THE EARLY DAYS of retirement from the guards haven’t unfolded as Tony Davis would have liked.
He first stepped into the profession on 10 March 1984, driven by a simple ambition to help and protect the people of Cork.
A corny thought, he says now, but that was the fibre of his mindset at the time. Last Friday was his last day in the force, and he marked his exit the modern way – with a lovely message on Twitter.
“My last day working as a member of An Garda Síochána, some leave to take, 36 years ago this week I came to Cork,” he began.
“Thanks to all my colleagues current and past and most particularly the people of Cork. Another big challenge facing us, listen to health professionals stay safe, Slan.”
A popular GAA man who was part of that All-Ireland-winning Cork brigade of 1989 and 1990, the positive vibes poured in after he posted his message. Even the Fianna Faíl leader Micheál Martin replied with a tribute to Davis.
Davis doesn’t have any major plans for his golden years yet, although a trip to New York was supposed to be the first stop-off as a retired man. The family were heading over to visit his eldest son Jamie and take in the Big Apple’s version of the St Patrick’s Day parade.
But as Davis alluded to in his tweet, a big challenge is facing us all. That challenge is Covid-19.
“The bigger picture,” Davis tells The42, echoing the views of everyone that our health and safety is paramount at the moment.
“We decided not to go. My wife’s Dad is older and my parents are older. I just couldn’t go and take a chance. We’ll have to suck that up as well.”
Thank you Tony for your outstanding service to the people of Cork as a member of An Garda Siochana and your brilliant contribution to the golden era of Cork Gaelic Football. Best Wishes on your new journey.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 6, 2020
Davis is a selector with his O’Donovan Rossa club in Skibbereen, but that aspect of his life is also on ice for the moment.
All GAA activity has been suspended until 29 March, following an announcement from the association. That includes matches and training sessions for all age grades.
Similar to his attitude about cancelling his holiday, Davis can only commend the GAA for imposing this blanket ban. However, stalling the fixtures calendar poses some interesting questions for the GAA about how the rest of the season will look.
“It’s the welfare of everybody,” says Davis. “The big problem I feel now is you have the month of March off. April is supposed to club month and you’re starting championship in May. So this kind of throws the whole thing out of kilter really.
“If people go by it, and they should, it means teams will be starting in May with no training really.
Otherwise they’ll have to rearrange the club fixtures which would discommode about 95% of the players of the country. It’s a tough one but they had no choice, they had to do the right thing.”
Davis is grateful of the experience he had during his time as a guard. He was a crime prevention officer during the last portion of his career, but he occupied various roles and policed in various places over the years.
He was in Dundalk for a spell and taught for two years in the Templemore Garda College.
The job blended well with his football commitments too. “That was the beauty of it,” he recalls. In fact, Davis remembers the 80′s as a time when An Garda Síochána was recruiting in huge numbers.
The influx brought in some high-profile inter-county players, including the deceased John Kerins who was the goalkeeper on that 1990 Cork team. Along with being his team-mate, Kerins was a colleague of Davis.’
Kerry legend John Egan was also a guard, and the strength of their team was comparable to that of an inter-county outfit. All-Ireland inter-firm titles followed for the law enforcers, according to Davis.
Davis looks back on his days as a guard fondly, but of course, the work brought up some troubling experiences too.
Working in the guards, you meet people at their most vulnerable,” he begins. “You meet people who might only need assistance once in their life, and if you can make any bit of a difference at that stage, that’s what it’s all about.
“That’s why I joined the guards all those years ago. It might sound corny, but that’s why I stuck at it. You’re in a privileged position to be able to help people out when they need you, and that’s important.
“Where I was, which was beside the crime unit, they saw and came across awful stuff. They go to all the scenes of the serious crimes and they just brush it off. I suppose you learn to cope with that.
“It is quite challenging, but generally, I had a fantastic time in the guards. I made the most of it, and met great colleagues and people.”
This writer’s earliest memories of Davis are not of his rampaging runs up the field from the Cork backs, but of him in a suit in the Sunday Game studio.
For almost 20 years, he was a regular face on their football panels, and a mainstay of their coverage. It started out in 1994 when he was asked to be on duty for the All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Leitrim.
It was, as Davis recollects, “a chastening experience” but it was also the day he first saw future star Jason Sherlock illuminate the stage in the minor game.
I was up in the crow’s nest with Michael Lyster. Michael was talking and I was trying to lip read him because it was just a box up in the scaffolding. You couldn’t hear him, there were no ear pieces and I was looking at him thinking, ‘Jesus, what’s he asking me?’
“It was Jason Sherlock’s first day in Croke Park, he was playing that day. He stood out a mile, he was top class.”
Davis enjoyed the camaraderie with his Sunday Game colleagues up until he decided to step away from punditry in 2015. Being at the coalface of some pivotal moments in GAA history was exciting for him.
He gave his due diligence to the hard work when it was required, but all in all, lending his expertise to the programme was just great fun.
