Eoin Cadogan left the field with less than 20 minutes remaining in Cork and Mayo's encounter on the opening weekend of the National Football League.
The Cork fullback was involved in a clash with Mayo's Lee Keegan leaving both players clearly dazed. The Mayo wing back would controversially remain on the pitch for another 10 minutes before being substituted, clearly concussed.
GAA is not Cadogan's only love when it comes to sport though. Speaking to The Southern Star, Cadogan told of his passion for jiu jitsu.
The 29-year-old, when he can find time away from work and being an inter-county footballer, trains with John Kavanagh at SBG.
I enjoy it. It’s completely different. No one cares if you have one All-Ireland medal or no All-Ireland. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. It’s a different outlet for me to express myself.
Cadogan belives the martial art has help improve aspects of his game, especially tackling.
I’m an MMA fan but I don’t do the striking side of things, I do the jiu jitsu side of it.
If you take the striking aspect out of it completely – which I do – jiu jitsu is on the ground and all grappling. You have to be controlled in a very uncontrollable manner. If someone is choking you, you need to be able to think your way out of it, instead of just gasping for air.
For guys who are so technically experienced they are very humble. You leave your ego and your shoes at the door going in. It’s humbling to go in there, get continuously beaten and not be as good as you’d like to be, but from a tackling aspect I find it good because you have to use your hands a lot as well.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. There are different perceptions of it out there. It’s just a different avenue for me to explore.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
