There’s big danger the past
SINCE last Sunday evening, three words have been going through my mind. Never go back.
Often your initial reaction is the most honest one and that was what first struck me when I heard that Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion are returning to the Dublin fold.
It kind of puzzled me that this was my reaction.
After all, when I watched Dublin this year, there were times when I thought that, if they had the line-breaking runs of McCaffrey and the poise, balance and left-footed wizardry of Mannion, they’d win the All-Ireland.
They’re back now and that has forced me to think about it more deeply and, to me, there are great risks in this move.
This is a dangerous move by Dessie Farrell, have no doubt about it.
Brilliant
Yes, both of them — especially McCaffrey — have been brilliant players for Dublin in the past, but the past is another country...
There’s a trap that it’s easy to fall into in all walks of life.
The challenges of the present and future look so great that we take solace in the past.
And we often figure that what worked in the past is the solution for the future.
Unfortunately, in sport, that’s not the case.
The life of a footballer at the top level is so short.
If you get 10 years out of it, you’re doing well.
You can’t hold back the toll that time — and the demands of everyday life — take on the body and mind.
As the years go by, there are certain physical issues that you start to notice.
The same acceleration isn’t there, you get tired quicker, the reserves of seemingly boundless energy that you used to have are suddenly very low.
At full flow, McCaffrey was one of the most difficult players to stop that I came across in my career.
He was also one of the best personalities that we’ve ever had in Gaelic football.
I doubt that you could find anyone with a bad word to say about the good doctor.
Remember the parade before the 2019 drawn All-Ireland final with Kerry.
McCaffrey was looking up at the crowd with a broad grin on his face.
Field
He looked as if he was the happiest man in Croke Park.
When the ball was thrown in, he backed it up too.
McCaffrey was the best player on the field that day.
Remember the night of another All-Ireland final and Dublin’s victory banquet. McCaffrey was in the background when RTE were doing their interviews, messing when Jim Gavin and Stephen Cluxton were talking on camera.
He was just being himself. He was himself on the field and off it.
That’s why so many warmed to him.
McCaffrey embraced and enjoyed every occasion.
As a doctor, I’m sure he knows how to put things in perspective and sees sport for what it is. I find that really refreshing. However, on the flip side, he has been away from the game for a few years and is turning 29 in a few weeks.
None of us really know whether he will be able to recreate those dashing runs he became famed for at the top level of the game, including himself.
I’m delighted to see him back as the game needs guys like him, but there is simply no guarantee of the performances he used to dazzle us with.
Mannion is the inside forward Dublin were missing in 2022 when Con O’Callaghan was injured. A ball winner with electric pace and a guarantee of three or four points a game.
A player that can be the out ball when you have the chance to kick long — that was so badly missing at key moments this year.
But, again, he’ll be 30 when the Championship is getting serious next summer and we are assuming he can bring the good club form back to county football.
That is much easier to do when you have less mileage and years on the clock.
Both players have had some big injuries and played intensely under the amazing Jim Gavin military regime for so long.
They were two of his go-to players.
Farrell has had to handle the transition of one of the greatest sports teams to have graced any arena, an impossible task in my mind.
Greats
(left)
As good as it is to see McCaffrey and Mannion back — as they undoubtedly are greats of the game and will be remembered for that — I think back to the transition of our own great