Name: James Lonergan
Date of birth: 8/11/84
Height: 5’10”
Position you would like to play:
Left half back, it’s the only position I can play.
Favourite club player:
Eddie Heavey, an unsung hero for us this year.
Favourite county player:
Phillip Jordan and Tomas O’Se are two players I’ve always wanted to emulate.
Who’s your best friend on the team?
Ross Glavin and myself are friends since we were young running for the Curragh in the community games. My two brothers also, see them the most along with frank that I’ve had to mark every training session for the last 17/18 years.
Biggest influence on your football career:
Besides my parents, my first introduction to GAA was in primary school in the Curragh, and I was very fortunate to have mentors in Mick Deely, Mick Doolin, and Joe Burns. They had a great passion for Gaelic games and it was passed on to their students.
Best advice someone has given you:
Keep your hands in your pockets. Took me a long time to learn this, and still might forget it at times. But football is a lot easier to play when you’re not trying to rile your opponent.
Best grounds you’ve played in:
Croke Park is the mecca of GAA and I’ve been lucky enough to play there. The only other pitch that comes close is Carton house; we had a couple of training days there a few years back with Jack Sheedy.
Best player you’ve played with:
I know no one will be offended when I say Johnny Doyle. In my opinion the best Kildare player of all time, and a genuinely sound lad off the pitch.
Best player you’ve played against:
Stephen Hiney, marked him in a Leinster u/21 final against Dublin. Very powerful and good footballer as well as a hurler.
Sporting hero:
Paul McGrath.
One county player you’d like to see play for Moorefield:
I’d like to see Daryl Flynn play for us sometime soon.
Career high:
Obviously winning the Leinster in 2006 was there, I also felt a huge amount of pride in the club after winning the 2000 Under 21 championship against a star studded Maynooth college team. Plus 4 county final wins over Sarsfields is nice.
Career low:
Losing to Sarsfields in the 2008 semi-final by 6 points to 5. What a boll#x of a game.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR TEAM-MATES
Who’s the tough nut of the team?
I don’t like running into my brother Ian or Daryl Flynn so I’ll let them fight it out for this.
Who’s the quickest?
Aaron Mullins, and he never gets tired either. Young Cally is second but he does get tired.
Who’s the joker/messer of the team?
Adam Tyrell has definitely taken over the reins here, although sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or not at him.
Who’s the most skillful?
Adams shooting, Roli’s dummies, Franks shimmy, Murnos tackling, Ciaran Kelly’s awareness around the box, the list goes on…
Who’s the most intelligent?
Podge always seems to get this because he spent about 15 years in college, but big Kev O’Neill got himself on the nine o’clock news last week promoting his business so he gets my vote.
Who’s the least intelligent?
There’s one or two in for this but I’ll go for Daryl Flynn. He’s come out with a few classics over the years as well as planning his stag a week before this year’s Leinster final.
Who’s the best trainer?
Moggy, he doesn’t even play anymore and he trains more than me. Podge rarely misses training.
Who’s the worst time keeper on the team?
Ger Naughton was late last Tuesday so I’ll go for Ger, along with the Irish Army lads, we always have one or two missing due to duty, escorts, the glen, doing a tent erecting course, etc…..
Who’s the best dancer?
Don’t go too near the dance floor to see but I’ll say Moggy.
Who’s the worst dancer?
Tom Kinsella, a mixture of Peter Crouch and Bambi.
Who’s the biggest whinger on the team?
Only question I don’t have to think about Keith Duane. I’m always giving him a bit of a slagging over this.
Who’s the worst dress sense?
Kevin Murnaghan, his shirts are denim, skinny chinos and Jedward runners???? Roli does have skechers though.
Who’s the manager’s pet? Meeerrrno
Getting to know the Lonergans
Who’s the quickest of the three of you?
I’m the fastest; Ian and Colin are always injured.
Who’s the joker/messer of the three of you?
Ian’s Mr. sensible. Colin definitely does some stupid s**t, and I’m somewhere in the middle.
Who’s the most skilful of the three of you?
I’d like to think we’re equal enough skill wise, and what matters more to us would be work rate.
Who’s the most intelligent of the three of you?
Ian likes to think he’s always right.
Who’s the worst time keeper between the three of you?
We share a lift to training so we all arrive at same time. Away from football we judge time keeping by our girlfriends/partners, which means I’m always late.
Who’s the best dancer of the three of you?
I and Colin don’t normally dance, Ian likes to jive or at least that’s what it looks like.
Who’s the worst dancer the three of you?
Ian.
Who’s the biggest whinger of the three?
Colin, he can be very stubborn too.
Who’s the biggest poser of the three of you?
I’ll answer truthfully and say me.
Who’s mammy’s boy?
Colin he gets in trouble if he doesn’t call in to see her.
