Big Interview: Joe Sheridan’s running off the hard knocks
Both times, Joe Sheridan saw the blow coming. Only both times, it was too late to duck and cover.
Politics is a dirtier game than football, he knew that. That dig was the slyest one. But then losing at a game he was new to was hardly as cutting as losing out in one in which he was so accustomed.
For what it’s worth, he enjoyed his foray into public life. Nominated by Fianna Fáil to stand in Ashbourne for a county council seat in last month’s local elections, he was eliminated on the sixth count.
He came out of the experience much the wiser. Prior to the vote, his party had agreed upon a vote management strategy. He lived up to his side of the bargain. That’s all he can say.
“The reaction I got at the door was fantastic. The way I was looking in, I was hopeful it would go well. Unfortunately, on the day of the count I realised what had happened and it didn’t go as planned regarding the divide of the votes. The representation in the area was meant to be spread out, but it wasn’t. That’s the way it goes and you have to get on with it. It was brought to my attention and that’s politics. You’ve got to get in, people are focused on getting in, but I wouldn’t change the way I believe in how things should be done just to get a council seat. I wouldn’t go away from my own beliefs.
“People do things and that’s fine. I’m delighted with the way I did things and to come out the other side and realise that it’s a good life session. You can’t trust everybody that you talk to. Maybe there was naivety in thinking everybody was there to help you out because that’s the way I would have been in football where a lot of people would be quite genuine. Whereas it was probably the opposite way around for politics. I’ll always have an interest, it’s not going to put me off politics but it’s definitely an eye-opener.”
Sheridan’s chances were dented somewhat by several of his posters being taken down. There were suggestions disgruntled Louth supporters, still seething from his part in their 2010 demise, were a part of it.
That he can’t say for certain but he smiles now retelling the yarn about a couple of the posters taking pride of place at a house party. “All a bit of craic,” he says.
Who knows, had he changed his Twitter handle from @squarecut84 — a nickname inspired by an old hairstyle and given to him by college friend Donal O’Connor who now runs livegaelic.com — to something more identifiable, he might have garnered more publicity.
The tactics of those among his running mates may have surprised him but he otherwise knew what he was letting himself in for. He counted Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee, who passed away so tragically in December 2012, as a friend. He saw what a barrage of online criticism after that year’s Budget had done to such a sensitive soul.
After the 2010 Leinster final, he too received letters and messages of ill will, one letter in particular wishing he contracted a terminal disease. He brushed it off. He was lucky.
“I’m pretty easygoing so I don’t worry too much about those kind of things. If people say something, I’m well used to it. Throughout football the last number of years, you get abuse from the stands and you just have to get on with it. People take things differently. I would be the sort of one that wouldn’t really listen to too much of what people say about me rather than those around me who I trust well and value their opinion.
“Regarding Shane, it was a terrible tragedy and we were all fairly close in the Meath GAA circles. (Former Meath footballer) Brian Farrell and a lot of people around Nobber are doing a massive amount of work to highlight the situation around Shane’s death and that’s all that people can do. It’s terrible the way things have gone in the last number of years. People don’t realise sometimes when they get caught in a situation and they let their emotions get the better of them what they are doing to other people’s lives. Sometimes they need to take a step back and put it into perspective.”
These past eight months, Sheridan has been afforded plenty of perspective, having been dropped from the Meath panel last September. If truth be told, he sensed it was on the cards. He wasn’t alone either as other stalwarts like Farrell, Caoimhin King and Peadar Byrne were among the casualties. But neither the forewarning nor the safety in numbers offered him any consolation.
Neither did the phone-call notifying him of the Seneschalstown’s man axing. “It was a shock and it wasn’t something I agreed with, to be fair. I thought if I was fit and injury-free I would still be able to give an input to the squad. I was only 29 and to be told you were too old to play county football at that age is a bit... ”
That was the explanation? “Well, yeah. ‘You’re 30 next year, we’re probably going to have to look at other lads and bring a bit of youth into the squad’. That’s fair enough, the lads have a vision for how they want to go about it so I just had to accept it and move on.
“I’m not retired, I’m still playing with the club and really enjoying football at the minute. I just have to keep the head down. I can’t envisage myself being called back into the squad any time soon but if I can keep fit and keep playing well I’m still going to be pushing myself.”
Mick O’Dowd’s philosophy couldn’t be more opposed to his predecessor Seamus McEnaney who, in explaining why he recalled 38-year-old Graham Geraghty to the Meath panel in 2011, said he would “never be looking for a man’s birth certificate”.
Ageism, Sheridan feels, is a growing factor with inter-county teams. “If you’re good enough, there shouldn’t be any real age limit. I was brought into the squad at 17 — I wasn’t too young to be brought in. I feel if you’re good enough to be part of it you should be there. I’m involved with our ladies team at home and we’ve 14 and 15-year-olds playing on the team. The girls who are 38 or 39, they’ll play on the team if they are performing at training.
