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The Cork hurlers before their All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin. INPHO/Ryan Byrne
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Poker and FIFA - the way to relax the night before an All-Ireland hurling final

Here’s how the Cork team are going to chill out before Sunday’s showdown.

IT’S THE MARQUEE game of the hurling calendar next Sunday in Croke Park as Cork and Clare face off.

The excitement and tension is growing as the week goes on.

But how do the players involved settle the nerves the day before one of the biggest matches of their hurling lives?

Here’s an insight into the tactics in the Cork camp to calm themselves according to Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash.

“You’d hang around with everybody. We’ve a game of poker going up on the bus and you have FIFA set up above (in the team hotel) then so you have a bit of craic with the lads.”

Nash isn’t the first sporting goalkeeper to play video games but former English soccer netminder David James infamously pointed to them as being detrimental to his performances in the 90′s.

Any concerns on Nash’s part about that?

“I’d say he has a better life than I have now to be fair,” laughs Nash. “It’s not that I sit down for three or four hours a day playing it. I kind of have a bit of life as well.

“He spoke about it and said he used to play them an awful lot at the time. I actually read that article and it was very interesting.

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England’s David James.
Pic: Martin Mejia/AP/Press Association Images

“I wouldn’t sit down too much the day before a game anyway because you feel yourself seizing up and things like that.

“I’d sit down and play a game, walk away and stuff like that and then the day of the game you wouldn’t go near it. It’s just to relax and take your mind off, that’s all that’s for.

“There’s no point in sitting up in your room, shaking inside the corner thinking of what you’re going to do the next day rocking forward and back!

“It’s just the day before I try to get away from the game as much as I can. That’s basically my routine and hopefully it’ll work the next day.”

All-Ireland SHC 2013: Clare’s route to the final

All-Ireland SHC 2013: Cork’s route to the final

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