These are his thoughts on his days with Belvedere...

BLUE BLOOD IN HIS VEINS

I joined Belvedere as a 12-year-old and I'll never forget the day I came down for my first trial. It was more of a training session, really, and it was great - so different to anything I'd ever experienced before.
There's no doubt that coming down to Belvedere made me a better player. Belvedere is like a football community, where everyone knows everyone else and everyone helps everyone else.

My managers through the years were Pat Harman, Eddie Foy and Tony 'put ice on it' Murray.
Eddie is a great coach and we always enjoyed his training sessions. Pat's sessions were a bit different and involved lots of shouting and swearing. I think Pat should have been an athletics coach because he seemed to love watching people run!

Seriously, though, I was lucky to have three really good managers and I owe a lot to each one of them.
Some of our players didn't like playing in Fairview because it always seemed to be wet and windy as well as cold. But I loved playing there because the opposition hated it - usually because they knew that they would be going home with nothing.

I always remember one day before we played a team from the country in the All-Ireland, Eddie and Pat telling us that all they were going to get that day was a burger and chips afterwards! And that's just how it worked out.

Belvedere have always had a reputation for playing great football. My team was no different and every time we played in Fairview there seemed to be as many scouts as supporters on the sideline. That says a lot.

Nothing but the best is good enough for Belvedere. We never celebrated if we finished runners-up. There was always a sense of shame about bringing silver medals back into the dressing room.

But it isn't all about winning things and Eddie, Pat and Tony were always as interested in helping individual players reach their potential as they were in the team winning. Over the years Belvedere have produced so many great players and in terms of schoolboys football they have to the best club in Ireland.

Thanks to Belvedere, I got the chance to play for and captain my country. I couldn't have done that without a lot of help. I will always remember my days at Belvo - especially the pre-season trips to Mosney. They were great - on and off the pitch.

I hope the club will find an alternative venue for this sort of get-together because they played a big part in the blood in my veins turning blue.

Thanks for everything.