JOHN McCaffrey lifted his third piece of silverware as Dublin senior hurling captain last Sunday in Parnell Park but neither the 2011 league title nor the Walsh Cup success are a patch on this latest achievement.
The Lucan Sarsfields man was the first Dublin player to lay hands on the Bob O’Keeffe Cup in over half a century following one of the most epic runs to the title in recent memory.
“To go up there and lift the Bob O’Keeffe Cup on the steps of the Hogan Stand in front of a Dublin team that hasn’t won a Leinster Championship in so long was an unbelievable feeling,” he said of that moment.
“It probably hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest, but we are absolutely thrilled and I can’t believe it really.”
His side overcame a pair of replays, meeting both Wexford and Kilkenny twice in a gruelling four-week period before facing reigning Leinster champions Galway in Croke Park last Sunday.
For the final, he was joined in the starting line-up by club mate Peter Kelly who enjoyed a great tussle with Galway talisman Joe Canning while producing a proactive approach to distribution from the back from ball won in danger zones.
That accuracy of delivery from the back was a feature of the tie while McCaffrey battled hard to win the midfield battle, one which saw Galway’s Iarla Tannian substituted at the break after getting little change from the Lucan man and his midfield partner Joey Boland.
McCaffrey says that his side has the perfect trajectory in performance to succeed on the big stage. “We were improving each week as we went along, we were getting better and better.
“Last week we were delighted to get the [replay] win against Kilkenny, but we knew that the job wasn’t done.
“We had to get a cup at the end of it. We got our heads down straight away and looked forward to the weekend to give another massive performance and that’s what we did.”
