HE CAN LOOK back and smile about it now but at the time, it was one of the most humbling experiences in the fledgling senior intercounty career of Paddy Andrews.
He was corner back in 2009 when Kerry superstar Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper scorched him at Croke Park in a one-sided All-Ireland quarter-final.
Two years later, Andrews was dropped from the Dublin panel by then manager Pat Gilroy but the appointment of Jim Gavin, whom he worked with at U21 level, revitalised the St Brigid’s man.
In 2013, Andrews got the opportunity to show what he could do in an attacking sense and he finished the season with his first All-Ireland senior medal.
This year, he was one of the standout performers for the Sky Blues as they made it three Sam Maguire wins in just five seasons.
In terms of individual displays, it would be hard to better that five-point haul from Andrews in the All-Ireland semi-final replay victory over Mayo.
It was a scintillating showing that helped to earn the St Brigid’s clubman the GAA/GPA Opel Player of the Month award yesterday, and an Allstar will surely follow next month.
Andrews would surely have afforded himself a wry smile as Philly McMahon put the shackles on Cooper in last month’s All-Ireland final against Kerry. The wheel had truly come full circle.
“Look, at the time, we felt that maybe I was the best option there (corner back),” says Andrews, recalling that chasing from Cooper over six years ago.
“I was confident going into the game. I think we all, as Dublin players, struggled that day.
“It was a real watershed moment for the whole group, not just myself. But thank God I haven’t been back there since.”
That he hasn’t is testament to Andrews’ character. There was another massive low to follow, however, when he was discarded by Gilroy in 2011, helpless and watching from the outside in as Dublin claimed All-Ireland glory.
“Obviously it wasn’t the ideal year to be dropped, the way things panned out in the end,” he admits now.
“But I always believed I had the panel and potential to play with Dublin.
“It was just a matter of being a bit more mature in terms of approach, and work-rate, training, and things like that.
“I suppose when you’re a young guy, you just need to grow up a little. But I never sat down and thought this was it, I’ll never play for Dublin again.
“It was just about working a bit harder, and really buying into the team ethos, which Dublin needed at the time, to get that success.
“Fortunately for me it panned out quite well, but it never reached the stage when I thought that was it for me, no.”
The Andrews renaissance begun in earnest when he scored five points against Cork at Croke Park in the 2013 Allianz League clash.
Under lights in that February clash, Andrews was joined in the starting line-up by seven other players who were alongside him last month.
Stephen Cluxton, Jonny Cooper, Rory O’Carroll, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Flynn, Diarmuid Connolly and Bernard Brogan also played that night.
They would all win All-Ireland medals later in the year – and again 24 months later.
And yet Andrews had to work hard again during the summer, only establishing himself as first choice after the Leinster championship.
The impact he made in the latter stages of the season will never be forgotten and the challenge next year is to do it all over again.
“Look, we’ve won four trophies this year, it went very well, and we’ll go out and try to defend every one of them next year, starting in January with the O’Byrne Cup,” he said.
“It’s a huge challenge – I think Kerry in ’06 and ’07 are the only team that have done it in such a long period of time.
“Look, that’s obviously a target for us – we want to try and win the All-Ireland, every year we go out and play, just like a lot of the top teams there. We know Mayo, Kerry, Donegal…it’s not easy but we’ll certainly be giving it a go.”
