“There are no second acts in American lives.”
A fine writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a superb observer of the human condition, be in no doubt. But if he ever visited a Virginia, it was unlikely to be the one north of the Meath border
Seanie Johnston is proving there are indeed second acts in Cavan football and, if possible, what occurs after the unusual interval may end up being better than what went before.
He can’t get back the years of strife, the months of abuse or the summers in the intercounty wilderness, but he can make up for lost time. He started in Breffni Park on Sunday afternoon and what the Cavan Gaels virtuoso produced was not bad for starters.
It is five years since Johnston lined out for his native county in Championship football but, in an Ulster SFC against Armagh, it was like he never left.
Sure, his widow’s peak may be a little more pronounced and he may have lost a yard of pace, but that was never key to Johnston’s game. His is built on speed of mind, sleight of hand and foot, and an ability to find space where space should not be found.
We were told it would be different this time. No more would Johnston be the centre of attention, the linchpin, the talisman.
Terry Hyland had replaced Johnston’s old manager Val Andrews and was building a team, a top division team that no longer would rely on Johnston’s silky skills and unerring accuracy. They had Gearóid McKiernan, David Givney, Cian Mackey and others – Johnston would be a worker bee.
This wasn’t a punishment for his Kildare sojourn – the hurling debut, the point against his native county, all that water under all those bridges – it was just the way it was.
And then Johnston kicks seven points in the first Championship outing of his second act. In that historic old sunken bowl in Cavan town, Johnston was once more at the centre of the Cavan attack, once more pulling defenders this way and that, once more swinging the ball over the bar with unerring accuracy.
It was like he never left.
Except it is different. When he left the Cavan panel in 2011 they were a Division 3 side whose summer lasted as long as it took Donegal and Longford to put 42 points on them in an Ulster quarter-final and a first round qualifier.
Andrews let Johnston know he wouldn’t be wanted in 2012, Johnston made inquiries about joining Kildare and a lot of people got their knickers all in a bunch.
The team he is returning to – after two unsatisfactory years with Kildare and two more back playing club football with Cavan Gaels – is on its way to the top flight and went into Sunday’s game against Armagh with more expectation than hope.
They backed it up with a convincing 2-16 to 0-14 win, which sets up a semi-final trip to Omagh to face a highly fancied Tyrone team.
Speaking after the game, Johnston did not add anything to the hype, or give any great insight into the journey back he had completed.
“We came here as favourites and everyone bigged us up that we’d win. We’re happy that we were able to prove people right,” he said.
He was a little more forthcoming in Saturday’s Irish Times, admitting to Malachy Clerkin that his return to the panel late last year was nerve-wracking.
“There’s no point saying I wasn’t nervous meeting the lads again. It’s like any time you go and do something out of your comfort zone. There’s trepidation and things are difficult out of your comfort zone. But I went in and I suppose what made it easier was we went on a night out together around the 23rd of December.
“After that, it was 100 per cent. We sat around slagging each other and I got to talk to a lot of the lads again and after that it was fine. It’s been good ever since.”
Maybe there were a few gags about his hurling career, how well he looked in white or a few questions about Kieran McGeeney.
But deep down those Cavan lads would have been thinking, “if this fella is half as good as he was in 2011 we have won the lotto”.
He may not be as quick, his hair may have receded, but in some ways he is better.
He knows what it means to play for Cavan and he knows what it means to lose it all.
Against Armagh he played like a man who wants to squeeze every ounce out of the experience before the curtain falls.
This could be one hell of a second act.
