In Focus: Seanie Johnston, a little older and a lot wiser

WHEN you consider what’s going on in the world at the minute, it’s hard to believe that a GAA player transferring to another county was the catalyst of something like a full-blown moral crisis.

Seanie Johnston’s decision to transfer to Kildare led to hundreds of pages (quite literally) of debate on internet forums, and you only need to imagine what our columnist Joe Brolly had to say about the matter.

We’ll not go into the minutiae of the saga – it was about as drawn-out as Brexit – but here are some key facts: in October 2011, Johnston was informed by then Cavan manager Val Andrews he had not been picked on the county panel, after which he was refused a number of transfer requests to Kildare club St Kevin’s.

He eventually won out on a technicality, which led to his infamous appearance as a hurler with St Kevin’s sister club Coill Dubh, and eventual short-lived career with Kildare’s intercounty team.

Back then, the number of legal experts in the country seemed to increase tenfold, while every man and his dog had an opinion on the moral course of his actions.

Johnston was practically public property, but very few people seemed to consider the effect on the man himself.

Yes, Johnston did something anathema to the ideals of the organisation, but few people stopped to consider the impact the public coverage had on not only the man himself, but his family.

His parents, for instance, made a quick escape to Prague when Kildare were, almost predictably, pitted against Cavan in an All-Ireland qualifier back in 2012. Johnston came on as a sub and kicked a point that day.

At the time, Johnston kept his own counsel, but now he’s happy enough to admit that being cast as the villain of the piece took a considerable toll on his mental health.

“I think you learn who’s close to you and who’s not,” he said.

“Looking back, I was really struggling in those years. There’s that typical male Irish thing of saying ‘oh I’m grand’, but looking back now, I can openly say I really wasn’t grand.

“Hand on heart I never expected it to be as public as it was, it so was difficult for people in my family.

“Harassed isn’t the wrong word but journalists were looking for them and they’re not used to that sort of thing obviously.

“I was hurt by certain things that happened in high up places in the county board but did I make mistakes? I’m sure I did, but it was a tough time in terms of what was written about me.

“People were saying ‘did you see this and did you see that’. I was telling myself ‘Sean, you’re grand, you’re grand’, but it had an effect on me and probably still does.

“I still get the odd jibe at thrown at me here and there, but I’m in a very good position in my life and have hopefully learned from it. I always say that the people who were very close friends of mine before that are still the people who are very close friends of mine now.

“It was a big weight on my shoulders. I wasn’t reading newspapers or talking to journos, but people would send stuff through and I was just thinking ‘Jesus’ and wondering ‘what’s mum or dad or my wee sister at home thinking about all this’

“A lot of people came out firing hard but it is what it is, people sometimes have very little else to do.”

Johnston’s whole rationale for what he did was that he ‘just wanted to play football,’ but he only ended up making a smattering of appearances for Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare in 2012 and 2013. In hindsight, perhaps he was too headstrong for his own good.

“Sometimes your greatest strength in sport is your greatest weakness as well.

“I’m old enough to accept that I was probably to headstrong, and maybe certain things got the better of me.

“I’d never use the word ‘regret’, but obviously I knew my own mind and that has something that’s both pushed me forward and held me back. It’s something I’ve tried to work on and continue to work on, and hopefully it’s just a strength of mine at this stage.

Fast-forward nearly a decade, and Johnson is, as he says himself, in a much happier place. He’s married with three kids, including twin daughters Aria and Alysha; his beloved Liverpool aren’t doing too badly; and he was actually called back in the Cavan panel by Mickey Graham over the winter before a broken arm curtailed his involvement.

A fitness fanatic who made good use of the lockdown, he’s hopefully proving to others that being on the wrong side of 30 needn’t be an impediment to success.

“I train nearly every day on different areas, trying to improve on different things when I might get one or two percent better – even to help with other sports that I might pick up on later in life, trying to get it more explosive and a bit more speed. I love all sports and I’m constantly trying to get better.”

He continued: “I think I’m in better shape than I have been in a long time. Paul ‘the Gunner’ Brady, he’s a few years old than me and a good friend of mine. He says ‘it gets harder, Seanie’, and I’ve realised as I got into my thirties that the recovery side of things becomes much more important.

“After the younger boys have a running session, they’re up the next day and are ready to go whereas I’m stretching and using foam rolls to try to loosen things out.

“It’s important to get into the mindset that it’s about training smart. Rest is actually very important and that was an aspect I used to struggle with – I’d feel I was losing out. It’s silly looking back on it but it’s a mind-set that’s hard to escape from.”

Johnston was your stereotypical waif-like corner-forward as a youngster. He wouldn’t have made it as a top-level footballer without a bit of bulk, and he started lifting weights while studying at Dublin City University, when he was already part of the Cavan squad.

“I went to DCU after doing my leaving cert, and came into contact with people who were working very hard at their game and were top quality players.

“It was fantastic in terms of gyms and equipment and so on, and I really got the benefits of that.

“Paul Brady was World Handball Champion and he was big into weights and was gaining a lot from them.

