Seánie’s in right place, say Kildare trailblazers

Karl O’Dwyer shakes his head at the thought of it now.

His baptism as a Kildare footballer wasn’t as much as an inferno as Seánie Johnston has endured.

But it was hot. Father as your manager. The snide remarks about leaving Kerry. Then the controversial debut. Hot.

As the Waterville man recalls of February 1998, he wouldn’t get away with what he did today.

“I actually played for Kildare before I played for the club. That didn’t go down too well at the time.

“I remember there was a tragedy out in Spain, a fella from Clane died (Barry Gallagher) on their club holiday and the lads from the club on the panel didn’t play. We had Cork in the league and I played as a result of that. So I played for my club before my county and there was a rumpus over that but I was living and working in the county. And I still am.”

A teacher in Leixlip, O’Dwyer’s first club was Rathangan. He moved onto Round Towers and is now a member of St Laurences where he’s heavily involved in the under-age set-up.

He’s also managed Kilcullen and Grange in the county not to mention Palatine in Carlow and currently Coolkenno in Wicklow.

A travelling wilbury if ever there was one, the 1998 All Star’s circumstances were different to Johnston’s switch from Cavan.

While his inter-county career was going nowhere with Kerry, Kildare was hardly a flag of convenience for him. He moved to the county, taking up a teaching job there. O’Dwyer sees nothing wrong with Johnston’s switch to the county.

“From what I hear, he’s been training away with them the last three or four months. He’s well integrated in the set-up.

“It’s the media who have been going on about it and it’s been dragging on about will or won’t he play.”

Along with O’Dwyer and Tipperary native Brian Lacey, Bishopstown’s Brian Murphy came into the Kildare panel under Karl’s illustrious father Mick for the 1998 season (it was actually Murphy’s place O’Dwyer took for his Kildare debut against Larry Tompkins’ Cork).

An All-Ireland hurling minor medallist with Cork in 1985 and football finalist in ‘86, a ruptured cruciate ligament then halted his career with the county. He was also on Fr Michael O’Brien’s panel that reached the 1992 All-Ireland SHC final and then won an All-Ireland junior football medal a year later. However, a job with Dawn Farm foods in Naas saw him move away and three years later his performances playing inter-factory football were caught by Kildare’s antenna.

O’Dwyer’s charms worked their magic on him and it was Murphy’s goal against Meath in the ‘98 Leinster final that helped the county end their 42-year provincial hoodoo. Enshrined in his Clane club and the current Kildare minor manager, he believes Johnston’s profile has counted against him and contributed to the protraction of the transfer.

“Obviously there’s the whole thing of the parish, the club, the county but it would be very disingenuous of me to comment considering I came a somewhat similar route albeit I had nowhere near the profile of Seánie Johnston.

“The most striking thing is the profile of the guy that’s coming and how long it has taken as opposed to Karl and myself who were in the place.

“It’s unfortunate that it took so long and in my opinion there was an orchestrated blocking in GAA headquarters to not let the thing go through.”

If Murphy was Cork’s loss and Kildare’s gain, Naas-born Tompkins was the opposite — and then some.

As much as Shea Fahy’s move from the county to Cork was highly significant, the former Eadestown player’s switch was certainly the Johnston case of the mid 1980s. His opinion on Johnston reflects his own experiences.

“I can’t see any problem with him playing. The biggest decision is that he’s playing for a club there and that should be sufficient enough.

“Who’s to say that any person is living in x, y or z place? How did anyone know I was in Castlehaven? The only thing was I played with the club.

“You can’t drive around everywhere to find out if players are living where they say are.

“So many players have played for two counties — Martin Carney, Padraig Brogan, Brendan Murphy, myself.

“It would be an awful disappointment for a player of his quality to be deprived of playing inter-county football.”

Tompkins, O’Dwyer and Murphy fail to see how the situation will distract Kildare this summer.

Johnston, of course, won’t line out against Offaly tomorrow as he has yet to fulfil the new inter-county eligibility rule.

There’s the distinct possibility that the former Cavan Gaels player may play club championship hurling in order to represent Kildare in the Championship. Either way, Murphy feels Johnston is perfectly placed to further his inter-county career.

“I don’t know Seánie but from what I hear he’s a perfectionist and if he’s striving for that Kildare is the right place to be.

“He’s not going to get anything unless he’s putting in the same effort as everybody else because what those guys in the panel are doing at the moment is nothing short of phenomenal.”

What Johnston has gone through to play inter-county football again is something close to that.

But as O’Dwyer, Murphy and Tompkins proved, it can be so worthwhile.