Cafferkey is proof that age can be just a number
NOTHING ages as well as fine wine. There was a time, not so long ago, when your days as an elite-level footballer were considered numbered when you reached your thirties, but two defenders that I worked closely with — Ger Cafferkey and Kieran Fitzgerald — are proving that age has nothing to do with your talent as a footballer. Cafferkey won an AllIreland Under-21 as far back as 2006 and claimed an All-Star in 2012 but his injury troubles over the past few years suggested that his time with Mayo might have been at an end. But he was the best player on the pitch in Castlebar last Saturday. Cavan tried a number of different markers on him and Cafferkey easily dealt with them. The more that Cavan changed their fullforward, the better that Cafferkey got. The full-back has always been a deep thinker and an avid student of the game. I remember when I managed him with Mayo in 2009, we had been drawn to play Meath or Limerick in the All-Ireland quarterfinals. We were Connacht champions, so had a couple of weeks off. Cafferkey went to the qualifier between them in Portlaoise and stood directly behind one of the goals in O’Moore Park so he could study the movement and angles of running of both full-forward lines. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald won an All-Ireland medal with us in Galway back in 2001, and All-Ireland Under-21 medal the following year. Yet, here he is, at 38 years of age, still going strong and still having as much passion for it as he ever had. He will be marshalling the Corofin defence in Carrick-on-Shannon this afternoon as they play Gaoth Dobhair in a mouth-watering AllIreland club semi-final. Despite all the success he had with club and county, Fitzgerald is still hungry for more, proving that age is just a number 18 years after winning the All-Ireland with Galway.