Dessie Dolan: ‘If you didn’t learn anything in 20 years, you’d be some clown’

Westmeath great Dessie Dolan has admitted he badly needs a break from playing after being “consumed by it for about 30 years”.

The 40-year-old played his last club game for Garrycastle on Sunday when they lost to Ballyboden St Endas in the AIB Leinster club championship semi-finals.

Ex-All-Star Dolan rolled back the years with a strong performance that yielded seven points before leaving the field in Mullingar after 50 minutes.

The RTÉ pundit choked back tears when asked if it was an emotional occasion though admitted he’s glad to be retiring and won’t be dropping down the ranks to continue at a lower grade.

“At the minute, I just want to take a year out, to be honest with you,” said Dolan.

“Right now, I just want to take a year out from football. I’ve been consumed by it for about 30 years. The RTÉ stuff, I enjoy that, going to matches, it’s always great. That’ll keep me busy for another while but I’ll definitely take a year out and figure out my next move.”

Asked about dropping from senior play to a lower club grade, Dolan shook his head.

“No, absolutely not, can’t wait to be finished,” he said. “I said it to my wife, I did the Compromise Rules, I did the Railway Cup, I was always busy with the club, I did the Sigerson, all that craic, whatever I could tog out for for 20-odd years. I’m not going to go back to junior. I’m just gone, I’m gone, I’m finished playing football. There’s other things I want to do.

“I’ve invested so much of my time into football that there’s other parts of my life I want to explore and have a bit of time for. Especially with the family at home, I have three young kids. They’re at a good age now so I’ll try to look after them a bit better!”

Dolan converted six frees against ‘Boden, winning a couple of them himself, booted a terrific point from play and also had three other attempts on a busy afternoon.

It followed his 0-3 and 0-5 returns in previous rounds as the 2012 All-Ireland finalists returned to the penultimate stage in Leinster.

“Sure if you didn’t learn anything in 20 years, you’d be some clown,” smiled Dolan. “We had only started senior football when I started playing with Garrycastle. We’ve played in 11 county finals since and probably 15 or 16 semi-finals. So we’ve a great record.

“It’s great to have had the career with Westmeath but you’ve got to be happy that the club is in a good place. We fought gamely against Ballyboden, we didn’t lie down. We have good values, I think we represent ourselves well, we’re not dirty, we try to play football all the time. I think they are values that will go a long way.”

But Dolan acknowledged Dublin champions Ballyboden operated at a higher level.

He said they are “big time” All-Ireland contenders.

“You see the conditioning of their boys, every single one of them, the boys coming off the bench, they’re chesty, they’re all there, there’s meat on the bone, they’re physical, they’re relentless, they’re extremely athletic.

“It’s a young man’s game and they’re an example of that. Then you have the cream on top with the Basquels, they’re savage footballers. Michael Darragh (Macauley) didn’t play for most of the game, he’ll come back into it and add another bit. They’re contenders I would reckon, big time.”