clear-eyed captain leading them into it.
