JASON SHERLOCK ADMITS he was disappointed to hear Diarmuid Connolly’s retirement announcement last month but is content as long as the Dublin All-Ireland winner ‘is in a good place’ with his decision to walk away from the inter-county game.
Sherlock was a team-mate of Connolly’s in the early stages of his Dublin career and then more recently coached him during Jim Gavin’s highly successful spell in charge.
33-year-old Connolly brought the curtain down after a glittering Dublin career with Sherlock describing as ‘a pleasure to watch’.
“I was privileged enough to know Diarmuid at the start of his career, and then obviously I was there at the end of it. As a sports fan first and foremost, it’s very sad to see him go. You only have to look at some of his clips, or some of the pieces of skill. He was a pleasure to watch, and a joy to watch.
“From my point of view, I’m delighted he goes out on the pitch, and I just hope he’s in good terms with it, because he has so much to offer not only from a footballing point of view with his intuition and his brain, but just from a life point of view.
“He is a really good character, he has so much to offer. So obviously as disappointed as I am personally, I hope that Diarmuid is in a good place with his decision.”
After a turbulent year off the pitch, Sherlock would not question any player’s decision to move on despite the 2020 championship fast approaching.
“As a sports fan, selfishly, yeah. I’m thinking ‘God, we’re not too far away’ (from the season starting). But then again, I don’t know. It’s a strange time, guys had to train themselves, and then they were with the clubs. I don’t know any further context, in what that’s been like for Diarmuid. I don’t think you could question or argue with anyone’s decision to opt in or opt out of GAA this year.”
Sherlock’s old Dublin and Na Fianna team-mate Dessie Farrell has now taken over at the helm of the All-Ireland champions. Sherlock feels that while the new manager faces many different challenges in this changed sporting climate, it can now be a team he can put his own stmap on.
“Dublin, with the existing management, there’s been a distinct break now, a change of guard, and there’s been a good period of time between both. That is now Dessie’s regime and it’s Dessie’s management. The challenge with it is he hasn’t been able to get together (with the players) as much as he would have liked. He probably has had limited time to get his ideas and philosophies over and get to know his players and his backroom team.
“I wouldn’t class it as awkward. A lot of these things are outside our control. It could have been better if they were together. As you recall, Dessie didn’t have much time before Jim’s departure and his announcement as manager so maybe the bit more time is a positive. But at the same time, with the environment we’ve had, he probably hasn’t had as much time as he’d have wanted with the players.
“If I was preparing for a National League game at the weekend, you’re not just thinking of it from a football point of view and the logistics of where we meet for our pre-match meal. We now have an additional layer involved in terms of that safety and the protocols. I don’t envy any of them and it is to everyone’s credit that they are still intent on giving us national league games and a championship because it is such a challenge in these times.”
Sherlock describes Farrell as an individual who has ‘a deep care for Dublin football’.
“Dessie was always a hero of mine growing up. We were in the same school and he was a few years older. I was lucky enough to be a teammate of his and got to know him both from a footballing perspective and a personal perspective. Interestingly, I don’t know him as a coach because we never overlapped. He was involved with the underage setups but I just know that the person Dessie is, he has a deep care for the individuals and a deep care for Dublin football. That’s a good starting point to have and I’ve no doubt he will do all he can to continue Dublin’s success.”
The pandemic has also put on hold the plans to honour Sherlock and his 1995 winning Dublin colleagues but he did manage to get a special memento recetly from that success.
On our 25th Anniversary,it was quite the surprise to receive this in the post from @chriko21 A really classy gesture from a classy Gael 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/vmvnbDi9TT
— Jason Sherlock (@boomjayo) September 17, 2020
“It’s our 25th annivesary but yeah we’ll see what happens later on in the year. I’d been asked to do something for charity from Justin McNulty and I wore Chris Lawn’s jersey who was Tyrone full back in 1995 and I challenged him to wear mine if he had it. He did do it, it was great to see he still had it and it still fitted him.
“The week we should have been in Croke Park for the final, I got something in the post and it was the jersey so, yeah, it kind of struck me in a couple of ways. One as an individual, for Chris to be as generous as that and to send it down and as much as we spent 70 minutes trying to beat the lard out of each other, there was definitely a bond after that game and that’s why we swapped jerseys. As soon as the game was over, we did that and we embraced and we hugged.
“I think what was interesting was how it captured the imagination of the GAA community just with the response it had on Twitter. The GAA is a unique thing that we have, and we’ve seen great examples during Covid of how bonded and connected it makes us. So again, I was just delighted to highlight just how a guy that I hadn’t seen in so long had done this for me. I think that’s the beauty of the GAA and I think that’s why we’d love to have a GAA championship to talk about and focus on over the winter months.”
* Jason Sherlock was speaking at the launch of the Electric Ireland GAA minor championships, where he will be a judge for the football panel this year.
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