Sean Cavanagh reveals the secrets of an inter-county footballer’s on and off season diet

Creatures of habit.

Sean Cavanagh has been around the block, and as one of the most dominant players of the last decade the Moy clubman has been at the forefront of dietary change in GAA. He's admitted before that his pre-match meal of choice used to be curry chips, but that has all changed with the introduction of sports science best practice to every GAA team around. So we decided we'd grill (pun intended) the Tyrone legend on his eating habits to find out what a typical day in the life of a intercounty footballer looks like in the on and off season. The Moy clubman admits that 'it is a full-time job sometimes' trying to make sure that he is eating the right foods to be able to play and perform at his very best. However the three time All-Ireland winner admits that after over ten years as an inter county player he's ingrained in some of his food habits.

"You get used to eating a certain way and eating certain things and your body looks for food at certain times of the day."

Cavanagh also admits that when he is in the off-season that he does relax his guidelines for food and that he can be known to enjoy weddings a bit more in the wintertime.

"You would stay away from any takeaways in the off-season but if you are at a wedding you don't mind eating a dessert or two or having some wine. You can live a slightly more normal lifestyle of what's available to eat but at the same time  you don't abuse yourself."

So with that in mind we asked Sean to give us an example of what he would typically eat when he is getting ready for a session with Tyrone on a night of training with Tyrone.

On-Season.

Breakfast – Well normally I have eggs for breakfast to get protein into me quite early, usually poached or scrambled eggs. Mid-morning snack – A natural or organic yoghurt Lunch – I normally go to a supermarket and get a peppered chicken fillet and some veg and rice. It's the time to get meat and as much veg as you can handle really ahead of the session that night. Pre-training meal – Leftovers from last night's dinners often come in handy around 4pm or 4-30 if your training at 7pm that night.  Before we train we normally have some fruit juices to get some antioxidants into your body to get your ready for training and that will help recovery before you even begin.  Stir fry and rice, or potatoes or broccoli and quite a lot of veg again. –I'm creature of habit so I have eggs all year round.  – I do relax a little bit when I'm not in with Tyrone so I've no problem grabbing a sandwich but I'd try and stick to what I know best and still eat fairly healthily during the day.  – I am partial to the odd takeaway so maybe on a Sunday night after a club game I can get look forward to a pizza or a Thai or Chinese. You don't do it all the time but it is good to eat some of the food that normal people indulge in most of the year too.