Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion still waiting to hit centre stage on Dublin revival tour

As Paddy Small stood over a routine free in front of the Sligo posts, a spontaneous giddiness started to ripple around Breffni Park, mushrooming across the soup bowl venue until an otherwise limp occasion was unexpectedly jilted to life.

The game had been long since boxed off. Dublin led by 20 points beneath heavy grey skies and as the clock reluctantly crept towards the hour mark, only the sporadic growl of thunder was keeping folk vigilant. And then the lightning pulled off his Dublin training top and prepared to enter the fray.

Certain players have it. And whatever it is, Jack McCaffrey has. The X-factor. He is the Roman candle in a packet of sparklers. In RTÉ they’d call him “The Talent”. His introduction two weeks ago against Sligo generated one of the loudest cheers of the afternoon.

Long after the final whistle, and with the PA announcer bellowing for folks to skedaddle from the pitch, McCaffrey was still encircled within a cluster of excited kids and self-conscious dads using said children as an excuse to request man-crush photos.

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In his 15-minute cameo, the 2015 Footballer of the Year had seven possessions and was involved in the build-up play for Paul Mannion’s two points. Mannion had also been introduced as a second-half substitute.

Last September, in an interview with Dubs TV, Dessie Farrell casually mentioned McCaffrey and Mannion had rejoined the Dublin panel, the news delivered with melancholic understatement as if the Dublin manager had just won the Lotto, with deepest regret.

But nobody was buying the “tis no big deal” nature of the dispatch. Farrell knew the significance. We all did. Within hours, Dublin’s Sam Maguire odds had been cut.

McCaffrey and Mannion returning was a game-changer, but it hasn’t quite transpired as Dublin would have liked. And while it may ultimately play out as a pivotal moment, the reality is Farrell has not been able to get the duo on the field as frequently as he would have wished.

Dublin have played 16 games this year (O’Byrne Cup, National League, Championship), but McCaffrey has featured in just six outings while Mannion has played eight, many of those performances off the bench. McCaffrey has started only two games, Mannion four, while neither have yet played whistle to whistle in any match. On Sunday, McCaffrey will be starting only his third game of the season, while Mannion has been named on the bench.

It is now four years since Mannion last started and finished a championship game, the Leinster final against Meath on June 23rd, 2019. McCaffrey’s last full championship appearance was the drawn 2019 All-Ireland final against Kerry.

Mannion (30) entered this season nursing an ankle injury picked up on club duty while McCaffrey (29) has been managing ‘knocks’ for much of the campaign, mostly hamstring related.

Louth’s Leonard Grey played in his first Leinster SFC final this year and found himself on the same wing as McCaffrey at Croke Park.

“Jack wasn’t down to start, we just heard beforehand there were some changes,” Grey recalls. “But he’s the kind of player you want to test yourself against. He’s a flyer, I can certainly say that. He looks quick on TV and he didn’t disappoint in that regard.”

But McCaffrey got injured late in the first half and watched the Delaney Cup presentation with an ice pack on his left hamstring and another on his right calf. He didn’t play again until the Sligo game.

Graham Geraghty made a surprise comeback with Meath in 2011. His return, after three years away, was ultimately brought to a halt because of an Achilles injury.

“It’s difficult when you have been away from that level for a period,” says Geraghty. “But absolutely it can be done, and in the case of Jack and Paul they are both extremely talented players and they have a natural skill set. Obviously, the trickier piece to manage is avoiding injury, because the older you are the longer it takes the body to heal.”

Mannion walked away after the 2020 championship, while McCaffrey stepped away midway through that same campaign. Mannion’s return has added some much-needed quality to Dublin’s attack.

The real wonder of McCaffrey is his enduring ability to bring the magical chaos of the schoolyard to the machine-like arena of senior intercounty football.

He retains the purity of just playing football, harnessing the joyful bedlam us adults coach out of kids because of our own insecurities and world-weary cautiousness. We spend Saturday mornings at GAA academies oohing and aahing whenever a kid takes off like a rocket through a forest of their counterparts, applauding little Johnny and Geraldine for their endeavour. Only to later coach that same abandon out of them.

