'He’s tailormade for Dublin': Late bloomer Tom Lahiff making up for lost time

'He’s been constantly asking people like Kevin McManamon and Billy Sheehan in the club what he could do to improve, to see how he could get into the county panel'

Fri, 20 Nov, 2020 - 18:54

Paul Keane

Chunks of time pass in a flash when you find yourself down a wormhole on the Sportsfile photography website, clicking through old memories.

Type ‘Tom Lahiff’ into the search bar, for instance, and you’ll be shown 35 different images of Dublin’s newest Championship midfielder, effectively charting out his GAA journey.

There is, most recently, Lahiff the Championship debutant, against Westmeath this month. Then there’s Lahiff the St Jude’s player from the summer, then Lahiff the O’Byrne Cup finalist with Dublin in 2019, Lahiff the DCU player from back in 2016, and so on.

With this evening’s Leinster final between Dublin and Meath in mind, the most intriguing image is the very first, from June 3, 2007 at Croke Park. It’s of Lahiff the kid, representing Dublin in a VHI Cul Camps team against Kildare at the half-time break of the drawn Leinster quarter-final between Dublin and Meath.

That senior game was a cracker with a young Cian Ward scoring five points for Meath only for a young Mark Vaughan to shoot eight points for victors Dublin in the replay.

It’s hardly a stretch to presume that this is when the idea of playing for Dublin, for real, in a huge Championship game against Meath at Croke Park, must have seemed like a pretty cool thing to strive for.

Having started against Laois and Westmeath this month, Lahiff will surely get his chance to realise that ambition on Saturday evening, 13 years later. And in a Leinster final.

The thing is, he took a detour along the way from boy to man and ended up playing soccer for the Bray U19s.

“He was playing for Bray and as far as I’m aware that was kind of going to be his future in sport,” said Gareth Roche, Lahiff’s manager at 2020 Dublin SFC semi-finalists St Jude’s. “That came to an end for whatever reason and then he really started focusing on the GAA.”

Maybe that’s why, in his mid-20s, Lahiff is only coming onto our radar now as a serious option around the middle of the field for Dublin.

“Because of the soccer, his Gaelic skills were perhaps behind the curve from a lot of the other players but his desire to improve and the journey he’s gone on to get to where he is now is unbelievable,” said Roche, who pointed to Lahiff’s athleticism as his greatest asset.

“I’m lucky enough I’ve had him for four years I think and he’s been constantly asking people like Kevin McManamon and Billy Sheehan in the club what he could do to improve, to see how he could get into the county panel. It’s something I’d say he’s been focused on for the last four or five years solid.

It didn’t matter what people told him he had to do, sprints or skills work, or whatever it was, he’s done it and we’ve reaped the rewards in Judes.

Lahiff’s emergence could solve a long-running issue for Dublin and establish an obvious midfield pairing, freeing up players like James McCarthy and Brian Howard, who have featured at midfield, for roles in defence and attack.

Roche sees it as a no brainer.

“Tom is a pure athlete with an incredible engine and for anyone trying to match up against a Fenton/Lahiff partnership, well, it’s not going to be pretty for them. When you put the likes of James McCarthy and Ciaran Kilkenny in around them, suddenly your kick-out strategy is under real pressure.

“The funny thing is, Tom has been trying for ages to convince me he’s a half-back and I’m trying to tell him he’s a midfielder. The running joke when he comes on for Dublin is I’d say to him afterwards, ‘So where did you come on, midfield was it?!’

"To me, he’s a natural fit in that Dublin team beside Fenton. They complement each other very well.”

There are plenty of similar Lahiff tales from around the capital, of young players aspiring to play for Dublin. But only a few ever make it and Jim Gavin, and now Dessie Farrell, have had the luxury of introducing the very best of them year by year, to keep a winning team on its toes and topped up with fresh talent.

Rewind to Gavin’s first year of 2013 and Ciaran Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, and Jack McCaffrey were the young guns. Cormac Costello earned his spurs in 2014, coming on as a sub in every game and starting the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Donegal.

Fenton and John Small made their Championship debuts against Longford in 2015 and David Byrne broke through in 2016 with six starts in that year’s Championship.

Con O’Callaghan and Niall Scully were 2017’s greenhorns — Scully, remarkably, played in 19 of Dublin’s 20 games that season, from the January 1 Dubs Stars match to the All-Ireland final, starting 17 of them — as was Eoin Murchan for the business end of the 2018 campaign.

Gavin largely stuck with tried and trusted last year to secure the five in a row but Farrell has gone back to the future in 2020, turning to newcomer Lahiff and handing far more game time to Robbie McDaid, Sean Bugler and Paddy Small who all made their Championship debuts under Gavin.

In all, Farrell used 38 different players in this year’s League and 22 so far in the Championship.

“Dublin always have options there and Dessie hasn’t been afraid to use them,” said Roche. “He’s brought in a few Na Fianna lads, the likes of McDaid from Ballyboden, and Bugler and Small are getting their chances as well, and so far it’s so good.”

Lahiff and McDaid didn’t feature in the first phase of the league, back in spring, but enjoyed strong club campaigns, running into each other in the county semi-finals when Judes faced McDaid’s Ballyboden, and clearly impressed Farrell.

McDaid has started all four games since the restart and Lahiff both Championship matches. The timing of this year’s club championship may just have kickstarted their county chances.

“I’m sure Tom’s form for the club in the championship helped,” said Roche.

Personally, I think it was only a matter of time before he got in there because I believe he’s tailormade for Dublin.