PAIDI Ó Sé spent a decade and a half lining out for Kerry, making 53 championship appearances between 1974 and 1988.
He won eight All-Irelands and five All-Stars during a record-breaking career. For the majority of his first 10 years with Kerry, the Ventry man was a ferocious wing-back, picking up All-Stars at No 5 in 1981 and 1982.
During the 1977 campaign he was a fixture at midfield for the Kingdom, but return to left-half back after the All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin that September. In 1983, Mick O’Dwyer converted him into a corner-back, where he played out the final six years of his career.
He is remembered for conceding just one point to a direct opponent in 10 All-Irelands finals.
Curiously, during his 32 championship appearances on the Kerry half-back line, Ó Sé scored just five points. Compare that with his nephew Tomás, who retired in 2013 with 3–35 to his name.
Paidí Ó Sé championship scores from wing-back
- 1978: 0-1
- 1981: 0-2
- 1982: 0-2
It was a different time. Paidí’s approach to wing-back play changed little when he moved into management.
“Páidí’s attitude was that, as a wing-back, you were a defender, there to defend,” Tomás wrote in his autobiography.
“Anything you could manage after that, fine, but your first job was to stop your man. Páidí wouldn’t always have welcomed me going upfield on the attack.”
If we were still around today, it would be interesting to hear the thoughts of Páidí on the pair of swashbuckling wing-backs that’ll be on show today.
The game has moved on enormously in the past decade and two players who capture that evolution are Dublin’s Jack McCaffrey and Tyrone’s Tiernan McCann. Had they been around during Páidí’s playing days, they surely would have been stationed as half-forwards with their ability to bomb down the flanks like a pair of getaway cars.
Tadhg Kennelly famously described McCaffrey as a ”freaky talent” after he clocked a 2.8 seconds time during a 20-metre spring at AFL trials in 2011.
The 26-year-old McCann initially started out as a wing-forward, off the bench in 2014 before he established himself at No 10 a year later. In 2016, Mickey Harte found a home for the Killyclogher man at wing-back and he’s blossomed in their system.
In 2013, Jim Gavin plucked McCaffrey from the U21 ranks to the senior set-up and he’s been a key man for the Dubs ever since. He’s still only 23 but the Clontarf talent has managed to win two senior All-Irelands and take a year out since he broke through.
Both McCann and McCaffrey are safely among the finest attacking wing-backs in the country at the moment. Who else falls into that category?
- Paul Murphy
- Lee Keegan
- Ryan McHugh
- Peter Harte (if you can call him a wing-back)
- James McCarthy (when he plays there)
McCaffrey and McCann benefit from the systems their respective managers employ.
Tyrone are a counter-attacking team who sit deep and hit their opponents on the break. Their game-plan often leaves acres of space for McCann and Harte to hare into and cause problems at the far end.
Dublin play a more patient game with width in their attack, often pulling players out of the middle channel for McCaffrey and McCarthy to hit at pace. They are key components of Harte and Gavin’s respective gameplans and will have a huge say on the outcome of this game.
They come from good stock. Tiernan’s entire family is steeped in the GAA.
Terry McCann, Tiernan’s father, represented the Red Hand at senior level in both hurling and football. He played senior with Killyclogher until he was 39. He managed the Tyrone Vocational Schools team for 10 years and served as coaching officer on the county board for a spell.
His grandfather Barney, Terry’s father, is a lifelong GAA man who still cuts the grass at the Killyclogher club. His mother Dianne is an avid GAA supporter while her mother Anna served as Scór coordinator and on the Tyrone county board over 20 years.
“Our whole family is steeped in the GAA,” McCann told GAA.ie in 2016.
“That’s what it’s all about. Everybody goes to the games on Sunday and come back to my house and analyse the game and watch it back and debate about it and discuss it. And then the next evening you’d be chatting about it again. Our family is completely immersed in it and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“They all enjoy it and it’s good to have them. My Dad’s really good at giving advice because he’s been there and done that himself and knows how things work. He’s always said don’t get too high on the highs and don’t get too lows on the lows, and I understand what he means by that.”
Jack also grew up in a house where wearing the county colours was more than just an idle dream. His father Noel was a dashing half-back with Dublin and picked up an All-Star in 1988. A fitness fanatic, Noel once cycled to Tullamore to take in a Dublin game.
His sister Sarah, another avid footballer, is part of the Dublin ladies squad chasing All-Ireland glory this year.
What about off the field? McCann and McCaffrey are fascinating characters who hum to their own tune. McCaffrey is a self-confessed nerd with a penchant for Lord of the Rings and Star Wars who doesn’t want to be defined by sport.
“I went to the cinema on my own last night because I wanted to go to this superhero movie that none of the lads wanted to see,” he quipped to AIB in Mayo. “Guardians of the Galaxy 2, a good watch, good craic. I’m a nerd to be honest.”
He spent the summer of 2015 in Africa having realised there’s more to life than just football.
Of the move, he told the Irish Independent: “I don’t think anyone who knows me anyway would question how important it is to me, and how much I love it, but I would be conscious of when you are in the public eye at inter-county level, to pretty much everybody who doesn’t know me, I am Jack McCaffrey, county footballer, and I never want to tie my identification to one thing in particular. Like, football has been my 100 per cent priority for the last four years.”
McCaffrey is studying medicine in UCD, while McCann is a qualified pharmacist.
The Tyrone defender made the move to the north Dublin suburb of Santry in search of regular work. He works as a locum which allows him to fit his work life around his training schedule.
“Last year in the middle of the championship I was only working two or three days and that allowed me to recover after games, prepare for games, and so on – but you can’t do that all year,” he told the Irish News.
“The work is in the south, most of it in Dublin, so I made the move down. I can pick and choose my days, so I don’t really work Tuesdays and Thursdays because I’ll not get home in time for training. That’s a bit mad, I know, but I’d work a Sunday or a Saturday to make up for it.
“It can be sporadic and difficult to manage at times, but it’s just about being organised and planning in advance and Mickey is obviously very accommodating.”
The slaloming runs of McCaffrey and McCann have become emblems for the spirit of Dublin and Tyrone. A pair of brilliant wing-backs, who’ll wreak havoc going forward today.
They won’t be too pushed about keeping their marker scoreless today like Paidí Ó Sé once was.
A pair of defenders, there to attack.
