Crowley enjoys Croker debut

London may have been beaten at the weekend by Cavan in the All Ireland Qualifiers but Westmeath’s Greg Crowley from The Downs enjoyed every minute of his Croke Park debut.

“Yeah, it was amazing. It was my first time. There was no big crowd there but just to go there, it was surreal,” recalls Greg.

He was also pleased with the performance he put in. Although he did not register a score he did set up the London goal which had Cavan sweating: “Yeah, I was happy enough. Their wing back was up and down all day. I can’t remember when I came off but I’d say I had another 10 minutes left in me.

"I set up Paul Geraghty for the goal. I found myself at the edge of the square and saw Paul, who’s 6’5’’, and the Cavan defender who’s much smaller, so I put the ball across into him and he found the net.

“We were playing against the wind in the first half. We were tracking back, it was a really intensive game. We were very fatigued with flights and that showed.

"The legs were starting to fade in the second half. With about three minutes to go Damien Dunleavy was one-on-one with the Cavan goalkeeper and missed, and in that same move Cavan got a goal immediately at the other end. So we were nine points down as opposed to three. That was the difference,” explains Greg.

When asked whether he would be lining out for London next year, he was not entirely sure but didn’t rule out a return to The Downs if a job opportunity arose.

“Hopefully, that’s the plan. I don’t know what will happen exactly. If I did manage to get a job back home I would return to playing with The Downs and my days in London would be over.”