If them f**kers have gone to the Hill, you know where you have to go
HE’S AN All-Ireland winner with Dublin, whose son Dean has gone on to win seven titles.
Barney Rock sits down with Irish Daily Star columnist Roddy Collins to talk about his life, his career, the chance to be a pro footballer in England and listening to son Dean’s full Dublin debut on the radio all the way from the Camp Nou!
RODDY: How are ya, Barney? How did you end up playing soccer for Stella Maris? BARNEY ROCK: “It was 1977 and I had two years with them. I played soccer with Griffith Rovers and was asked to play for Stella.”
RODDY: And you had an offer to go to Arsenal at one stage? BARNEY: “It was actually QPR. Christie O’Leary, Dave and Pierce’s father, came to me and said there was a trial at QPR and asked if I’d go.
“I was playing with Dublin Minors and in 1978 we got to an All-Ireland semi-final.
“I went to Brother McDonald, who was a selector in the Dublin Minor team. I said, ‘Listen Brother Mac, I think I have a chance for a trial’.
“I just used Arsenal’s name at the time, because it was such a big club. We are all able to tell a little fib every now and again!
“Dublin were playing the semi-final on the Sunday after the trial, so he told me I couldn’t do that, because I’d just be coming home on the Saturday night.
“He said he’d go and see Christie, and tell him I wasn’t right to go now, but I’d go another time. I think that’s the way it happened.
“Christie came back and said the opportunity was gone.” RODDY: Did you ever think afterwards, maybe I should have gone?
BARNEY: “Ah no, never really that much. Back then Gaelic was my first love. Soccer was okay.”
RODDY:
Gaelic?
BARNEY:“It was a community thing. Ballymun Kickhams was our team. I went to school with all the fellas that went on and played. It was the only thing we had in school back then.
“Soccer only came because my brothers were soccer players in the family. I was one of 11 children. We had nine boys and two girls.”
RODDY: Describe the journey to the senior Dublin team. BARNEY: “In ’73 I was involved with the Dublin Under-14 team. We won the Under-14s and then Dublin won the All-Ireland in ’74.
“My grandfather was the man in the bowler hat who carried the ball out and my uncle was in the dressing room.
“My father did the turnstiles and my other uncle did the scoreboard, and I was always dragged along to the games with my dad.
“I would have gone down and sat in the dressing room with all the Dublin players. I was only a little fella and nobody would have noticed me. That got into the blood.
“I was in there looking at these fellas and they were so big.
“I remember the old Cusack
What was it about
Stand where you went down the steps and right beside the dressing room was the little Minor one.
“Little did I know that four years later I would be in that dressing room, in ’78, preparing to go out on the field. And also in ’79.”
RODDY: How did you get picked for the senior side?
BARNEY: “We played two Minor finals. We were beaten in ’78 but we won in ’79 against Kerry.
“Dublin were playing in the National League in October, just after the ’79 team were beaten by Kerry in the AllIreland final.
“Three weeks later there were matches and we were called up, myself and Kieran Duff.
“The first match was against Cork and I scored a goal and two points. So it seemed to set the scene where I always loved playing against Cork. I always scored against them.”
RODDY: Things have changed since your playing days. BARNEY: “I remember I was with Ciarán Kilkenny and Dean for a meal. I said, ‘Lads, are you having a desert?’
“They looked at me and more or less said, it took us a long time to get our bodies this way, we’re not going to eat that shite.
“Look at the effort they put in. It’s seven days a week. If they are not training, they are in the gym. If they are not in the gym, they are hibernating.
“Back in our time, you could