Lowndes remains a true Blue despite his Royal County roots
IT might be some time before it happens again, but Eric Lowndes remembers Dublin losing a game in the Leinster Championship. How could he forget it? The day when goals rained down on Stephen Cluxton and all around him was delirium. He was sat in the Hogan Stand surrounded by his family – and that meant surrounded by a thicket of Meath shirts.
Lowndes himself? ‘I was impartial,’ he smiles when thinking back to that 2010 Leinster semi-final. ‘It was a bit mad. We hadn’t seen anything like that for a while, I remember the five goals going in, don’t think anyone could believe it.
‘But I was playing for Dublin at the time. I would have supported Meath when I was very young, but I have been involved with Dublin development squads since I was 13.’
Opportunity has knocked for Lowndes this summer. Injuries to John Small and Jack McCaffrey have left an opening in the Dublin defence and he has clearly seized it.
He has started the opening two Championship games and will line out from the beginning in today’s Leinster final. But within his own family, there may still be one or two who wished he wore a green shirt, instead of a blue one.
Lowndes, who grew up outside Blanchardstown, went to school in Dunboyne. His brother Stuart currently plays his club football for Dunboyne and has been part of Andy McEntee’s last two O’Byrne Cup panels. When he was at school in St Peter’s, Lowndes was asked to join the Meath schools team but by that point, he had already been ensnared by the Dublin development system. ‘Both my parents are from Meath; my dad is Dunboyne and my mum is from Kilmessan. I went to secondary school in Dunboyne but have never lived in Meath. They did ask me to play for Meath colleges but I was a Dublin minor at that stage so it was a bit of a non-runner. ‘My whole family would still be Meath supporters, to be honest. There is none of the family in Dublin apart from my own. All my uncles would have hurled for Kilmessan and my aunts would have played camogie,’ said Lowndes, who is a second cousin of the jockey Adrian Maguire.
Even though Lowndes played all his club football with St Peregrines and insists that Dunboyne never tried to poach him, his school days led to a few awkward moments before the 2012 All-Ireland minor final when Dublin played Meath. Lowndes lined out for the Dubs that day and three of his classmates, and good friends, played for the Royals.
But since playing in an Under 12 Easter tournament with a Dublin team in 2004 that included Cormac Costello, David Byrne and Niall Scully, Lowndes has been earmarked as a future county player.
And the system in the capital now ensures that nobody slips through the cracks.
It has taken a while for him to establish himself in the team but manager Jim Gavin always had faith in Lowndes. When he got the job in the winter of 2012, he called the youngster into the squad, even though he was just after winning an All-Ireland minor medal. Gavin then gave him his debut in the 2013 O’Byrne Cup.
‘It was unbelievable the first few years, playing with the likes of Stephen Cluxton, Alan Brogan, Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly. Guys you would have always looked up to. It was great to experience playing on their level and wavelength.’
And in his day job, he is trying to draw on what he has experienced as a Dublin footballer. He is teaching at Scoil Bhríde National School in Blanchardstown, not too far from his home. He also coaches the school’s Gaelic football team.
‘That’s pretty interesting because we have a pretty diverse make-up in the school. There are pupils pretty much from all over the world, which is great for the World Cup because they are all mad into their own countries.
‘It can be a challenge when it comes to GAA but some of them are really good. We have a few Filipino kids are really good at basketball and because they have good hands that translates to the football pitch.’
This afternoon, Lowndes is likely to win the sixth Leinster medal of his short career as a Dublin footballer but not before running into some old friends. The defender went to college with Laois goalkeeper Graham Brody and forward Evan O’Carroll in NUI, Maynooth. He hasn’t spoken to them in a while. But he’s looking forward to a catch-up at some point – probably after the All-Ireland champions take care of business. As they usually do.