HE HAS EMERGED as one of Dublin’s most influential players but Footballer of the Year Michael Darragh Macauley insists he’s not a ‘naturally gifted footballer’.
Rather the powerful midfielder says he has reached the pinnacle of the game through sheer hard work and outlasting those who ‘were like superstars when I was 18′.
The Ballyboden St Enda’s club man wasn’t billed for stardom as a teenager and was a talented basketball player before fully focusing on Gaelic games from minor level onwards.
At 23, he eventually made his Dublin senior debut in 2010 and has made rapid progress since, winning two All-Ireland medals and developing into a player that opponents like Donegal on Sunday know they simply must stop.
“Talent is over rated,” insisted Macauley, who turned 28 last week. “I would have always stressed that from a young age because I have never been a big believer in it. Hard work will always beat talent.
“Some lads just haven’t been able to put it in, for millions of reasons. A lot of the guys who I grew up with were like superstars when I was 18 but a lot of them are nowhere to be seen now.
“Sometimes it is luck, sometimes it is attitude. I always had the highest of expectations for myself and you always should. I always backed myself in everything I did. It’s not a cockiness, it’s just a self belief thing.
“At the stage when I was watching games on Hill 16, I felt I should be on the pitch. So I was always going to take every opportunity I could get when I did get on the pitch to really grab the chance.
“I’ll always back myself with that sort of stuff. It’s not because I’m a naturally gifted footballer. It’s because I work harder than the guy next to me. That’s what has gotten me anywhere I’ve gotten.”
Ironically enough, Macauley has strong ties to Donegal whom he will face off against on Sunday for a place in the All-Ireland final.
His late father, Michael, hailed from Lettermacaward, between Dungloe and Glenties.
“I used to be up there as a kid,” he said. “I caught my one and only fish in a stream up in Donegal! There used to be a little stream in the back garden where I’d go fishing. I wouldn’t have much family left up there but I still have a few Donegal cousins, texting me abuse and some stuff. It’s all part and parcel of when we’re playing the Donegal games.”
