Jack, be nimble over your future and not quick to call it a day forever..i’ve been in this situation, coming back worked for me
DJ CAREY was just a few months older than Jack Mccaffrey is now when he announced his shock retirement in February 1998.
At the time he cited a lack of appetite having grown weary from local backbiting as he carried the Kilkenny team after they lost altitude in the years following the 1992-93 All-ireland successes.
Work pressures were a factor too as he tried to run his own business.
However, six weeks later he reversed his decision and while he had his moments in the 1998 Championship, it was 1999 before he reclaimed his electrifying best form and in 2000 he was Hurler of the Year.
In 2002, he was just overcoming a succession of injuries when he suffered a burst appendix which, he felt, had ended his hopes of playing for Kilkenny that year.
But Brian Cody lifted the phone after a lacklustre Leinster final win over Wexford and Carey started the All-ireland semi-final and final victories over Tipperary and Clare respectively in which he was hugely influential, winning an All Star on the strength of playing just two games. He recalled: “1998 wasn’t great but in 2002 I was very hungry. I was very fortunate that the Monday morning after the Leinster final Brian Cody rang me and said, ‘Look, would you come back and train for the All-ireland semi-final? If you don’t make it, you don’t make it but come back and give it a go at least’.
“I was very fortunate to get that call. I would imagine that Dessie Farrell will be ringing Jack Mccaffrey next January or whenever they start again to see is he available – and if he’s not available next year he’ll be getting the same call the following year.”
There has been no confirmation as to why Mccaffrey, 26, has decided to take time out from playing for Dublin for the second time in his career having also sat out the 2016 season.
But it is believed his professional commitments are a factor. He works as a doctor in St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny and Carey plans to reach out to his fellow five-time All-ireland winner.
He can certainly relate to work pressures rendering training at intercounty level a nuisance at times.
He admitted: “You’re getting out of the car on a Friday night or a Wednesday night, under pressure coming from a day’s work.
“Now, look, everyone is coming from a day’s work and everyone has different pressures but you know when you go home after work that night there’s a pressure that you have to go into work to make a decision for the following day.
“Do you let someone go? A cheque could have bounced on you, you might have cheques in the system that need to be cleared.
“Jack Mccaffrey probably doesn’t have that issue but where he does have an issue is when he goes home at night he has to worry about whether he is infected and he’s in the profession whereby, more than likely, the advice is you’ve got to be very, very, very, very careful.”
There has been a suggestion he may not play for Dublin again but Carey added: “I would imagine that Jack Mccaffrey can still write the next chapter on his football career again. He wrote a chapter after going away to Africa on volunteer work and he came back better.
“He can do the same. In every situation a player will be brought back or will have the opportunity to come back because he is good enough to come back and Jack Mccaffrey can be good enough to come back in a year or two – if that’s what he wants.”