When we see young players across the country line out for their counties, we only see a small part of their stories. I would wager that few would have one remotely close to that of Boidu Sayeh. Moving to Ireland at the age of 8 from war-torn Liberia, he settled into the tranquil surroundings of Rosemount, Co. Westmeath. From there, he took to the sport like a duck floating upon the surface of Lough Owel and has become an ambassador for minorities within the sport in the process. As he has said in the past “It’s not about the colour of your skin, it’s about the colour of the jersey”. This week we went ClubSpotting with Boidu Sayeh to Rosemount GAA Club.
1. Describe your earliest memories of Rosemount GAA Club?
My earliest memory of Rosemount GAA club was from Rosemount National
School and that was where I first heard of GAA and where I got my first
experience of playing the sport. I was 8 years old and just came to Ireland from
Liberia, so I hadn’t a clue what the sport was at all, it was from there that I
started playing for the club.
2. Who were your sporting idols growing up?
Growing up I was a huge soccer fan and GAA was kind of a second sport’ to
me so I didn’t really look up to too many players. I worshipped Ronaldinho,
but when I got a little older around 14/15 I fell in love with GAA and my
grandfather Tony and my cousin Dylan helped me gain an interest in the
sport and then I started looking up to them. John Keane who is
from my club, became an idol then because he won 2 All-Stars with
Westmeath and he was one of my coaches growing up in the club.
3. What has your proudest moment been in your GAA career?
I have loads of proud moments but the one that sticks out to me was
when we made it to the Leinster Minor Football Final in 2013, it was my
first time to play in Croke Park, it was special because my grandfather
Tony was the first person to bring me to Croke Park when Westmeath were in the
Leinster final in 2004, and for him to watch me play there a good few years
later was a special moment, and to also have all my family members there
too was cool.
4. Have you any superstitions or pre-game rituals?
Nope I don’t really have any pre-game rituals or superstitions, I try to be as
calm and relaxed as possible. A funny story I have, well it’s funny now but it wasn’t at the time, but for the intermediate Final in 2016 I turned up to the game and
forgot my football boots, luckily one of the lads had a pair that fit and I ended
up scoring 4 points and we won the game, so once I’m relaxed it’s all
good.
5. Who’s the toughest opponent that you have faced to date?
Outside of Westmeath has to be Dean Rock, I marked him last year and he is an
unbelievably gifted footballer. In Westmeath, I’d probably say Luke
Loughlin, my Westmeath teammates have marked him loads too and when he’s in
form he is a class act. I like to think we get the best out of each other in training and in club games.
6. What are your hopes for 2021 with club and county?
2021 is going to be a difficult year, having to train on our own before the league
starts and we have a tough league group too but my hopes are to win the Division 2
league with Westmeath and for the club, I would love if we won our club
Senior Championship this year we have a good young team and I think we
can do it
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