'I didn't vote for myself this year - I didn’t think I deserved it', says Dublin’s Jack McCaffrey

Dublin’s Jack McCaffrey has admitted he didn’t even vote for himself when it came to picking the 2018 Footballer of the Year.

Brian Fenton and Ciaran Kilkenny, colleagues on Dublin’s four-in-a-row winning team, were shortlisted along with McCaffrey, and Fenton eventually came out on top following a poll of inter-county players.

Dublin footballer Jack McCaffrey with his All-Star award at the PwC All Stars 2018 at the Convention Centre in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

McCaffrey won the award previously, in 2015, and revealed that he voted for himself back then but couldn’t bring himself to do so again.

“I voted for someone that wasn’t me,” McCaffrey said. “That’s the most diplomatic way of saying it. To be honest, in 2015, I voted for myself but this year I didn’t think I deserved it so I voted for one of the other fellas.

“I didn’t lose sleep over that vote because I thought the two lads were really, really deserving of it. Ciaran, for us, is just the model of consistency. Not that Fento isn’t but Ciaran is so reliable, so solid, and his scoring game has come on massively this year.

“The Player of the Year thing is a bit of a popularity contest, to be honest. I honestly think it was a toss-up between the two.”

McCaffrey, who still finished the season with a third All-Star though, said individual honours don’t motivate him and revealed a much simpler target he presents himself with at the start of each season.

“I struggle with the whole goal-setting thing,” he said.

“Sometimes you set them too far ahead, or too lofty. The one I found that worked for me in 2015 was that I said, ‘I’m going to start and finish every game for Dublin this year’. That’s nice and simple. It’s not easy but it’s not complicated either. So that’s now what I go back to every year. And it has served me well ever since.”

The Clontarf man said he’s open-minded about the GAA’s new experimental rules which will go on trial in the upcoming pre-season and National League competitions.

He rejected the conspiracy theory put forward by some on social media that the GAA is attempting to limit Dublin’s dominance by altering the rules.

“I would be a firm believer that nobody in the GAA is sitting in a room, plotting at how to change the rules at every level in an effort to beat Dublin,” said McCaffrey. “I don’t think that is fair to be honest. I do genuinely believe that everyone who is involved in the GAA, a remarkable organisation, that they are there to do their best and are trying to be positive.

“I don’t think that would motivate anyone. It drives plenty of inter-county footballers around the country but it doesn’t drive rule-makers.”

Jack McCaffrey has pulled up his socks again for Christmas Sock Day which returns on Thursday, December 6.

Developed by labels-for-less retailer, TK Maxx, the campaign invites the public to sport their Christmas socks to raise funds for Enable Ireland, which provides vital support services for children and young people with disabilities across Ireland. Get involved by sharing your own #socksie on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.