Smiling assassin McCaffrey back with a bang and set to wreak havoc on the big day
AQUICK scroll through Jack McCaffrey’s Twitter profile where he has a tribute to 1980s arcade game Pac-Man, several nods to the brilliance of ‘The Simpsons’ and documents his long-suffering support of Arsenal FC shows that he’s as unique off the pitch as he is on it.
Listing his childhood sporting hero as Viktor Krum – a fictional Quidditch player of Harry Potter fame – on the Dublin GAA website and his post-match shenanigans at their All-Ireland banquet 12 months ago paint McCaffrey as a bit of maverick.
As reigning Footballer of the Year and aged just 22, the Clontarf flyer swapped the Dubs for a once-in-a-lifetime experience in Africa as part of his medical studies and missed out on their 2016 All-Ireland SFC triumph.
Where was he between the drawn and replayed encounters with Mayo having returned home? Donning a helmet and helping his club to a Junior Hurling Championship ‘E’ title while he has an interesting tradition of playing keepyuppies for ten minutes before a match with good friend Cormac Costello.
There are clearly no airs or graces about him, everything is done on his own terms and he slipped back into the fold seamlessly last season and looked like he was set to light up the All-Ireland final when disaster struck. Those seemingly unstoppable legs gave away and his left cruciate knee ligament snapped in the fourth minute.
There were fears that his blistering pace would be negated by the ninemonth lay-off following surgery, but he blew them out of the water in his first competitive game back in Sky Blue against Longford in June.
“Hands down the toughest thing I’ve had to do in sport,” the two-time All-Star said last month. “When you’re on your own in the gym and just meeting up with the physio for a bit of running, it’s a very different challenge and you have to go to a bit of a dark place at times and power throughit.ItwasthefirsttimeI’veever had to do that but it’s stood to me.
“It was something I was worried about and it’s only when you get out in Croke Park and you get a ball in your hand and you just go that you finally feel the speed is there again and you’re back.”
Normally there would be hesitancy but McCaffrey – currently working with the paediatric team in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda – doesn’t take backward steps and resembled a young foal let out on grass for the first time.
The three-time All-Ireland winner was outstanding in their semi-final defeat of Galway but while his swift comeback surprised many, UCD Sigerson Cup manager John Divilly was not one of them having watched him at close quarters.
McCaffrey was skipper when the Dublin college ended their 20-year wait for third-level colleges glory two years ago and their “off-field captain” this season as they climbed the mountain and the 1998 All-Ireland SFC winner with Galway feels he is a special talent.
“There’s nothing bad you can say about Jack and he is a different player to most other half-backs in the country. His speed and his speed of thought is exceptional, he’s got very good close ball skill control and he’s a really intelligent footballer,” Divilly says.
“He can score, even if he hasn’t done as much of that this year and you get a buzz when Jack McCaffrey gets the ball. He’s got electric speed and the skill to be able to solo faster than he can run without the ball is just extraordinary really.
“When you look at hurling and see Joe Canning, Austin Gleeson and these boys soloing down the field, there’s no better sight in football than to see Jack McCaffrey take off with a ball.
“He’s a real positive influence around the dressing room and anyone who has shared a dressing room with him, be it club, county, college or International Rules, will have a funny story about him.”
Former Dublin team-mate Alan Brogan also lauded “a phenomenal athlete”. He said: “I thought he might lose a bit of that speed but no, and to go from where he was and catapult himself into the running for an All-Star after a couple of games is a huge achievement.
“Nobody has that pace… maybe Karl O’Connell in Monaghan but nobody else has that blistering pace off the mark that Jack has. So it’s a weapon that they just can’t replace. He can go through a gap and just move away from defenders like nobody else can.”
McCaffrey has admitted to a difference of opinion with the Dublin nutritionists
about his ideal fighting weight as he likes to feel “light on my feet” as he feels he runs around “like a headless chicken” but he is far from a one-trick pony.
His exquisite fist pass to set up Con O’Callaghan’s goal in the semi-final was precision at its finest while Divilly feels one part of his game is totally neglected when analysing his best attributes.
“It still amazes me that some people still think he’s just an attacking footballer, he’s an outstanding tackler. He hit Evan O’Carroll (a UCD team-mate ironically), an unmerciful shoulder in the Leinster final down in the full-back line, turned him over and helped work the ball down to score down the other end,” Divilly says.
Having followed in his father Noel’s footsteps to represent the Dubs, his inter-county stock has always been high but All-Ireland final day hasn’t exactly been a happy hunting ground for McCaffrey.
He was called ashore at half-time in his first final in 2013 against Mayo, carried a gastric bug into the ’15 decider against Kerry to give an heroic display before leaving the fray late on while the cruciate curse struck 12 months ago versus Mayo.
As well as trying to help Jim Gavin’s side secure a famous four-in-a-row, there will be plenty of motivation to right his own personal wrongs on the game’s biggest occasion and Mickey Harte’s Tyrone will have specific plans to curb his influence, otherwise they risk being put on the back foot from the get-go.
Friends and family describe him as a joker with some humorous comparisons to the Eoin McLove character from ‘Father Ted’ given the similarly curly locks while he has a penchant for having a good time and doing things with a smile on his face, regardless of the situation.
But make no mistake about it, when McCaffrey crosses the white lines, he is a trained killer capable of destroying opposition’s dreams and he’ll be doing what he does best – and what no one else can replicate – for some time to come.