“A lot of the GAA has gone like that now. You hit 30, people are listening to a lot of other stuff like ‘he’s finished, he’s gone now’, which is crazy. You look at the World Cup and the likes of Pirlo who is 35. If you can offer something to the squad, you should be involved. I didn’t agree with the decision but I had to go along with it. I think it was a complete clearout of an older part of the squad that had been there for a number of years and maybe that’s what the lads decided on; that they were going to freshen up the squad one way or the other. I respect their decision and I wish them the best of luck.”
Still, it’s incredible to consider how quickly Sheridan’s prospects have changed. It was only two years ago he was being coaxed back from Boston to return to the Meath team. Working in construction at the time and with job opportunities few and far between, he made the decision to head Stateside.
After a league game against Galway in March, he informed his team-mates of his imminent departure and the next day was on a flight to begin life as an electrician in Dorchester. But six weeks later and he was back, having taken up a coaching role with Meath.
He returned to construction shortly after and then received a call from Pat Kangley from Acorn Life’s office in Moynalty. He had little or no experience of sales but left the subsequent meeting full of excitement and with a job offer. Roughly 18 months on and having sat QFAs (professional diplomas in financial advice), he’s encouraging you to contact him at joe.sheridan@acornlife.ie
Just don’t go mentioning 2010. The mere mention of that goal he scored against Louth and his body language changes. “We’re four years on from it at this stage and I think people would prefer not to be hearing about it.”
His good nature gives in after a few prods. He was surprised referee Martin Sludden allowed the goal not because of how he scored it but a row between the pair in a league game against Donegal a few months previous.
“It’s still a Leinster title that we have and that’s the way I look at it,” he says. “Is it tainted or tarnished? No, I don’t think so. People might disagree but we won on the day. I’m delighted to have the medal — it’s the only Leinster one I have.”
He agrees there were repercussions from the game, namely in the All-Ireland quarter-final. “Nearly everyone was hoping Kildare would win and the biggest disappointment for us was losing to Kildare because had we won it would have backed up the Leinster final. We didn’t play well and maybe it was dragging us down a bit mentally from the previous few weeks. People were probably delighted to see us being beaten.”
Controversy kept its bind on Meath for the following two seasons under McEnaney’s reign. A close shave with relegation from Division 2 and selectors quitting in 2011 followed by the drop eventually in 2012 and the Monaghan man then refusing to step aside despite county executive pressure, the team defied expectations to run Dublin to three points in a Leinster final.
“We were quite successful under Seamus even with all the pulling and dragging against his whole management set-up when he first came in because of the big thing in Meath that we had to keep managers from inside the county. That’s fine but if there’s no one there at the time other options have to be explored. It was probably the most professional set-up that we had in Meath since Sean (Boylan). We were only beaten by Dublin by a kick of a ball in a Leinster final. When you look at it like that, we weren’t that far away. Seamus did a lot for the whole squad; he did as much as he could for any person on that squad.”
It’s only for Seneschalstown now that the Sheridan drop-shot is a weapon of choice. He could never claim sovereignty over it — his father, former Cavan and Meath footballer, Damien was an exponent too — but in the modern era it was a novel touch of retro.
“If you can catch it right, you can maybe get another 10 to 15 yards and it’s the perfect ball because it’s weighted and going into a man in space. There have been times when I’ve put it in row Z in the stand. I remember against Dublin we were coming back and I took a drop kick and it was well wide.
“But if you catch it from 20 to 30 yards out there’s a good chance if you get it on target you’re going to get a goal. Some managers don’t like it, some managers love it. It’s all about doing it in the right situation and not overdoing it.”
With Sheridan and Bryan Clarke thriving in a two-man full-forward line, there are whispers of Seneschalstown this year emulating their last county success in 2009. Of course, he misses the buzz of pulling on a Meath jersey tomorrow. He would cherish a chance to reignite his inter-county career but he’s philosophical.
“I’ve played three or four games in the last two weeks and have enjoyed them as any game I’ve played with Meath because things are going well, it’s good weather and the team has a purpose.
“I just hope the lads do well at the weekend. There’s a great chance to get to another Leinster final, probably against Dublin. A lot of lads have injuries — Conor Gillespie, Cillian O’Sullivan, Eamon Wallace — and now there’s talk of Mickey Newman being out. You could be without a third of your starting Championship team, which is a massive loss.
“I just hope the panel is strong enough to withstand those injuries. It would be great for Meath football because Meath people expect a lot and they expect to win Leinsters. One Leinster in the last 13 years isn’t good enough, to be fair, and maybe that’s why there had to be a change of personnel in the set-up. Maybe we were stale and at the end of the day it was us who were there and maybe we should get the blame for it as well.”
Somehow you don’t think Sheridan really means that. Or that we’ve seen the end of him in the green and gold. Simply biding his time. That voracious political animal of Kevin Spacey’s would be so proud.
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