These are days that could make Dean Rock’s head spin.
From kicking the last score in Dublin’s landmark All-Ireland win to dipping in and then out of retirement – more of that later – to going on his stag in Marbella, getting married and then celebrating at The K Club, before flying back out to Spain, it’s a few weeks that will take up a whole chapter in the autobiography whenever he gets around to it.
He’s back playing club football too and has a pressing date at O’Toole Park on Saturday evening. For all of the iconic talents in the Ballymun Kickhams line-up, defeat to Ballyboden in their opening group game makes a win or bust matchagainst Templeogue Synge Street.
Rock is now a married father of one but life shows no signs of slowing down for the 33-year-old placed-ball expert.
Immediately after the All-Ireland, clutching a pint of Guinness and still in his gear, he suggested that he was at least ready to cut himself loose from intercounty activity.
It was his daughter Sadie’s first birthday too and the eight-time All-Ireland winner acknowledged that his 76th-minute point from a free against Kerry “probably could be my last act playing for Dublin, so it’s certainly a nice way to go out”.
Almost four weeks later, with the benefit of a clearer head, Rock isn’t so sure about that one and will take the winter to mull it over. Playing again for Dublin in 2024 is a live possibility.
The same with James McCarthy, Stephen Cluxton and all the others who have question marks hanging over their heads.
“That could absolutely happen,” said Rock, who was promoting the Budweiser Combine event in advance of tomorrow’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic at the Aviva Stadium.
“And I think that’s the dilemma that faces lots of players. When is the right time to leave? When is the right time to stay on? You can only make that decision in time, over the next couple of weeks and the next couple of months.
“I’m sure lads on the management team and the players themselves will make that decision. But I certainly felt, after the game, there’s a lot of emotion there and you’re thinking, ‘Well, that’s brilliant, that’s a great way to go’. But as time goes on, you think, ‘Well, the season is only a couple of months long, maybe I’ll come back a little bit later at the start of the year, miss the early rounds of the league and then come back towards the end of the league and be back for the championship’. You just weigh things up differently.
“We put a huge amount into this year and it will test a lot of men if they can go to the well again and reproduce what we produced this year. And only those individuals know the answer to that themselves, if they can do it again. It’s a tough one, realising or knowing when the time is right to go or when to stay on.
“But certainly there’s a lot more All-Irelands in that group, at the moment. But as you know, if a couple of players leave or there’s a mass exodus, obviously things can change very, very quickly.”
Rock was nearly an ever present in Dublin line-ups – he started all of their league and Championship games in 2020, and all but one of their Championship games across 2021 and 2022 – until being restricted to a bench role this year. In nine Championship games, he only started against Kildare in the All-Ireland group game at Nowlan Park and came on in seven others.
He believes is still good enough to start and will be pushing hard to do so more regularly if he does stay on.
“I certainly feel that physically, I’m in a really good position,” he said. “I’m physically in great shape. I’m able to perform at that level, at my age now, and I’ll be able to do it again next year. I’ve got the time and the job that will facilitate me to do the training that I need to do to get to that level.
“It’s just whether you have it within you in terms of a mentality perspective to go to the well again and to do it again. Do you really, really want it? That’s just an individual thing that I’d have to ask myself and be really, really honest about.”
