As Brendan McManamon knows only too well, timing is everything in football.
A Dublin senior footballer in the 2000s when they had a stranglehold on Leinster but couldn’t figure Kerry or Tyrone out, he endured three leg breaks between 2009 and ‘11 that stunted his progress up the pecking order.
Though he was resilient enough to earn recalls from then manager Pat Gilroy, the third setback, as he closed in on 30 and Dublin finally broke their All-Ireland duck with his younger brother Kevin starring, effectively finished him as an inter-county footballer.
“I thought I got myself in a decent enough shape to get a shout off Jim Gavin,” he reflects.
“I was back playing well with Jude’s and we got on a bit of a run, we got to two or three semi-finals and finals in a row and I thought I would have been in the mix again but listen, at that stage, it was getting younger.
“At the time I’d say the average was going from 29/30 back to 25/26 so I was probably pushing on a little bit by the time Jim came along.
“Kev was bringing the Sam Maguire back to the club and you’re delighted but deep down you’d love to be involved and I suppose I always thought I would get back in at some stage and another injury came and all of a sudden another year or two went by and it does sort of pass.”
He did win an All-Ireland with the Dublin under-21s in 2003, however, and his birth cert gives him a shot at another at the opposite end of the spectrum tomorrow. Having turned 40 last May, McManamon was eligible for the Dublin masters for the first time this year and they play holders Tyrone in the All-Ireland final.
It was Tyrone who Dublin beat in that under-21 final 19 years ago, while McManamon made what proved to be his final senior Championship appearance against them in the 2008 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat. Several of the protagonists from those games will be on the field again in Ballinagh tomorrow in what is a repeat of last year’s final.
“The way I’d describe it is, it’s lads that are all still really proud of the jersey. The commitment at the start of the year, it’s just training every Friday, one day a week.
“Is it going out and having pints after the matches? Not really, no.
“The lads were very clear what the goal is at the start of the year. They’re all lads that kept themselves in decent nick and they were all waiting for another crack at it again.”
Having just missed out on Dublin’s golden era, clawing back a medal or two at this stage of his career certainly would be satisfying - not least because his father, Maxi, lost a masters final to Mayo back in the ‘90s
“We have a bit of slagging about that, a bit of bragging rights in the house or whatever so yeah, not winning an All-Ireland when I probably should have had a crack at one of them and was a little bit unlucky, this would certainly help in terms of when I retire or if come back at this next year or whatever, at least I’d have that one under my belt.”
It will be 2026 before his brother Kevin is eligible for the masters grade. Brendan might even hang around that long.
“Ah, I might just do. I’ll have to see if he’s still able to do it with the ould lads when he gets to 40!”
* Dublin Masters players, Denis Bastick and Brendan McManamon were on hand for a media event hosted by AIG Insurance , proud supporter of GAA across all codes and all levels in Dublin, ahead of the All-Ireland Masters Final. Dublin take on Tyrone in Ballinagh GAA Club, Co. Cavan on Saturday September 10th. For more info visit the Dublin Masters Facebook page: /dublingaelicmasters.
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