John Irving quote ✍️

Quote

My old coach used to say that if you were in it for the match, if you were in it for the trophies, you were in it for the wrong reasons.
Poet’s word, with inverted comma, for the end of the day
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E
?
E
?
N
Hint 1 meaning
The old plural of Eye.
Hint 2 anagram
NEE
Hint 3 another clue
AND STILL ___
8 +1

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