BEWARE THE CURSE OF FOOTBALLER OF YEAR AWARD
Annual gong has become something of a poisoned chalice in recent seasons
RECENT history suggests the fuss that surrounded the ceremony which anointed Lee Keegan as footballer of the year may have been misplaced. Traditionally, the gong is presented by the manager of the AllIreland champions but Jim Gavin remained seated last November in the National Convention Centre and Dermot Earley, in his role as president of the GPA, looked after all that onerous handing over business.
Inevitably it led to speculation that Gavin’s no-show amounted to a protest at the decision of Keegan’s peers to vote the Mayo defender in as their champion, not least given how aggrieved some in Dublin felt about how the latter had, literally, handled Diarmuid Connolly in the drawn final.
Should that spark a review as to how future ceremonies are conducted, the powers that be could do worse than consult with former recipients in seeking a better way.
If they do, you might just find that the trophy will be handed over this winter only after it has been doused in holy water and ferried on stage by a sea of bishops while performing an exorcism.
That bad? Well, it has been less than good for the majority of recipients in the last decade.
Perhaps it is in part down to the law of sporting gravity in that a season of such sustained brilliance is nigh on impossible to back up.
Bernard Brogan, player of the year in 2010, is the last to do so by also winning an All-Star the following season.
In doing so, he bucked a modern trend; ever since Seán Cavanagh’s coronation as footballer of the year in 2008, the recipients have been dogged by a loss of form, injuries, illness, suspensions and, in Jack McCaffrey’s case, a leave of absence.
With the exception of Brogan, not only has every recipient in that time failed to produce an All-Star season to follow up, but five of those winners – Cavanagh, Paul Galvin, Alan Brogan, Karl Lacey and, obviously, McCaffrey failed to even receive a nomination the following year.
That means they went from being the No1 ranked footballer to not being inside the top 45 inside 12 months, making the journey from hero to zero with breakneck speed.
It says much about the pressure it brings.
‘You definitely feel it,’ admits Marc Ó Sé, the award recipient in 2007.
‘Every time you are mentioned in a paper, your name is preceded by “player of the year” which is also how the world views you.
It means that a 7/10 game, which any other time would be considered good, suddenly is held up as evidence that your form is slipping and that invites your own kind of pressure,’ claims the former Kingdom star.
And the burden does not go away after one season, with the five-time Kerry All-Ireland winner suggesting that his dropping in 2014 for the All-Ireland semi-final replay against Mayo was, in part, down to being a member of the player-of-the-year club.
‘I know that sounds crazy because seven years had passed, but you are viewed differently afterwards.
‘I felt in the drawn game that while I was under pressure, there were others that were under more but you are judged by the fact that you were once up on that pedestal. It is a nice feeling to be up there, but it comes with a price.’ As to whether Keegan will pay it, only time will tell.
It hasn’t been the most encouraging of starts, but then he has been pitched in at the deep end on a struggling team this spring and, for a time, had to slot in at full-back given the lack of manmarking specialists available to last term’s losing All-Ireland final manager Stephen Rochford.
He has looked a little leg-weary and distracted, not least last weekend in Omagh when his afternoon ended inside 30 minutes as the result of a lazy tackle which received the black card it merited.
In truth, he is entitled to be tired – after an exhaustive inter-county season last year he was back in Croke Park playing in his third AllIreland final inside five months as he led Westport to an All-Ireland club title in spring.
And with the chance to rest up – Mayo will have a seven-week lay-up after this weekend before a likely Championship date with Sligo – he could be back firing on that four All-Star cylinder come the summer.
That he is Mayo’s most decorated footballer of the modern age is a reminder of how special a talent he is, but the thing is those that have gone before him – and struggled to carry the weight of the game’s biggest individual honour – have hardly been duds.
If you don’t believe that, then just take a look for yourself.