{"id":511537,"date":"2026-05-31T10:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/511537\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T10:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:06:19","slug":"i-have-a-missus-so-i-think-ill-be-alright-no-love-island-for-shamrock-rovers-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/511537\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I have a missus so I think I’ll be alright\u2019 – no Love Island for Shamrock Rovers star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Down GAA player John McGovern won\u2019t be following Galway\u2019s Se\u00e1n Fitzpatrick onto the popular show.<\/p>\n

Shamrock Rovers\u2019 John McGovern celebrates(Image: INPHO\/Ryan Byrne)<\/p>\n

Shamrock Rovers striker John McGovern has revealed how he had to shed some muscle to get up to speed with League of Ireland football.<\/p>\n

McGovern joined from Dungannon Swifts last summer – and the former Northern Ireland Under-21 international was also a highly regarded Gaelic footballer before his switch.<\/p>\n

He was a Tailteann Cup winner with Down<\/a> and his GAA commitments meant he had to bulk up to compete at the highest level.<\/p>\n

After joining the Hoops<\/a>, he went from 80kg to around 76kg – with most of that drop coming from muscle mass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of Gaelic players are top heavy, especially with how the game is going in Gaelic,\u201d said McGovern, who scored Rovers\u2019 equaliser against Bohemians<\/a> last Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I first came in, it wasn’t that I was in bad shape, but I needed to lean out a bit and lose a bit of muscle mass up top.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the physical demands for football aren’t as high on your upper body. It was just about leaning out slightly and then getting in better shape for football.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGovern described it as a gradual process \u201cbecause I wasn’t carrying a lot of body fat.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI was sort of gradually reducing what I did in the gym and maintaining some muscle mass and trying to lose it in other areas. It was just a gradual change.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he didn\u2019t feel like he was being held back initially, McGovern felt himself getting sharper as his weight dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the demands of football being higher than Gaelic in terms of you need to be sharper on your feet and things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I’ve gotten sharper since I’ve lost a couple of kg but I wouldn’t have noticed it whenever I had it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he fear that losing some of his muscle mass might harm his chances of following Galway\u2019s Se\u00e1n Fitzgerald onto Love Island one day?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a missus so I think I’ll be alright for a bit,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

McGovern does miss playing Gaelic football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve played it all my life, so I keep in touch with lads I’ve played for Down with and I keep an eye on scores and things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the opportunity to play full-time football with Rovers, and compete for leagues and in European competition, was too good to turn down.<\/p>\n

As for last Monday\u2019s goal against Bohs, he said: \u201cIt’s a euphoric feeling, especially like that was the last game that’s going to be in Dalymount between Rovers and Bohs, and it’s a historic fixture.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to come on and make an impact and score a goal in a game like that is unbelievable, especially for me coming off the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou obviously want to contribute, and contribute with a goal and then for us to go on and win the game was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Down GAA player John McGovern won\u2019t be following Galway\u2019s Se\u00e1n Fitzpatrick onto the popular show. Shamrock Rovers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[43515,108677,18,117,19,17,6435,5073,172926,134424,130694,128],"class_list":["post-511537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bohemian-fc","tag-down-gaa","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-league-of-ireland","tag-love-island","tag-shamrock-rovers-f-c","tag-shamrock-rovers-fc","tag-tailteann-cup","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116668635267785057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}