So much is made of the strength of the bench in modern football that it may as well be a 21-man game. Or that numbers on the jerseys doesn't count anymore. Except try telling that to Michael Darragh Macauley.
Macauley lost his place at midfield for Dublin's All-Ireland quarter-final win over Fermanagh last Sunday and although he was introduced at half-time – replacing Denis Bastick – this is a scenario he's clearly not comfortable with. And for good reason.
Because if any player felt comfortable with a place on the bench, he says, Dublin would win nothing. What drives him, and ultimately drives the team, is nailing down a starting place, in his case the number nine jersey.
“No one should just be happy with getting onto the Dublin squad,” says Macauley. “And no one should just be happy getting into the 26. Lads shouldn’t be happy until they have that starting jersey.
No space
“That’s the kind of culture we’ve always tried to instil within the Dublin team. And anyone who is happy just getting their gear bag, or is happy telling people they made the 26, or telling people they made the 35 at the start of the year, there’s just no space for them on the Dublin team. They can take their gear and good luck, to be honest . . .
"If Brian Fenton (who did start at midfield on Sunday) was happy sitting as number 26 on the bench, it would be no use to us. Because we need that standard being driven all the time. And thankfully, we have a panel of 30-plus players who can do that, and aren't happy until they get on the team."
Though not wanting to sound any way envious, or discontent, Macauley admits he expected to start against Fermanagh last Sunday, as he’d done in the Leinster final. Barring injury, it was the first time in five years the 2013 Footballer of the Year had to be content with a place on the bench.
“I did expect to start. I don’t pick the team. That was Jim Gavin’s decision. I’m just going to have to work a bit harder to get in the next day. And you just kind of have to get on with it, to be honest. Maybe it’s a bit of a wake up call, if it was possibly needed. It’s definitely given me a bit of a kick, that I didn’t think I needed. But maybe I did.
Own ideas
“So I have a particularly big four weeks ahead of me, going into this All-Ireland semi-final. I’m definitely going to do everything possible I can do to get that jersey back. But we’ll see. It should be interesting.”
Macauley is certainly glad of the four-week gap until Dublin’s All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal or Mayo.
“ I have my own ideas, going forward, about how I can improve my own game and I’m hoping to implement it for the semi-final.
“But I probably didn’t see it coming, to be honest. Again, that’s the way it goes. Jim had his own ideas. But there’s no ill -will over it. It was what it was. It’s done now. I’m just going to have to look forward now to the semi-final, and try to be in a better position.”
What exactly then does he think he needs to improve on?
“I think initially, at the start of the year, because I missed the whole league campaign and O’Byrne Cup, I was lacking a bit of fitness. And I went after the fitness thing very hard, and I actually got fitter than I’ve ever been. But in that, I probably sacrificed a bit of ball work.
“So I need to get my hands on a ball more often, and get a bit of game time. So I’m blessed now that we have a four-week period and I can really hone in on that, and a bit more match sharpness. I’ll discuss how I’m going to fix that with Jim. But I definitely don’t take the starting jersey for granted. I work as hard as any of them, I’d like to think, to be honest.”
