‘All I want to do is play football’

As Seanie Johnston stepped on to the Clane pitch on Saturday, amid a furore of controversy, his new club stood behind him.

Following a meeting on Friday night with his new hurling colleagues from Coill Dubh, he was given permission to play alongside them in the Kildare SHC against Éire Óg/Corrachoill to rubber-stamp his move to Kieran McGeeney’s side.

Johnston addressed the Coill Dubh team to ask them for permission to line out and an agreement was reached to start the former Cavan Gaels clubman and haul him off after the first break in play. Just 35 seconds after the opening whistle, he was off.

Accusations on internet message boards and Twitter ridiculed the matter but, for Johnston himself, he was glad the matter was finally over.

“It hasn’t been overly easy and I don’t really think GAA players should have to go through the hoops like I have,” the Cavan native said.

“We [players] are doing this because we want to play football or hurling. You want to play at the top level if you’re able to and to have the big rigmarole around something I enjoy was frustrating. All I want to do is play football and live my life quietly, which hasn’t been happening for a few months now.

“For my family and stuff like I’m sure they’re happy enough to have it over with, that we can just get back to normal.”

Johnston also pointed out it was never his intention to create the media frenzy around Coill Dubh and blamed the GAA hierarchy for the confusion.

“For people who think today [and playing hurling for Coill Dubh] casts things in a bad light maybe they should look at all the transfers that have gone through in the last seven or eight months when I’ve been made give things like my wage slips, my PPS number and a whole lot of other government documents that didn’t seem to be quite enough for the powers that be.

“I suppose it hasn’t been that easy a time when they are asking for things that are completely irrelevant.”

He revealed he hasn’t enjoyed the spotlight in his attempts to play for Kildare.

“I’m not really into talking to the media and I haven’t done it over the few months. I suppose not everyone has kept as quiet over it.

“A lot of people have spoken, people who don’t know the truth or the whole facts behind the whole case. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just feel like I started playing football because I loved it and enjoy playing and now I’m looking forward to getting back playing, hopefully, at a high level and performing well.

“I thought it would be done and dusted fairly simply. I didn’t envisage all the rigmarole behind it and I certainly didn’t see today coming. I’m just happy to have everything behind me.

“I just want to be playing football and hopefully get some sort of success if we’re good enough.

“I played my first competitive game [for St Kevin’s] about three weeks ago and that was my first game since October. That’s seven or eight months or whatever and a lot of other transfers have gone through in that time. Anger isn’t the right word but there was a lot of frustration.”

Coill Dubh manager Trevor Carew, brother of Kildare football selector Niall, also placed the blame squarely with the Croke Park authorities.

“It was kind of taken out of our hands so to speak,” Carew said.

“If Croke Park had done the honourable thing or the right thing, either give him the transfer or don’t give him the transfer we wouldn’t be left in this position today. ”

Opinion was sharply divided in Kildare and across the country over the move to play Johnston so he could become eligible to play for Kildare footballers yesterday. Indeed Carew admitted there were some dissenting voices in the Coill Dubh camp but stressed the group accepted the decision to start Johnston, despite the fact that he had never trained with the club before.

“Some lads had opinions but it wasn’t heated or anything,” he revealed. “They were asked what did they think and we decided then that it was in the best interests for Kildare and Seanie. We wanted to help him out and the lads all dug deep there today and we played Seanie for however long and there was no problem.”

However one of Kildare’s most decorated stars, John Byrne who won nine SHC titles with Coill Dubh, was not pleased with the decision to play him, feeling it distracted the club ahead of a championship game.

“I’m just back from Australia and even over there, there were lads asking me whether he would line out or not,” he said.

“It’s not Seanie Johnston playing for Kildare I’m worried about, it’s Coill Dubh that I’m concerned about.”

For the record, Coill Dubh won 1-18 to 1-11 and Johnston’s replacement, Kildare minor Declan Flahery, got the goal.