Serious dedication.
Tom Parsons comes across as a naturally relaxed, laid back person, but when football is in the equation, or when it’s the topic of conversation, the man changes.
His passion for the game is incredible, and as a 29-year-old it only seems to growing with each passing year as he learns to appreciate that a GAA career is a fleeting one.
The Charlestown club man is now a mainstay in Stephen Rochford’s team, and will be key to his county’s ambitions of lifting that elusive Sam Maguire, but it wasn’t always that way.
He made his Mayo debut in 2008, but didn’t make too much headway in the set-up, making the starting team on a few occasions, but being used more frequently as a sub. He was dropped in 2011, and didn’t make it back to the set-up until 2014.
It was no fluke that he got that call-back, because Tom Parsons put absolutely everything he had in those intervening years in putting himself back on James Horan’s radar.
While being based in Cardiff, Wales, would have been a deterrent for the majority of players, Parsons, who was working across the water as a Civil Structural Engineer just couldn’t leave this “grá” for the game behind.
“After I did get released, I remember going for a beer with my parents, and I said to them, that night, ‘I’ll play for Mayo again and I’m leaving on my terms. I never forget about that,” he said to Colm Parkinson on Wednesday’s GAA Hour Football Show.
That’s the type of character he is. Motivated, dedicated, bloody well ambitious.
Just ask yourself, how many players would get a flight back to take part in a club game or training session, week after week, missing work, not having a moment of rest.
“I went to Wales, and I still didn’t get a call-back. I remember, the same year, my club got relegated from senior to intermediate.
“I was flying back playing intermediate football with my club, because I loved playing with them. People thought, you’re mad, like, ‘what are you doing flying back every weekend to play intermediate football?’ We won the county and Connacht title, though, and I really enjoyed it,” said the 29-year-old.
“Work couldn’t understand me, either. I’d be rocking out of work at 11 to fly home, to play football of a Sunday evening and coming back at nine or ten,” he recalled.
“They were asking me, ‘Is this professional, do you get paid for it? It just goes to show what guys put into the football, and I’m not the only one, putting it into club and county football.
Eventually, he did get the call back to the Mayo set-up, and with only days to prepare for a FBD game against Roscommon, he worked his arse off.
“I remember hanging up that phone and going out to the park, and I trained Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday twice, Thursday.
Parsons is now based in Dublin, and travels down twice weekly to make his county’s training sessions.
“We’re so busy, with work. I’m an engineer here in Dublin. Between training, recovery and work, there’s not a whole lot of time you know,” said the midfielder.
“Time is of the essence. There’s not a whole lot of time left in your day (for interviews), once you tick the important boxes first.”
A busy man, but you get the impression he wouldn’t want it any other way.
He’s an endless ball of energy on the field, but that’s no coincidence.
You can listen to the honest, inspiring Parsons interview here from 26″00′ and much more from Wednesday’s GAA Hour Show.
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