Antrim GAA: 'I wasn't enjoying it' - Paddy McBride explains Saffrons departure
When Patrick McBride - one of Antrim's most high profile and experienced Gaelic footballers - stepped away from the county panel last month, it came as an unexpected development in an already difficult season.Since making his inter-county debut as a 17-year-old, McBride had been a consistent presence in Saffron, but decided to quit just days after the county's Division Four loss to Tipperary.Speaking to BBC Gaeilge, McBride explained his reasons for leaving the squad. "When I had [his son] Luca for example, it put football in a different perspective, and for the last month or so, I was feeling, when I was leaving the house, that I was not enjoying it," McBride told BBC Gaeilge's sport programme, Ón Taobhlíne."I had to make a decision, what am I giving my time to? And when I was leaving the house, looking at Luca and Maeve [his partner] in the house, going somewhere I wasn't enjoying, that decision got a lot easier for me.""So at the moment, I feel 100% OK with it. I'm back training with the club at the minute, league starting in a couple of weeks, looking forward to that."McBride added that he misses "the games and the friendships", but feels that he made the "right decision". "I'm not saying that I'm finished, because there is a chance I'll go back," he said. "There's a chance I'll go back next season but just, the environment wasn't right for me to stay, and I wasn't enjoying it."When directly asked if he is not ruling out a return to the Antrim jersey in future, McBride confirms: "Yeah, well I don't feel finished yet, so aye, there's a good chance that will happen."In a wide-ranging conversation, the 32-year-old St John's club-man also recalled his much-loved sister Marie, who died by suicide three years ago.The full interview can be heard on the Ón Taobhlíne programme below.
