Dave McSweeney on playing and winning county titles for Douglas at the age of 47

There are many talented and dedicated GAA players all over this country, but how many of them will win a county medal and play a significant part at the age of 47?

Enter Dave McSweeney, the Douglas stalwart, who has played with his club for over 40 years and still has the determination to carry on if his body allows him.

In the last few weeks, he won a Cork County Junior B Football title at Pairc Ui Rinn with Douglas beating Goleen in the final. Here he explains how it all started for him.

“It all started for me as young boy playing street leagues and playing with Douglas with my dad Eamonn working as a selector all the way up to the minor grade without ever winning silverware."

From minor, McSweeney was brought into the intermediate panel and luckily, Douglas started putting it together on the field.

“We won the county after a replay against Castletownbere in 1997, and I think that us set up nicely to build for the senior grade."

Ironically, there was a surprise for Dave off the field when winning the Junior B title at Pairc Ui Rinn recently. He found out that the man he marked in that county final win 27 years ago was actually the fourth official on the day.

The dual player is now a thing of the past, but for 20 years McSweeney filled the position of corner-back at senior hurling and football for his beloved club.

“The modern-day players do not play both codes but in my time, it was normal, and I just loved playing hurling and football.” 

For many years Douglas have been the nearly club at senior level, and I asked Dave to assess their lack of winning silverware at the top level.

We don’t have the culture that Nemo Rangers, St Finbarr’s and Castlehaven have in football and it’s the same in hurling, we have flattered to deceive.

“People in our club blame it on dual roles but for me that’s not the problem as I feel the culture in attitudes will have change in our club and that’s my personal opinion.” 

McSweeney pointed to near rivals Nemo Rangers as a benchmark for any club.

“The majority of players who had great careers with Nemo Rangers consistently give something back to the club managing minor, junior and senior teams and that’s great to see.

“Just to explain what I mean by this I went down to a game in Midleton and standing there doing the car park was the great John Fenton and I said to myself 'That’s where you need to be in the dedication stakes'.” 

The nearest Douglas came to winning a senior football county medal was in 2008 but they lost to Nemo Rangers.

When you are still playing at the tender age of 47 there must be a secret outside of your love for the sport.

“It’s not rocket science as once you stop there is no way back and I just love playing and as I have never been a big drinker and don’t smoke that certainly helped me.” 

There is another sport that he enjoys, draghunting, where he lends a hand to the John O’Callaghan kennel, one of the best in the Cork Association.

“I grew up with John from when we were four years of age and we have been best friends since and as a matter of fact we ended up marrying two sisters.

“To be honest, I love walking the hounds and running draghunts to keep fit, but more importantly, my daughter Ciara is stone mad for animals.” 

Many were not surprised when they saw McSweeney putting in a solid shift against Goleen, but is it time for the great man to retire?

“Amazingly, I did my cruciate when I was 39 and I said to myself I cannot finish my career on that note.

“After 12 months of recuperation I decided that I wanted one more special win and thankfully, I was rewarded when helping the club win a county.

People may say it’s only a Junior B football title, but it means the exact same as winning a senior county to these lads who trained three times a week for the whole year.

“I actually said to the lads in the dressing room at half time that this is probably my last chance of winning a county and we needed to drive it on and thankfully they stood up to the challenge.” 

McSweeney has one person to check in on before he announces his plans for next season.

“My wife Dorothy is a great lady so she will listen to what I have to say and want to do, and my kids, Ciara and Cathal will also give their opinion, but deep down I will make the call on the sport that has given me so much enjoyment over many years."