McCaffrey plays the game the way kids see it, exciting and fun and without limits. There is so much more to his repertoire than a scorched earth policy, but it is that ability to burn holes in defences that sets him apart.

It is impossible to truly love Gaelic football and not admire how McCaffrey plays the game.

Speaking on Off The Ball’s Football Pod two years ago, former Dublin player Paddy Andrews recounted McCaffrey’s introduction to the senior squad.

“The little belly on him and the little fuzzy hair,” recalled Andrews. “You are thinking this guy has won a prize or something to come in as a fan for the day. It’s like, ‘we’ll sign his jersey for him’ and then he just takes off and you are like, ‘Jesus Christ, this is something special’. And it was.”

Still is.

He made his comeback this year in a league game against Cork on February 19th – for what was his first time in blue since facing Tyrone in late February 2020, all of 1,087 days earlier.

He had come off the bench in that Healy Park league game in 2020 but strained his hamstring and was forced off again. On the bus journey home, McCaffrey suspected he was done with intercounty football. The following day he booked a flight to New York.

It would have been a shame had we not got another opportunity to see him hare around Croke Park like the Road Runner whizzing through 15 bewildered Wile E Coyotes.

In McCaffrey’s first game back after three years in the wilderness, and with the contest in the fourth minute of injury-time, James McCarthy popped a lateral pass across to the Clontarf man outside the Cork 45-metre line. Immediately McCaffrey snapped on the thrusters, skinned two Cork players and popped the ball over the bar as a third made a futile diving block. It was the most electrifying moment of the game.

However, the first occasion this season we really witnessed that his game-changing abilities remained was during the Leinster semi-final. Kildare led 0-8 to 0-6 at the break, with McCaffrey introduced for the start of the second half.

He was the spark for Dublin, instantaneously bringing energy and urgency to their game. He made 23 plays, including two dispossessions and a block, and was directly involved in 0-6 of Dublin’s eight second-half points, including one he scored himself.

After that game, McCaffrey was interviewed on GAAGO by Gráinne McElwain, who asked why he came back.

“I just woke up one day and found that I missed it, and I hadn’t for a couple of years. It was as simple as that,” replied McCaffrey.

“Just the lads. Being part of a really special group that all have one goal and are working really hard and pushing each other. It’s very rare you get that in life, so it’s a special thing that I’m really savouring now.”

In his 31 minutes on the pitch in the Leinster final, McCaffrey had 13 possessions and was involved in four Dublin points – two of which he scored. But he was taken off immediately after registering the second of those, having frustratingly picked up another injury.

“But in that half-hour you could see what he was made of,” says Grey, who himself enjoyed a strong season with Louth.

“There were a few times I had to go chasing after him and he just kind of left me. I thought I was fast, but he’s rapid.”

Mannion has seen more game time than McCaffrey and apart from his scoring return (2-12 for the season), his willingness to chase back has been a noticeable trait.

Still, the reality is that while they are still young, both have played an attritional amount of high-octane football over the last decade.

During their most recent sabbatical – both had previous Dublin breaks, McCaffrey to work in Africa as part of his medical studies and Mannion to study in China – a narrative emerged that Dublin weren’t replacing like for like in terms of talent. It was argued those coming in weren’t of the same quality as those leaving. There was a sameness about the new players, all were interchangeable, none unique.

In an ideal world Dublin wouldn’t need to go back to veteran players to mine another All-Ireland. McCaffrey and Mannion have both suffered significant injuries over the years.

The reality is 30-year-old Paul Mannion is not the same player as 25-year-old Paul Mannion, yet he remains one of the best scoring forwards in the capital. The final member to the Holy Trinity of returnees was Stephen Cluxton

It has created a sense of Dublin getting the band back together for one monumental farewell tour.

