OPINION: Throwback Mackey won't be fully appreciated till he's gone
Paul Fitzpatrick
Speaking on a podcast recently, champion handballer and former Cavan player Paul Brady expressed his unease and frustration that too many Breffni footballers of long-standing have been allowed to slip gently into that good night without so much as a pat on the back from the county board.
Brady suggested there should be, if not a debrief, at least an informal chat to see what insights could be gleaned from those hanging up their boots. Brady's own nine-year county career had fizzled out with an unsatisfactory and unrequited exchange of text messages in an airport on a chilly December morning.
“I had seen it happen, players were gone. There was no feedback given and no-one asked. That's not right. These were valuable sources of information gone, they could help fix this,” said the Mullahoran man.
“And no-one was saying thanks for doing that over a sustained period. There has be a culture there of some sort of respect and that was absent. I hope that's addressed at this point... It's nice to always acknowledge the huge commitment.”
On Twitter on Friday evening last, Cavan county board were quick to do just that, acknowledge the outstanding service Cian Mackey gave to the county after the Castlerahan man announced his retirement from the inter-county game.
Social media makes these awkward conversations a little easier in any case. Mackey dropped his tweet at 5pm, accompanied by a witty graphic, the Looney Tunes 'That's All Folks' image, with himself in the centre.
And that was it. The tributes began to flow in from fans, team-mates, opponents and journos. For this particular reporter, the news prompted an over-riding feeling of sadness, more than anything.
Mackey was a throwback, a rogue, an incredibly gifted player who combined speed and endurance with magical ball skills.
The sadness – that he didn't get the Ulster medal his talent and his perseverence deserved – was tempered with a feeling of gratitude that, as supporters, we got to enjoy watching him in full flow - the compact solo running style which allowed him to bring the ball into contact and never, ever lose it, the perfectly-placed passes, the long-range points - so often. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Mackey was something of a child prodigy. He first featured on these pages for football in July 1999 when he scored 5-2 in an U12 final win for Castlerahan. He would go on to win Division 1 medals in every grade including minor and U21, adding a Fr Manning Cup medal with Cavan in August 2002.
Three years later, along with clubmate Ronan Flanagan and Ballyhaise's Ray Cullivan, he was chosen on the Irish U17 international Rules squad, starring with 14 points in the decisive win over Australia in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney (below).
Later that summer, he would break into the wider public consciousness with a couple of precocious displays for the county minors – featuring future soccer star Cillian Sheridan – as they lost to would-be All-Ireland champions Down in a replay.
Unfortunately, that was a pattern that continued throughout Mackey's career with Cavan – at times, they would come close to the top teams but they never claimed a really prized scalp.
In fact, it was not until his 15th and last season wearing the blue jersey at senior level that Cavan would beat a Division 1 side in championship football with the memorable first-round win over Monaghan last May.
Cavan manager Martin McElkennon called him into the senior squad later in that 2005 championship. On July 7, he was a minor; by July 31, he was coming off the bench for the seniors in the last 12 qualifier match against Mayo in Dr Hyde Park.
Very few Cavan players had broken into the senior team while still a minor. The most famous of them was Tony Tighe, who won an Ulster senior medal before he won a minor one in the 1940s. Both were impossibly quick and loved to run at defenders. They quickened pulses on the terraces.
The legendary Tighe passed away suddenly after that Mayo match, as he exited the stadium. One Ballyjamesduff man sadly moving on, another starting out.
Sadly for Mackey, just once more – 2013, when he played probably his best football - would Cavan reach the last 12 in his entire senior career.
Yet, he kept on turning out, year on year. In 2010, with Seanie Johnston injured, he went into the full-forward line for the National League and finished as top scorer with 0-21 in five matches. Three years later, he was Cavan's stand-out performer at wing-forward in the run to the last eight.
By 2019, he no longer had that blistering pace but was still quick enough. He was an impact sub whose points in the suffocating closing stages against Armagh in the drawn game – dropping 'into the hole' like a rugby out-half – will live long in the memory. He did enough to earn a starting place by the end of the championship on a dark day when only two Cavan players equalled the scoring tally of Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan and none bettered it.
In the end, he clocked in at 131 games and scored 7-126 (figures collated thanks to the exhaustive research of Arthur Sullivan and Mackey's clubmate, Lochlann Egan), including 45 championship matches.
That may be a record, Arthur suggested, although our own research indicates that Charlie Gallagher featured as many as 47 times in the championship between 1956 and 1969, with the Cootehill man's figures boosted by featuring in a remarkable eight championship replays. For comparison, Mackey was only involved in three championship replays.
All the while, he was on a quest with his club. Castlerahan had never won a Senior Championship and Mackey, Flanagan and Co were the chosen ones who were expected to deliver.
In 2011, they lost the county final. In 2015, 2016 – after a replay – and 2017, they again came up short. And then in 2018, six down in the final quarter against Crosserlough, the veterans led the charge. Mackey had his medal and got another in the season gone by.
Cian will have regrets about his county career but had he not got over the line with his club, it could have been a torment. Thankfully, they did and no-one would begrudge it.
As for his inter-county tenure, Cavan should have achieved a lot more; at times the culture wasn't what it should have been and possibly as a leading player could have done more to fix that, too.
But his contribution on the pitch, where it really matters, cannot be questioned. And he was and is good fun on and off it, too. Mackey was always good for a few interesting lines and always gave of his time freely.
We hope he won't mind us relaying this story. Last year, at some stage during the championship, we texted him looking to set up a call. “Sorry,” he replied, “ we were told no interviews this week. I don't want to give them an excuse not to start me!!”
It was typically good-humoured. And in the end, he did get back into the starting team, too.
Back in 2017, we interviewed him before the championship opener against Monaghan.
The last question we asked him was whether he was still an Aston Villa supporter.
“I am,” he laughed. “It's not going hectic now. A good couple of weeks followed by a bad couple of weeks...”
A bit like Cavan, we suggested, only half-jokingly.
“It's a bit like playing for Cavan alright,” he grinned.
“Ah, I started following them in the days of Staunton and Townsend and those boys. There's no point in changing now. I'll stick with my own.”
And in the blue of Cavan, he certainly did that. What comes next? There is talk of taking up coaching at club level but the gut feeling is we have not seen the last of him in the maroon and white of his club.
One thing is for sure, though; like all the greats, he won't be fully appreciated till he's gone.