McCaffrey: Dedicated Dessie will fly it as boss

Jack McCaffrey has backed Dessie Farrell to ‘fly it’ as Dublin manager but has also insisted it won’t be an old friends club under the former underage guru.

McCaffrey was coached by Farrell from the age of 13 all the way up to the U-21 grade, winning an All-Ireland U-21 medal under the Na Fianna man in 2014.

It’s far from a unique tale, with many of the players that Farrell guided to All-Ireland wins in 2012 (minor), 2014 and 2017 (both U-21) now firmly established in the senior setup.

But McCaffrey, who won all five of his senior medals under Jim Gavin, said that Farrell has already made it crystal clear that there’ll be no favouritism and that he won’t be influenced by past relationships.

That was a point Farrell was keen to make when the 1995 All-Ireland winning forward met his players for the first time last month.

“There’s lots of people in the room who know him really well and there’s lots of people in the room who don’t — and he made it clear at that first meeting that everybody was going to get a chance and have a clean slate starting off,” said McCaffrey.

“I might have been a bit more excited than others, knowing the man who was coming in, but knowing Dessie and how he always puts Dublin GAA first and foremost, he’s not going to have any personal preferences based on something we did together basically a decade ago.”

McCaffrey was speaking in Kilbarrack in his capacity as a brand ambassador for Denis Mahony Toyota, an interview that was initially meant to take place on December 2.

Gavin dropped the bombshell news that he was quitting as manager just 48 hours beforehand and McCaffrey moved quickly to postpone the event.

He admitted he was shocked at the departure news and thought it was a routine get together when the panel was convened at the Innisfails club grounds, where they regularly train, on the last day of November.

“It could have been about anything, maybe the logistics of the team holiday, fundraising, there are umpteen times when we have met up to chat about various bits and bobs,” said McCaffrey.

There was some talk of a team photo being taken as well but then there wasn’t enough numbers for that. So I didn’t know what it was for. It caught me by surprise.

McCaffrey agreed that the ‘assumption’ was that Gavin was going to continue for an eighth season once December came into view.

“However long it takes someone to make their mind up, I don’t think any of us are in a position to say it should have been done at any different time to be honest,” he said.

Farrell looks set to take charge of Dublin for the first time on Saturday but with the 2019 panel only returning from Bali and the team holiday that day, a rookie group is likely to travel to Longford for their O’Byrne Cup semi-final.

“A couple of the guys are back,” said McCaffrey. “A few teachers and stuff would be back already, the rest of them are due back Saturday, that’s my understanding.”

All-Star McCaffrey, a Footballer of the Year nominee in 2019, said he’s unlikely to feature in Longford and is currently preparing for a six-month placement in Kilkenny as part of his training as a doctor which begins on Monday. He will live in the county for the period and will commute back and forth for training and games.

“I am moving down there,” said McCaffrey.

“We have Bryan Cullen who knows us really well. There will be a bit of flexibility around gym sessions and the odd kind of running session that I will do on my own down there.

"Obviously we have a new manager and there is going to be a few little changes as to how we are playing and it will be important to be linked in with the group as much as possible.

"There are plenty of inter-county hurlers doing the return trip, I shouldn’t find it too difficult.”

Dublin begin their Allianz League campaign with a glamour Croke Park opener against Kerry on January 25, a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland finals. McCaffrey is confident that Farrell will ultimately succeed in his new role.

“Dessie with his own credentials are pretty outstanding,” said McCaffrey of the former Gaelic Players Association chief executive who starred up front for Dublin as a player.

I always find it helpful when a manager has played the game at the highest level and growing up he was one of the legends that I would have looked up to.

“He knows what it is like as a player, he spoke about that in the meeting, being a player under a change of management. He has that experience from our point of view. I don’t think that he is under any illusions about the pressure cooker environment he is coming into.

“He is a fantastic fella to deal with in my experience. I think he will fly it.”