Comeback glory just what the doctor ordered. This is very special to us all
JOB AND INJURY HELL GIVES JACK NEW PERSPECTIVE ON SUCCESS AND HE’S SAVOURING EVERY LAST SECOND
IT’S fair to say that Jack Mccaffrey scratched a number of itches in Sunday’s All-ireland final. It may come as a surprise to some, but despite it being his fourth Celtic Cross, it was the first time he finished a final having been replaced in 2013, ‘15 and most notably last year, when he ruptured his cruciate ligament in opening minutes. “This was the first time I’ve been on the pitch when the final whistle blew in an All-ireland final,” he observed at the Dublin team’s base at the Gibson Hotel yesterday morning. “Incredible. It was so satisfying, such a relief. “Going out yesterday, it wasn’t about getting forward and kicking scores. I just wanted to work as hard as I possibly could.
“You see Cian [O’sullivan] go off injured early on. The lads got me out of jail last year and pulled me over the line when I couldn’t go out and do it myself.”
Mccaffrey also pointed out how he figured out “I’m actually a defender as opposed to a loose attacking player” on Sunday.
For years he’d been seen as a weak link defensively and the 24-year-old freely admits he lags behind other Dublin stars when it comes to the art of defending.
But it’s an area he’s sought to improve and a dispossession of Tyrone key man Mattie Donnelly late on gave him real satisfaction.
“To be able to turn over a player like Mattie Donnelly, one of Tyrone’s key, key massive runners and not an easy man to tackle by any stretch of the
imagination, that for me, was an exceptional high to get towards the end of the game.
“I do think I’ve improved on it. I’ve improved on a lot of things.
“It is an area I can still get better at but I think, well I hope, that at this point people are starting to figure out that I’m not just there to go the other way. I can hold my own.
“It’s great to turn a perceived weakness into a strength and I’ve seen it in games over the last number of years that teams will get the ball and can see that I’m eyeing them up and, ‘Oh it’s Mccaffrey, I’ll just go at him, he can’t tackle’ and to be able to invite that on and then turn them over is great.
“Similar with kickouts or whatever, I’d probably be targeted a bit but I’m holding my own this year. I’ve been around five or six years at this point. It’s not enough to just want to keep playing to your strengths, you’ve to take the other side of things and improve them.”
On Friday, the recently qualified doctor will return to work at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, a place that he says gives him a sense of perspective.
“It’s a really humbling space to be in. When I’m at work I’m chasing down scans, doing various bits and bobs and there is no point where I am making a life-saving intervention.
“If I wasn’t there everyone would tip along just as well but you do get to experience some families that are in incredibly tough times.
“I’ve come across this in my personal life as well, it just emphasises, to see a family who have… we went to visit a young man on Monday, myself and a few of the lads, who is passing away, an 18-year-old fella, to know that he is going to be sitting there with a Dublin jersey on cheering you on, rather than diminishing what football is because of how trivial it is, it just makes you appreciate it so much.
“The release it gives people, the joy that people get from watching us play football, it’s kind of mind-blowing when you sit down and think about it.”
I’ve seen it over the years, ‘Oh, it’s Mccaffrey, I’ll just go at him, he can’t tackle’