Mossy hails influence of Vins team-mate Diarmuid

Tomás Quinn has paid tribute to his St Vincent's team-mate Diarmuid Connolly following last Sunday's Leinster Club SFC final victory over Rhode.

The year coming to its conclusion has been yet another remarkable one for Diarmuid, a colossus of modern day Gaelic football as at intercounty level he helped the Dubs to National League, Leinster and All-Ireland glory while at club level captained his beloved Vinnies to Dublin and provincial honours.

On an individual basis he also collected an All Star and was last week selected as the inaugural recipient of the Pearse medal as Leinster GAA Footballer of the Year. He also was named on the Dublin Bus/Herald Dubs Stars team having inspired his side, particularly in their moments of need, in their successful Dublin SFC campaign.

“Whatever he’s won, you wouldn’t have a clue about it from the ten minutes before the game or the ten minutes at half-time because of the way he’s tuned in, the way he’s focused and ready for the game," says Tomás of Diarmuid.

“Intercounty players have it very tough during the year and a lot of them when they come back to their clubs certainly don’t get to the levels they get to when they’re playing intercounty and probably the biggest testament to Diarmuid is he always comes back to us and never goes through the motions.

“It’s an ethos we have in the club. We expect it of him and he’d be told pretty quickly if he wasn’t but you can see how much it means to him. As a team it gives us such a lift when he comes in and you see how focused he is. You can’t not then go out and do what you have to do. That’s his best strength, his mental ability just to be tuned in and ready to go.”