Cavan footballer Killian Clarke discusses his daily routine with John O'Brien.

Morning

What time do you get up at?

7.00 am. My schedule is a bit messy at the minute because I'm after starting an internship in Dublin.

How long do you sleep for?

I try and get 7-8 hours every night.

What do you eat for breakfast?

When I was living the college life, I was getting up at 10am and making myself a feast of a breakfast that would consist of porridge, spinach/broccoli, scrambled eggs, and bacon/salmon. Now that I'm in the working world it consists of porridge in the morning before I leave with a protein shake. At the 10 clock break I usually have salmon or tuna on brown toast with a cup of tea.

Do you train/exercise in the mornings?

I have before but not at the minute.

Are you in college/work? What are you studying/working at?

I'm currently doing an internship with a financial management company in Dublin.

Do you have a long commute to college/work?

If I leave the house at 7.45 I'm usually in work for 9.

Is it hard to balance life between college/work and being an intercounty footballer?

I have had my difficulties in the past when I was involved in the Cavan Senior team, Cavan under 21s and the UUJ Sigerson team. There is a huge workload during the January/February months as you are expected to commit to every team, but in my opinion that is just not possible. The GPA is working closely with the players to resolve these issues of burn out and rest periods. One of the possible solutions which was discussed at a recent meeting of the student players in Belfast was to get rid of the Ryan Cup which would free up the October, November and part of the December months and give players the break that is needed for them to recover from a long year.

I have been lucky enough as my county management and college management have had a good relationship in the past which makes things a lot less difficult for me. I don't have the pressure of picking sides with a clash of games/training, they do that for me.

Do you go to the gym in the morning/afternoon?

Currently we are in the middle of Championship so the gym demands aren't as severe as they would have been throughout the year. We would have maybe one planned gym session by the team which would be very light and another gym session if I have time with the club lads.  

How many times a week do you go to the gym?

Once or twice.

What do you do in a typical gym session?

If I'm doing a collective session it usually consists of a full body workout set by our S&C coach Eoin Maguire which varies throughout the year. If I'm doing a session with the club lads they are fond of their curls and the pull ups. Especially Dean "El Poio Loco" 'O Reilly, he loves his pull ups.

Where do you work out?

Cuchullain Fitness in Mullagh is the local at the minute. Joe Dillon is currently running it and you're guaranteed to leave there with a sweat on.

What would you eat for your lunch?

I think I could turn into a burrito at this stage, there is a Boojum around the corner from work and I don't think I've missed a day in the past two weeks for lunch there.

What does your diet consist of? Do you have to be very careful with what you eat?

I'm actually lucky enough I'm naturally a light build so it's a "eat all you can" kind of attitude but I try and stick to the basic rules of ½ Protein, ¼ Carbs and ¼ Veg  which means working towards a goal of 140-160g of protein day.

Do you drink much water? How much?

I try and get 2 Litres in a day.
 

Afternoon/Evening

What time do you get home from college/work at?

6.30pm.

What do you usually have for dinner?

A meat steak/chicken/salmon with rice/spuds/couscous and a bit of veg on the side which is usually broccoli/sweet potatoes/spinach.

What time do you have County training at?

8pm.  

Where do you train?

Kingspan Breffni Park.

Is there anything in particular you would focus on in training yourself?

We tend to analyse previous games, so I try and look at myself and see what mistakes I made and try rectify them over the coming weeks.

How often do you train a week?

4 times

How long would a typical training session last?

80 mins.

Do you find it hard to motivate yourself for training sometimes?

No, not really you set yourself goals and training is a part of reaching those goals. It always helps when you do it with a smile on your face and have a bit of craic with the lads.

Would you often treat yourself with a takeaway/Chinese or a few pints? Or does this totally have to be cut out of your diet?

I believe that you have to take everything with a pinch of salt. You're better off having progress not perfection. The odd Chinese or few pints are grand when it is every now and again once the 80-90% of the time you are eating the way you should.

What do you do to help take your mind off football?

Well the Euros is the obvious answer at the minute but usually either cooking food, eating food or thinking about eating food and then gym. Abusing the lads about their antics the weekend before is always a bit of craic, the pull up master Deano usually gets the brunt of the abuse.

On a typical day what time would you go to bed at?

10.30pm.

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