Vaughan goes back to his roots in search of success
Something about the cut of him reminded them of someone more familiar, an erstwhile Dublin footballer, but that Mark Vaughan had a shock of peroxide blond hair. This one was most definitely ginger.
However, the match programme didn’t lie. There he was, the artist still known as Mark Vaughan — just sporting his natural locks. Maybe, he jokes, accepting what he was born with is a sign of newfound maturity but he admits it’s just because he couldn’t be bothered dyeing it.
Honesty is something you could never take away from the Kilmacud Crokes man. Too honest at times. The stories about it are well known in Dublin. Some are classics like when a team-mate patted him on the back for going toe to toe with Seamus Moynihan after a league game in 2005 only for him to innocently ask: “Which one was Moynihan?”
Six years on, the 25-year-old still likes to tell it how he sees it. Take that Dubs Stars game in Castleknock, for example. Crokes manager Paddy Carr presided over the team that afternoon. Having failed to impress enough to start in any of Crokes’ big championship matches before Christmas, despite scoring 1-2 in the county final when coming off the bench, Vaughan saw it as an opportunity to show him how wrong he was.
“I had a couple of points to prove,” he admitted about the game in which he picked off 1-3. “I hadn’t started the last day and am eager to start against Rhode. I got injured there for two or three months (his back) during the championship and it’s just when a team’s going well it’s impossible to get back in.
“There was no real training for me to impress because as soon as one game was over another was coming up. It was a disadvantage to all the lads who were injured so the break has helped me to catch up.”
The other point to prove? Showing Pat Gilroy that he can still play ball, of course. “I’ve been out of sight for a while. I wanted to show that I’m definitely not finished. I’m still going to be around.”
Did Vaughan feel his reputation as a wide-boy coloured Gilroy’s opinion of him? There have been plenty of reports which have brought the player’s attitude to the game into question.
For example, there were rumblings he and another Dublin footballer warmed up for the 2008 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone with a fry-up on the morning of the game. It’s a tale he won’t confirm or deny but he’s aware of the things that have been said of him. “Rumours spread quickly and managers will hear them. That’s the problem. There might be truth in some of the rumours but they’re not always 100% and that can count against you.”
Ask him to explain why he thinks 2008 All-Ireland champions Crokes are back to make what is their fourth tilt at a Leinster title in the space of six seasons and he simply says he doesn’t know any different.
“Success breeds success. I’ve won more championships than I’ve lost with Crokes and the way I see it we didn’t follow up on 2008 in 2009 because of a lack of hunger.
“For the lads in the Dublin panel, we were back into camp within a week of it and once that was finished it was straight back into the club. It was a continuous circle and it was inevitable that lads wouldn’t have the drive.
“No disrespect to Ballyboden, but we had three opportunities to beat them in the 2009 final. Six points, five points, four points up, we could have finished the game.”
“With our defence, being realistic, we should only be conceding six points a game let alone six in the last 10 minutes of any championship game. That’s a line that right now is without Paul Griffin and Rory O’Carroll too. It just shows how strong we are. Proving that we were the best in Ireland and then to lose to Ballyboden made us all feel gutted. That’s where we’re getting our inspiration from.”
Rhode, he knows, have plenty of that after somehow losing the 2008 final to Crokes. From there, Vaughan and his Stillorgan club team-mates went on to touch the sky.
“We never should have beaten them,” he recalled. “We were seven points down and down to 14 men. They’re an unbelievable side. Niall McNamee would walk on to any team. They’re coming into this game much better. We’re missing our captain Darren (Magee), our 2009 captain Griffo (Griffin) and our 2008 one Johnny (Magee). That’s a massive loss of experience but hopefully we can prove the doubters wrong.”
Vaughan’s had plenty of them but here he still is — with less of the bleach and more of the boot.
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