'It was an eye-opener' - Micheál Schlingermann hoping Mayo GAA experience will boost return to soccer

Micheál Schlingermann learned a lot from GAA, he tells Daniel McDonnell

Micheál Schlingermann during last year’s NFL League. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Daniel McDonnell

A year around the Mayo senior football panel gave Micheál Schlingermann a taste of what life might have been like if he'd gone in another direction.

But as he took his place between the sticks for a team of PFAI Ireland free agents in England last week, Schlingermann had the niggling sense he was truly back at home.

His return to League of Ireland football was confirmed over the weekend after he signed a contract with Galway United.

The goalkeeper made himself available for a return to the paid ranks following a discussion with Mayo manager James Horan that confirmed he was going to find it hard to make the next step at intercounty level without a dramatic change of circumstances.

Schlingermann's dilemma went beyond the fact that he was third choice between Rob Hennelly and David Clarke, a stiff challenge for any player knocking on the door.

"They are probably two of the top five (goalkeepers) in the country and they're both in the same county," sighs the Kiltimagh native, whose problem was that he was struggling to get games in his proper position for his club.

Dual star: Goalkeeper Micheál Schlingermann returns to the beautiful game for Galway United

After being away for so long, it was hard to slot comfortably back in when the training with Horan's side ate up so much time.

"When it came down to the important games, I was playing outfield," he says, "It was hard but it was out of my control. I could only play the games I was picked to play."

The 2009 All-Ireland MFC finalist (losing to Armagh) did get to represent Mayo in the recent Underdogs game but he spent most of the year as a support act to the main men. Nevertheless, he was able to experience an environment that was very different to the world he had opted to leave behind. It was an eye opener.

Serene

Micheál Schlingermann with Rob Hennelly. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The Mayo county board has taken a kicking in recent weeks due to a row with one of their financial backers, but Schlingermann asserts that the players operated in a serene environment where they didn't want for anything.

He was struck by two major contrasts from the world he inhabited for a decade.

Firstly, the attention to detail and resources was striking. He didn't work with drones monitoring training sessions while with Drogheda United and Sligo Rovers.

"Their analysis is second to none, everything they do is really top notch but they can afford to spend the money on those bits, the catering, the nutritionists, the psychologists, the stuff that really, really matters" explains the 28-year-old.

"They are spending the same kind of money that clubs are paying in the League of Ireland, but the clubs have to spend it on wages and that's the difference really."

Then there was the dressing room scene itself. He was accustomed to the transient nature of a League of Ireland squad, where players are coming and going and always worrying about the next contract. Jumping from club to club is necessary to survive.

"My beliefs and values would be the ones that are in Gaelic, just in terms of the little bits that go on around the game, the preparation, the attention to detail. I would call it no nonsense, no excuses. Real old school but a professional mentality.

"In the dressing rooms, I've been in, there's been good camaraderie. But you have lads from everywhere at different stages in their career, whereas in Mayo you have all these lads who grew up together. You have lads who lived in the same county all the way up and played club football against each other all the way up, and maybe through the schools of excellence and the minor.

"They have that little bit more in common in terms of their end goal because everyone just has that goal of winning an All-Ireland."

Schlingermann, the 'keeper in the PFAI Team of the Year in 2015, was unsure where he was going in the summer of 2018 following a rocky patch at Sligo.

His self-esteem was struggling and he has spoken in the past about how the death of his German father Tom, whose work as a chef brought him to Mayo, had deprived him of an important influence in his life.

His nearest and dearest recognised that time at home was needed to get him back on track and he took a job with Westport-based pharmaceutical company Allergen while applying himself to the Gaelic games scene.

But he never took himself off the free agent list and that's why a couple of phone calls at the end of the season just gone, turned the head.

Focus

Once he had the gloves back on in Rochdale last week, he knew he was doing the right thing. This is his natural domain. "It just reminded me of what I loved doing for ten years before that," he explains.

His focus will be slightly altered for his second coming. Retaining the job with Allergen is a must and they will be understanding as regards training hours.

Schlingermann was full-time at Sligo and full-time in football at Drogheda before that as he mixed playing duties at United Park with a job working with the FAI on their camps. During his hiatus, he helped out the FAI's coaching co-ordinator, Niall Harrison, and the troubled state of affairs in Abbotstown is a source of frustration. Similar to Mayo, he feels negative headlines are hurting the wrong people.

"Bad news always sticks," he says, "But there's a lot of good work going on around the country."

It's not a subject he enjoys talking about. "If the conversation is going on around me, I just try and step away or talk about the good stuff. This doesn't help anyone."

Positive thoughts will be central to the comeback. Mayo was an education, but the netminder's priority now is to do whatever it takes to look after number one.