Permanency is nothing. Even Jim Gavin's Dublin, in this rare old form, will struggle to fill the void created by wanderlust.
With Rory O’Carroll away with the Kiwis and confirmation that Jack McCaffrey is to miss the entire 2016 campaign, due to an opportunity to hone his other craft in a Kenyan hospital, the league and All-Ireland champions must somehow figure how they level a patent lack of defensive solidity – Cork pilfered two very avoidable goals on Saturday night in Croke Park.
All (Dublin) men are created equal in Gavin’s eyes but no other footballer in Ireland defends like O’Carroll or raids with the controlled pace of McCaffrey.
“Yeah, a player of his quality, absolutely [he’s a big loss],” he conceded. “You’d like to be looking at him rather than for him. But my concentration and focus is on the players who I have and who have engaged with our plan for this season.”
Of course, the 44-year-old computed this intel several weeks ago and has already adopted a contingency plan.
“Jack is studying medicine in University College Dublin. He’s in his fourth year of six. Doing very well and as part, I suppose, of what he’s being exposed to in his course, he has a desire to do some volunteer work in a hospital in Africa over the summer.
“We’ve known about this for some time. We were giving him space to reflect on it and to consult those people that are close to him.”
‘Fully support’
“He’s a big part of the Dublin family,” Gavin continued. “It’s been a big part of his life from a very young age. We’d like to have Jack around this season but we fully understand and empathise with his decision and we fully support him.
“He won’t be playing with us for the national league or championship in 2016.”
That’s that then. Or is it? McCaffrey returns home in August, for year five of six, of his medical studies.
Gavin maintained that cloak of secrecy he always drapes over Dublin football when asked whether the 22-year-old could be corralled into the panel come high summer. It could even be interpreted as leaning on the young man, in Lord Kitchener fashion, just a little.
“With Jack, we know each other now for a long time. Since the under-21s. And he knows that we’re supporting him and that we’re there for him. So if he decides to return that’s an option. Obviously there’s the issue of match-fitness but at the moment his plan is to work in Africa and then go travelling in Africa after he has done his work in a hospital. That’s where we’re at.”
Gavin shakes his head when asked if he's worried about losing one third of his All Star Dublin defence. Johnny Cooper unconvincingly wore number three with Eric Lowndes, at left wing back, only making it to half-time in this 2-14 to 2-10 victory over a spirited Cork.
‘Nature of sport’
“One door closes on one player’s time with us and it opens for somebody else. That’s just the nature of sport and of life. We’ve always espoused to get the balance in the player’s life. Their family, their profession, their academics and their sport. Whatever decisions they make their life is defined by those decisions.
“I’m simply there to facilitate their ambitions.”