At least Cluxton has been an ever present since the Leinster semi-final, and it must be a frustration for the Dublin management they have been unable to get an extended run for McCaffrey in particular. Still, this now is the juncture of the season for which they were all brought back.

“From a neutral perspective, who doesn’t want to see Jack McCaffrey playing?” asks former Mayo player Lee Keegan.

“If he plays against Mayo he definitely sways the game in favour of Dublin, he’s that good. You’re talking about a guy who plays off the cuff. He brings that X-factor.”

If this really does turn out to be a last bash for certain Dublin players, they have now reached the residency leg of their tour.

Having taken the show on the road to several provincial venues without ever managing to get the entire band on stage to complete a full performance, three potential headline shows remain.

“What players like Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion and Stephen Cluxton bring to a squad isn’t just the stuff you see on the pitch,” says Geraghty.

“They are leaders within the dressingroom, they drive standards, and when the business end of the season arrives that’s usually when they shine. If you think you have something to offer as a player, why wouldn’t you come back?”

The main stage at Croke Park awaits. It’s now or never for Dublin to unleash their greatest hits.

Jack McCaffrey

O’Byrne Cup

Rd1 v Wicklow – Did not play

Rd2 v Offaly – Did not play

National League

Rd1 v Kildare – Did not play

Rd2 v Limerick – Did not play

Rd3 v Cork – Introduced in the 58th minute (0-1)

Rd 4 v Clare – Introduced in the 45th minute

Rd5 v Derry – Did not play

Rd6 v Meath – Did not play

Rd7 v Louth – Did not play

Final v Derry – Did not play

Championship

Leinster quarter-final v Laois – Started, taken off in the 47th minute

Leinster semi-final v Kildare – Introduced at half-time (0-1)

Leinster final v Louth – Started, taken off in the 31st minute (0-2)

All-Ireland SFC Rd1 v Roscommon – Did not play

All-Ireland SFC Rd2 v Kildare – Did not play

All-Ireland SFC Rd3 v Sligo – Introduced in the 59th minute

Paul Mannion (Was with Kilmacud Crokes until All-Ireland club final, January 22nd)

O’Byrne Cup

Rd1 v Wicklow – Did not play

Rd2 v Offaly – Did not play

National League

Rd1 v Kildare – Did not play

Rd2 v Limerick – Did not play

Rd3 v Cork – Did not play

Rd4 v Clare – Did not play

Rd5 v Derry – Did not play

Rd6 v Meath – Did not play

Rd7 v Louth – Introduced in the 53rd minute (0-1)

Final v Derry – Introduced in the 45th minute (1-0, penalty)

Championship

Leinster quarter-final v Laois – Started, taken off in the 58th minute (0-3, one free)

Leinster semi-final v Kildare – Started, taken off in the 58th minute (0-3)

Leinster final v Louth – Started, taken off in the 59th minute (1-1, point from a free)

All-Ireland SFC Rd1 v Roscommon – Started, taken off in the 53rd minute.

All-Ireland SFC Rd2 v Kildare – Introduced at half-time (0-2)

All-Ireland SFC Rd3 v Sligo – Introduced in the 50th minute (0-2)

Stephen Cluxton

O’Byrne Cup

Rd1 v Wicklow – Not on the panel

Rd2 v Offaly – Not on the panel

National League

Rd1 v Kildare – Not on the panel

Rd2 v Limerick – Not on the panel

Rd3 v Cork – Not on the panel

Rd 4 v Clare – Not on the panel

Rd5 v Derry – Not on the panel

Rd6 v Meath – Not on the panel

Rd7 v Louth – Did not play (Rejoined panel)

Final v Derry – Did not play

Championship

Leinster quarter-final v Laois – Did not play

Leinster semi-final v Kildare – Played the full game

Leinster final v Louth – Played the full game

All-Ireland SFC Rd1 v Roscommon – Played the full game

All-Ireland SFC Rd2 v Kildare – Played the full game

All-Ireland SFC Rd3 v Sligo – Played the full game