WHEN FORMER LONGFORD defender Dermot Brady announced his inter-county retirement in 2018, a young Mickey Quinn considered his teammate as a much older bull in the herd.
“He’s ancient playing football at this age,” Quinn thought to himself at the time. Brady, considered to be one of the best corner-backs the county ever produced, was approaching 36 at the time. He was married, was running his family farm, and had two young children at home.
Now, six years on from Brady’s departure, it’s Quinn’s turn to get the dreaded visit from Father Time. The Killoe man is 34, married and has two infant children of his own. Oh, how the wheel turns.
“Are the young lads [on the Longford panel] thinking the same about me,” Quinn laughs down the phone, content in his decision to return his Longford jersey after renting it out for the last 13 seasons. He leaves with a Division 3 title from his debut season in 2012 under then-manager Glenn Ryan. He still has his impressive AFL record from a time period preceding his senior inter-county career.
After signing as an international rookie with Essendon as an 18-year-old, he quickly smashed Marty Clarke’s record for the quickest AFL debut by a GAA player by making his bow in Round 2 of the 2009 season. He made eight appearances for the club before returning to Ireland in 2012.
He wanted to retire last year, and spoke to manager Paddy Christie about making his exit. But the lure of playing one more time in Croke Park drew him back in. A league final could satisfy that need. There would be another chance in the Tailteann Cup.
In the end, neither gave Quinn the final curtain that he wanted. Longford were relegated to Division 4 for 2024, and failed to achieve promotion this year. The midlanders could only get as far as the preliminary quarter-final stage in last year’s Tailteann Cup, and were winless in this year’s competition.
In addition, Quinn picked up a knee injury just before their final Tailteann Cup game against Kildare. A far cry from the farewell he had in mind.
“We trained in Forgney the Tuesday night before that game. I’m not sure if that’s technically an official pitch because the club isn’t in action. But that was the only pitch we could get and I hurt the knee then. I wasn’t the only one to get injured that night.
“I haven’t been able to run since then and it has sort of dragged on. My last game was a clipping by Kildare and I was hobbling around on one leg. You’re thinking, ‘Ah, this isn’t how it’s supposed to end.’ But very few get that fairytale story.”
An MRI scan identified a lot of bone bruising and some cartilage damage. The initial plan for Quinn was to get an injection and follow a rehab course in order to get healthy in time for Killoe’s club season. As he closed in on the time when he could start running again, he travelled to the Santry Sports clinic to complete some Isokinetic [IKD] testing in order to get a measure of where he was at.
While pushing through the reps on one of the machines, he felt his knee give out another cry for help.
“I knew something was after setting me back straight away. I got another MRI and it showed that some cartilage was floating around.
“In hindsight, it was probably the best thing because there was obviously damage there that wasn’t able to heal itself. The IKD test was to gauge if I could go back running and then bang, setback here.”
Forced to go back to the beginning with his comeback, Quinn then opted for keyhole surgery to reset his knee. There were obvious frustrations that came with the disappointment of starting the whole process again. He was puzzled too as to why the road to recovery was running a straight line for him. He couldn’t figure out the root cause of his injury. But an exchange of messages with a lifelong friend and clubmate brought a realisation to the surface about the cruel passage of time.
“He just wrote back, ‘You and I both know what’s wrong.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re getting on.’”
He was operated by Cathal Moran last week and is now working towards potentially being available for the latter stages of the Longford SFC should Killoe still have their title defence on track.
“Best case scenario, you’re looking at no running in nearly 12 weeks. I have a chart on my phone counting down the days to the quarter-final, semi-final, final and seeing is this doable? I’m trying to put everything in place to be in a position to get back and play for the club. You’re trying to keep the mind occupied elsewhere because you’re chasing something that might not happen. You’re trying to be realistic and not cod yourself at the same time.”
Quinn is a secondary school teacher by trade, but knowing that his Longford retirement was drawing near, he began planning for life after inter-county football. He enrolled in a Performance Masters Coaching course with Setanta and just recently, he launched his new business, MQ Performance.
As the project is still in its early stages, his vision for the business isn’t quite complete yet. But coaching the importance of skills in footballers is a major focus for him, along with some other areas that relate to performance.
“It’s looking at biomechanics, movement, nutrition, psychology and looking at how individuals or teams can maximise their output. You have a good scope across the board from my own experience to see how individuals can benefit.”
Along with that, Quinn is also involved in running a men’s mental health service which was founded by Kerry All-Ireland winner, and former AFL player, Tadhg Kenneally. Quinn is involved in running the Longford chapter of WNOW [When No-One's Watching] for those in despair who “don’t have that network to open up and share.”
Quinn is also preparing for the start of the new school term at St Mel’s College in Longford Town in the midst of his new ventures. The hope is that he can keep all the balls in the air as he moves forward.
“I’m keeping busy and I don’t know whether that’s the trick or if I’m keeping too busy. It’s keeping me on my toes anyway.”
At 34, Quinn falls into the typical age bracket of inter-county retirement when the injuries are few, the form is consistent, and luck is on your side. 13 seasons and 139 appearances are the big numbers that define Quinn’s time in the Longford fold. It was a similar story for Dermot Brady when he retired in his mid 30s. But looking forward, Quinn expects the average lifespan of an inter-county player to slip back.
The concept of what is considered an older bull in the game will likely be redefined by future generations.
“The demands and time commitment… Some lads will step back sooner. You tell someone who’s maybe not involved in GAA what you’re doing and you’re trying to explain why you’re doing it, and it’s like, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ I do think it’s heading that way and it is going to get younger, especially in counties like Longford where keeping lads of 23,24 involved is getting harder.
“What happens is they’ll take a year out and coming back is next to near impossible if you don’t stay at a certain level. There’s a lot of people who have done it and struggled when they do come back.”