“I don’t like to use the word addicted but you become somewhat reliant on them. There’s a line that you cross where you become too focused on that side of things to the detriment of your basic skills – it’s all about having that balance.”

Johnston made his championship debut with Cavan back in 2003. He was already winning senior club championship medals with Cavan Gaels (he has ten of them in his back pocket), but the county were at a pretty low ebb at the time.

He was delighted about receiving the county call-up, but he was brought back to terra firma with a bang.

“Playing for Cavan was always a dream of mine, and I was called into the panel as a Leaving Cert student which was fantastic.

“My family probably weren’t as happy as they were worried about how my Leaving Cert was going to go. At that stage all I wanted to do was play for Cavan so everything else was put on the backburner.

“I remember my first ever game with Cavan. We played Galway in a challenge match and I won’t even tell you the score. It was the biggest trouncing you could imagine.

“You build up to this moment, where you’re playing with people you’ve looked up to for yours, and you think you’re going to win Ulster titles, so it was a massive reality check.

“It’s okay doing it in the back garden but it’s a different story when it’s really happening. We ended up losing that year to Fermanagh in the qualifiers so that was another reality check too.”

Cavan’s fortunes improved when Derry legend Eamonn Coleman was appointed manager in late 2003.

He’d already led the hitherto underachieving Cavan club Gowna to five senior championship, so he knew his way about the county, and he left a big impact on Johnston.

“Eamonn came in and he was a great addition. He’d talk players up but he’d take you down a peg or two as well.

“In saying that he was absolutely brilliant. We were going really well in 2004 and 2005, but as everyone knows Eamonn got sick and we had to take a step back.

“It’s a shame as he was absolutely brilliant and we were on an upwards curve. We should’ve beaten Armagh really in 2004 but Pearse McKenna was sent-off in the first minute. Derry beat us in extra-time and they ended up in a semi-final that year.

“In 2005 we took Tyrone to a replay but they gave us a good beating in the replay in fairness. Then we beat Meath and Donegal and got to the last 12 where Mayo beat us by a couple of points. Eamonn getting sick was a big blow, a big loss to Cavan football.

Sadly, as Johnston alludes to, Coleman was diagnosed with cancer during his second year in charge of Cavan, and was forced to pass on the reins to his assistant Martin McElkennon. Johnston says he didn’t even mind that Eamonn wasn’t always the easiest character.

“I really liked him but he could let you have it. You’d go from thinking ‘this fella absolutely adores me’ to getting the hairdryer treatment a couple of hours later.

“Before a game he could be bigging you up, but if you didn’t do exactly what he expected of you he could tear strips of you. He was still someone I really respected, I would say he’s one of the best I’ve played under and I’ve had a lot of good managers.”

Those were the days that Armagh and Tyrone were the envy of the rest of the country. Johnston could only sit back and admire as they plundered three All-Irelands between them in the first-half of the decade. He doesn’t feel that they were doing anything particularly special in training, but believes that confidence was a big factor in their superiority over the rest of Ulster, and indeed Ireland.

“Sometimes I’d be having coffee with lads like Michael Lyng, and we’d be chatting among ourselves and saying ‘they HAVE to be doing more than us.’

“You’d sit back and wonder, but you’d break down our training and realise that they couldn’t have been doing much more than us collectively anyway.

“You realise as you get older, how big a deal confidence is. It knows no ends basically.

“I’ve been at the stage of my career when I’ve felt I can do no wrong, and I’ve been at the stage when I feel I can do no right, even if my training was the same in both scenarios.

“I really believe the difference between a good and a great player is their confidence levels, it makes all the difference in bouncing back from a setback and things like that.”

After Cavan exited the Ulster Championship in 2007, he went to play football in Chicago with Paul Brady and Martin Cahill. To say that went down like a lead balloon with their then-manager Donal Keogan would be an understatement, with him quoting as saying “Any fella that goes away to America won’t be wearing a Cavan jersey again while I’m in charge. I’m very hurt about it. There’s definitely no way they’ll be back playing while I’m in charge.”

Lo and behold Johnston was back the very next year after inspiring Cavan Gaels to yet another county title, and these days it isn’t such a big deal for players to go off travelling.

Johnston said: “Down beat us in the Ulster Championship in 2007 and it got such bad publicity at the time. These days so many players head to the States, it isn’t a big deal, but Donal came out with this big statement that ‘these players won’t play again’.

“Then everything was back to normal the very next year. As an older player, I now see the benefits of having that time away. It’s great playing for Cavan but there’s no obligation, you have to live your life, and I’ve spoken to lads like Michael Lyng who said we were lucky as some lads plug away for 15 or 16 years and never get anywhere.

“It’s an important part of life and when I’ve been totally focused on football, people have said I need to live my life. There’s more to life than football but when you’re engrossed in it it’s hard to see that.”

The seasons whirred by, and he was named captain of the team in 2011 by Val Andrews, the same man who’s decision to drop Johnston instigated the whole Kildare affair.

