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22nd Oct 2012

So Jens Lehmann was playing soccer and giving a pep talk to a local GAA team in Louth recently

We don’t know how this managed to slip under our radar until now, but Jens Lehmann was in Louth last week playing football with the locals and giving a pep talk to a local GAA team. Mad.

Conor Heneghan

We don’t know how this managed to slip under our radar until now, but Jens Lehmann was in Louth last week playing football with the locals and giving a pep talk to a local GAA team. Mad.

Pep talks by famous figures before big matches in the GAA are nothing new, but the lads at Clan na Gael in Louth probably expected somebody like Brian Cody or Mickey Harte on the Thursday before their Intermediate County Final against O’Connells last weekend.

Instead they got Jens Lehmann.

The former Germany and Arsenal ‘keeper and one of the most eccentric figures in football in recent years was in town for the Ireland v Germany clash last weekend and a Louth man, Alan Clarke, who works for a stats company used by the German team, approached Lehmann and asked him to make the trip to the Wee County.

Lehmann obliged and spent an hour playing football with Alan’s local soccer team, Glenmuir FC, before visiting the Clan na Gael lads – Clarke also used to play a bit of Gaelic Football with Clan na Gael – to deliver a pep talk ahead of the big game.

Lehmann talked for around 15 minutes about his experience in big game, signed autographs, posed for pictures and even hung around for a pint of Guinness before heading off, although unfortunately for Clan na Gael, his words of wisdom didn’t prove enough as they lost to O’Connells by two points.

Speaking to the The Dundalk Leader, Clan na Gael PRO Maurice Harrison told of how it all came about.

“Alan is a former Clans player and he convinced Jens to call around to the boys on Thursday evening to give them a few words of advice for Sunday’s final,” he said.

“He spoke to the lads for about fifteen minutes telling them to keep focused and how to cope with the pressure of big games. He had a pint of Guinness with us and signed autographs and posed for photos and all that. It was a bit surreal but it was great to meet him and we’d all like to thank Alan for making it happen.”

Like we said, mad.

Hat-tip to the Dundalk Leader and to Balls.ie for this one.

Topics:

Louth