DURING HIS FINAL campaign in a Tyrone jersey, Sean Cavanagh gave several interviews where his apprehension for life after football was clear to see.
“It scares the life out of me, that’s the reality.”
“It’s all I really know. All my adult life has been spent with Tyrone.”
”It genuinely scares me because I’m someone who’s really embraced playing county football.”
Retirement from inter-county football was always going to leave a huge void in his life having been involved with the Tyrone seniors since he was 18.
Nine days on from Dublin’s convincing All-Ireland semi-final victory, Cavanagh is beginning to come to terms with hanging up his boots. He knew this day was coming, but now he’s an ex-county player he describes the feeling as “strange.”
“It’s sad, whenever the wife was washing the kit and saying to me I’m going to keep this last ever Tyrone kit in a box and we’ll put it in the attic for years to come,” he says. “You’re realising this really is it, it’s all very final but I’ve known it was coming for a long time.
“You’re humbled by some of the messages you’re getting and you never realised some of the lives you’ve touched over the years. For a day or two it was a sense of pride that I’ve been lucky to play for such a long time and I’ve obviously done something half right that they felt the need to send me messages and cards.”
The 34-year-old said goodbye to the Tyrone squad at their end-of-year meeting last night.
“We met up as a squad last night to do the wrap up of the year and reflection meeting. I said a few words at that and Mickey (Harte) said a few words about me. It’s nice to be able to formally say goodbye to the current team-mates.”
He recently set-up his own accountancy firm, knowing it would give him something to focus his energy on after he played his last game for the Red Hand.
“One of my intentions in terms of setting up the business was that I knew this year would be my last and whenever things start getting busy in accountancy terms in around the tail end of the year I knew I’d be available to put my shoulder to the wheel.
“Some of the energy I was putting into inter-county football will be realigned towards my business. Whilst it’ll not give me the exact same kick as what I got playing at Croke Park, it’ll certainly give me a kick and something I’ll want to hone in it.
“Probably quite a few inter-county footballers would be similar enough in that respect. You always want a challenge and something to work towards. As one season has ended for the past 16 seasons, you’re immediately thinking about the next season, you’re thinking about how you can get bigger, stronger, faster, more skillful.
“Now that energy has clicked into, ‘How do I grow my business? How do I get the right people?’ I think that will be transferable, I’ve always been a huge advocate of being like-minded in business and sport. Now I’ll just get to spend a bit more time in the business.”
A straight-talker, Cavanagh is likely to find his second act in the media where he’s already had several approaches.
“I’ve probably had a few offers already. People often ask me whether I would go into the media or do coaching or managing. The media is probably the one that sits easier with me.
“The type of person I am, if I went into coaching or management it would be virtually impossible to switch off. I know the way my mind works and I know I would become really obsessive about every fine detail.
“I know that would drive me mad and probably drive my family mad so at this stage I’m going to park and take a breath out of the rigours of inter-county football.
“I’ll maybe do a bit of media work, play club football and drive on the business. Hopefully all that will help that transition into normal life again.”
What can we expect from Sean Cavanagh the pundit?
“I don’t want to be the kind of person who goes on personal tirades against anyone. But at the same time, just like what it would have been on the football field, and in the changing room, if there’s something that I feel is right I’ll certainly say it.
“In everything I’ve done in life I’ve tried to be as honest as possible, in every interview I’ve ever done and every game I’ve played. I’ve always been quite straight to read, and the media people that I’ve admired are the ones you understand, the ones you can relate to, and the ones you know are telling the truth.
“That’s the type of person I want to be as a pundit, but sure look I’ll give it a go and see how it works out.”
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