In many cases, given the volume of Irish players in the Burnley squad, this spell near Dublin will mean the next five days will take a number of Clarets ‘home’ during a five day training camp in Ireland.
Having arrived in Ireland the Burnley squad, aside from Scott Arfield, who is still away with Canada for their Gold Cup, will train this week ahead of the friendly with Shamrock Rovers on Friday.
Ireland internationals Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Stephen Ward and Kevin Long are involved with new signing, of course fellow Irishman, Jon Walters part of this squad – as is England international Tom Heaton.
Heaton made his first start for England this summer and as much as he was disappointed to be on the losing side against France it was an experience he enjoyed but the Burnley captain has also been eager to return to training.
Telling the Official Website: ‘It was a nice summer. Obviously, I was delighted to start the game for England and disappointed to lose, but I thoroughly enjoyed the 45 minutes and it ended up being a very good two weeks` away. I`ve been chomping at the bit to get back in and today, the first day, was a nice start.’
Admitting his return after an enjoyable summer meant he came back feeling better than he had to kick off pre-season in a while.
‘It`s probably the best I`ve felt, coming back in pre-season for the first day. That two-week international break in the middle, where you are working and have to be on top of your game, helps you. It never takes you too long to get back in the rhythm and I don`t feel too far away at the moment.’
Burnley’s base had previously been the setting for the British and Irish Lions and Sean Dyche had only heard good things about the setup. The boss decided to do something a little different this summer and he’s not disappointed.
He told Official Website: ‘We`d heard good things about this place, because of the number of team who have used the facility down the years, including the Six Nations teams and, recently, the British Lions. It`s a slight change because we`d been to Evian for a couple of years, which served us well, and this was just to freshen up the thinking a little and give the players something different. It`s a lovely setting for teams, that`s for sure, and really this is the start of pre-season.’
Last week it was about testing the players and now things are stepped up.
Dyche said: ‘We came in a couple of days last week, just to set the testing levels. We know how fit our players have been down the years with us and they know what to expect in pre-season, so the depth of knowledge serves us well. Today was about bedding them in and then we will start to build it up from tomorrow and in the coming weeks.’
The boss will look forward to the friendly at the end of the week but the priority is to ensure the players build up the fitness levels they need to and, above all else, remain injury free.
‘At this stage, staying injury free is a big thing and we`ve reminded the players of that. The demands are there, but we trust this group when they tell us how they are feeling, but equally we do push them to make sure their bodies are strong.’
