Bomber back in command

“You’ve changed, man.” It says a lot that the style of the phrase surprises Michael Quinn a lot more than the actual meaning and his reaction is merely a smile and a knowing laugh. He’s well aware that he’s changed. More importantly, he’s glad that he’s changed.

You’ve just reminded him that a year ago, during an article with the Irish players beginning a new life in the AFL, you called him on his mobile in Melbourne and were slightly taken aback. Up to that point the conversations had been like a runaway sentence of hopes and dreams, excitement and potential, gathering pace with every glittering aspiration. Then there was the unlikely Essendon Bomber from the rural Midland parish of Killoe. He was the punctuation mark. The full stop. The exception to the rule that said this is what every athlete should want from life.

“Yeah, I’m more content and happy and I’m enjoying my football now,” he says. “It may sound obvious and a safe thing to say, but coming back to your own county at a time when we can see where we are heading, it’s exciting. I suppose it’s very hard for the likes of Longford.