Genial Jack is content to do it his own way
JACK McCAFFREY is the antidote to the sterile, robotic image that can be projected by Jim Gavin’s Dublin side. The talented wingback plays the game with a smile on his face, as if it is something to enjoy, rather than be endured.
In Croke Park last Saturday evening, as other team-mates marched military-style in the prematch parade, the Clontarf flyer was all smiles, absorbing everything around him.
‘I’ve spoken about it before but I think that the parades around Croke Park are the coolest thing ever,’ says McCaffrey, who has just finished his medical studies and is currently working in Our Lady’s of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda in the paediatric department.
‘I just feel like a child going around in the parade. It was a good occasion, really enjoyable and we got the win, which helped. Everyone has found their own individual things that helps them perform. And for me, I have found that it’s all about being relaxed and not tense and too focused on things. Other lads are the complete opposite and are completely in the zone.’
McCaffrey has learned to savour the moment even more given the tough journey he has been on over the past year. Having ruptured his cruciate ligament in the early stages of last year’s All-Ireland final, it had been a lonely road back for the former Young Footballer of the Year. But it has all gone to plan, especially considering he collected a man of the match award for last Saturday’s semifinal win over Galway.
‘It has gone really well. It is hands down the toughest thing I’ve had to do in sport, the hardest work that I’ve ever had to put in...but it has been really rewarding. It is great to have been involved in days like last Saturday and now leading up to a final.
‘But it was just a completely different challenge for me. Usually I enjoy football and there’s always a good buzz in training. You’re obviously working hard but it never feels like hard work. It is just a good buzz with your team-mates but when you are on your own in the gym and just meeting the physio, it is a very different challenge and you go to a bit of a dark place at times and have to power through it. It was the first time that I had to do that and, touch wood, it is the last. But I think it’s stood to me having to do it,’ said McCaffrey who was speaking at the launch of this year’s Asian Games which take place in November in Bangkok. McCaffrey reckons the worst period was in the early days when he got back on the pitch. He went to play a game for Clontarf against Fingallians and realised how far off the pace he was. ‘The hardest for me was when I got back playing. It’s so clear-cut, the whole transition. You squat one day and dead-lift the next. You just tick boxes. And then I went to play against Fingallians. I came off at half-time and I was just brutal. I was really upset. I was so excited and in the back of your head, you were thinking that you would come back and score 36 or something. But it doesn’t happen like that. Being realistic, it was always going to take a while to get back.’
McCaffrey watched Sunday’s tense semi-final in the local as the players unwound after their impressive dismantling of Galway on Saturday night. And he says that Dublin will tweak their game for the challenge that Tyrone will present on September 2.
‘You tweak your game for any opposition. You have to pay them the respect they’re due and look at how you’re going to deal with their strengths. We’ll do a good bit of looking at Tyrone over the next two weeks and maybe the week of the game start turning the focus back to ourselves. We’ll certainly leave no stone unturned.’
And when McCaffrey is asked about the motivation that drives this group of Dublin footballers on, he points to the younger players who have blended seamlessly into the team this year.
‘At this time of year there’s no issue. If you can’t get motivated with a three-week run in to an AllIreland final then you’ve bigger problems. I know we’ve lads in the dressing room that are gearing up for their sixth final but we’ve also lads who are gearing up for their first.
They’re driving everything on in training and everyone has to go 100 per cent because if you don’t you won’t be picked. The competition for places is still sky high and we’ve been on the road long enough to know that’s what drives us on and how important that is.’