We’re trying not to dwell on this, but it is hard to let it go.
Jack McCaffrey has already set himself apart as an independent thinker with his decision to take a summer out from Gaelic football.
This is not a player with a mid-ranking county bailing to the States ahead of the qualifiers after a provincial championship defeat, this is the reigning Footballer of the Year passing up the opportunity to win a third All-Ireland in four years to volunteer at a hospital in Zambia.
The 22-year-old medical student confirmed to the Sunday Independent at the weekend that he will not return to Jim Gavin’s All-Ireland champions this summer, but in an excellent, wide-ranging interview his passion for Gaelic football shone through.
He will almost certainly be back in 2017.
REPORT: Jack McCaffrey drops bombshell on Dublin management ahead of championship https://t.co/E4etptfabo
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 5, 2016
The Clontarf clubman spoke with great affection for all his intercounty team-mates, who seem to be very fond of McCaffrey also – despite his very, very questionable taste in music.
“I remember I was on a physio table at some stage in 2015 and I was listening to a bit of music and just lifted up my iPod and I had a shuffled playlist and Kevin McManamon was behind me and he says (in a tone of bewilderment): ‘what are you listening to?’
“And I looked down and it was the Disney Frozen soundtrack, while the rest were listing to hardcore rap.”
Frozen Heart? Do you Want to Build a Snowman? For the First Time in Forever? With pre-match tunes like these is it any wonder McCaffrey, literally, ran away with Footballer of the Year last season.