“Being named captain was a huge honour for me, it was one of the highlights of my career. In the grand scheme of things you want to be successful with your team and win trophies, but it’s still great to me named captain of your county or club. It’s something I value and look back on with fondness. I can tell my kids about it, it’s something that’s nice to be able to say.”

Johnston didn’t feature at all at inter-county level in 2014 and 2015 after his stint at Kildare. He had some baggage with Cavan’s manager at the time, Terry Hyland, but he impressed with his club form and was quietly brought back into the county set-up.

He impressed in that year’s league campaign, scoring 1-6 against Meath before playing in a Division Two final against Tyrone. Even if they didn’t set the world alight. he’s glad he got to show the fantatical Cavan support that he does care about his county.

“I was delighted to be asked back and I had a decent year. People throw out all these words like redemption, but I was just happy to be back playing for Cavan. People can comment all they want but all I’ve ever wanted to do is play for my county.

“Did I go the wrong way about things at times? Definitely, and I can hold my hands up and admit that, but I was happy to be back and one of the proudest aspects of my intercounty career is the relationship I have with the Cavan lads who are playing now – lads like Dara McVeety and Killian Clarke, lads who were all at my wedding last year. It meant a lot to me that I could show those lads that I love playing for Cavan, that meant a lot to me.”

Although he’s been asked back this season, Johnston’s career seemed to end with a whimper when Mickey Graham was appointed manager two years ago and he was subsequently dropped from the panel. Johnston accepts it was nothing personal.

“I’d been playing well with the club, scoring 1-11 and 1-8 and things like that but it just didn’t happen for me, I’m not sure why, but they had a great year getting to the Ulster final.

“Mickey and I are close, we’re club-mates and he’s another man who was at my wedding, so there’s definitely no issue there.

“Sometimes as soon as you’re 30, people say you’re finished, which is something that happens in the GAA I don’t agree with. At the same time I understand you have to rebuild and there’s a lot of good young players in Cavan and I wish them the best.

“I’m at the stage now where I’m helping the county minors and I’m really enjoying it. It gives you that passion back, the passion I had as a youngster, seeing how they’re getting on.”

He does, however, admit he had mixed emotions when the team reached their first Ulster final since 2001 last summer, which almost seems like a lifetime ago now.

“It was my mother’s birthday and we were down in Achill for the weekend, and drove to Clones on the Sunday morning.

“It was brilliant for those lads, I was so happy that they got the opportunity to play in an Ulster final. Obviously it’d have been something I’d have loved to do, I felt my body was in a position to do it.

“I do feel I could’ve helped the squad but that didn’t happen and you get on with it. As I said Mickey is a close friend of mine and is doing a good job and has a very good set-up, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult, I always dreamed of playing in an Ulster final.

“I do really want the boys to get success, I know the work they put into it but I suppose the defeat to Tyrone showed the level they still have to go.”

Johnson’s achievements with Cavan Gaels also deserve more than a passing mention. Ten senior championship medals is a magnificent haul by any standards, but there’s some disappointment that they never got across the line in Ulster.

“Every one of them is really special to me, I won my first in 2001 and my last in 2017. We got to an Ulster club final that year and didn’t have our best day, we were beaten by a better team (Slaughtneil).

“Around 2007 and 2008 we had a team I thought was good enough. We beat St Gall’s in 2008, then we lost to them after extra-time in 2009. It sounds silly but if we won that I thought we could’ve gone all the way.

“I look back on that with a bit of regret, we’d some fantastic players. As the years ago on I’ve learned championship medals aren’t easy one, they’re really special and it’s a communal thing for the entire club.”

Cavan legend Jason Reilly turned their fortunes around in 2017, where they ended up in an Ulster final against Slaughtneil. Since then, Castlerahan have dominated Cavan club football, but the Gaels will still quietly fancy their chances in this year’s championship.

“It’s that confidence thing again. We nearly got relegated in 2016, but we beat Ballyhaise in a play-off.

“Jason came in and he’s a really positive character, such a nice guy and we knew him really well and rowed in behind him. We got on a bit of a run and won a lot of league games.

“We went unbeaten in the league and carried that into the championship. We were lucky in the quarter-final against Crosserlough but pushed on after that and got a relatively favourable draw in Ulster although we had two tough games against a very good Derrygonnelly team.

“We fully believed we’d win the Ulster final but Slaughtneil were very good and I thought they’d win the All-Ireland, it’s a shame they didn’t.”

Johnston also says that football has taken on a slightly lesser importance with the arrival of twins into the family.

“There’s always something to do around the house now, but it’s brought a new dimension to life and an understanding that although football has played a huge part in my life, there’s so much more important things and that my main responsibilities are here in the household.”

To end on a decidedly unserious note: Johnston thought his days of making unwanted headlines were over until he was sent a picture of the local Anglo Celt’s front-page in the middle of 2018. The news? That he was intending on standing in election for Fine Gael, something he is happy to dismiss as without foundation.

“There was absolutely nothing, no substance to that. It won’t happen. It’s another article I was sent and thought ‘ah here’. I’ve come away reading all that other stuff in the past and then that. But it’s not going to be happening, we can rule that one out I think.”

By Niall Gartland