Davis misses the buzz of the match-day occasion of course, but it was time to move on. He wanted to give more time to his children and start attending the games they were involved in. And the feeling of no longer being a recently retired player fed into his reasoning to step down as well.
“I think you have to call it as you see it, but you can’t make it too personal,” he replies when asked for his thoughts on the perception of modern-day punditry being less honest.
I do not like when it’s personal. These are amateur players, both girls and guys, and what you say can have an affect on their private lives for going for a job or something like that.
“A lot of these kids are only in their formative years in going for interviews. You can comment on style of play and stuff like that but I don’t think it should be that personal.
“I’ve an issue with that. I don’t like that.”
The mention of these personal verbal attacks inevitably leads to a conversation about Joe Brolly.
The 1993 All-Ireland winner has often been accused of being the chief offender here.
Davis, however, is a big fan of his former colleague in punditry, and feels he is a huge loss to the Sunday Game following his departure last year.
“Joe was a once off, he’s a very bright guy. He sees a different world to a lot of people. He’s very bright, a very interesting character. He brings a lot of entertainment to something.
“He thinks very deeply about the game and has a lot of good points to make. But again, I don’t like personal stuff. I don’t agree with that.
Of course he’s a loss. Even if you met Joe, he’s entertaining, without even trying. Joe has a brilliant mind. He goes places where he doesn’t even know he’s gonna go himself and that’s very interesting.
“It makes you think about the game. Joe brings up a point and he goes on and on. You think where the hell he’s going or does he know himself? He does bring up a lot of very pertinent points.
“And I like his attitude to community. I like his attitude to the GAA, to amateurism. I agree with an awful lot of what Joe says. Now I disagree with some of what he says as well but I do agree with an awful lot of his points.”
Davis’ boots are long in the hot press by now and his Cork jersey has been passed on.
He would love to still be playing the game as “everything after playing is an anti-climax,” he laments. The evolution of sports science is something he would loved to have experienced as a player as well as the natural changes that have developed in the game of Gaelic football.
Dublin’s Stephen Cluxton is the most influential player in this respect, according to Davis.
The only thing he worries about is whether today’s player is truly enjoying the game the way his generation did. The idea of wrapping a person’s life in the all-consuming nature of modern sport isn’t healthy, he feels.
As for that infamous sending off incident in the 1993 All-Ireland final against Brolly’s Derry, well he’s happy for the Derry fans who knock lots of fun out of it.
“They love it but sure that’s life. I got sent off that day. Maybe I shouldn’t have been sent off. Maybe there’s other times I should have been sent off.
But the worst part of that was my brother Don was playing that day at wing forward and he never won an All-Ireland after that. That hurts me hugely, probably more than me not winning an All-Ireland in ’93. But that’s the way it goes. I kind of feel responsible for us not winning that game.
“You could say I legitimsed Brolly and gave him an All-Ireland medal,” he laughs. “They wouldn’t accept that in Derry.
“But they had a great team back then and we would have known them from playing them at minor U21. I’ve some great friends up in Derry.”
Like everyone else, Davis is in something of a limbo at the moment. But he reiterates that the bigger picture must prevail. He’ll take the next step in retirement when it’s safe to do so.
“It hasn’t been very relaxing over the last couple of days,” he says. But hopefully I’ll enjoy the summer. We’ll eventually get back to playing football and all the rest of it.
“And hopefully start a new chapter in September.”
Originally published at 08.00
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Quality player, very surprised he was dropped.
I’d be very surprised if he was dropped in the first place as he needed match time. He’s better than Jager in all facets that I’ve seen, scrum, maul and as we’ve all seen, in the lose. Jager, just not seeing it with him especially scrum. Am I missing something???
@Noel Lynn: Bealham is certainly well ahead of Jager and all other TH (Furlong apart) in Ireland, but I think Jager is doing a better job than you’re giving credit for. He’s been very good at scrum time for munster, especially when he came up against Porter, and was solid against Wales. His ruck defense was excellent both clearing and counter rucking and his goal line defense was superb. His lineout work wasn’t up to scratch IMO and he still needs to improve his S&C but he’s certainly got a high ceiling and a great addition to our TH stock.
@Noel Lynn: Short answer – yes
Easily the best TH after Furlong, who seems to have recovered some of his previous form. Great to have several options here between Furlong, Bealham, O’Toole and Jager. The order is not important as they are all playing well at the moment.
Literally no one else is suprised.
@Thesaltyurchin: I’m surprised, arguably pushing Furlong for a starting spot
Bealham is a quality player but I think it’s getting a bit clearer that farrell and his coaches are huge fans of jager. To go from the ‘training squad’ to the verge of the 1st choice 23 over a couple of weeks is pretty phenomenonal
@munsterman: jager has plenty to work on to over take Bealham. He may not have over taken TO’T yet, so 1 step at a time.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: well I’ve never seen farrell move so quickly to promote a player in a meaningful match. Even players like Joe Mccarthy and crowley had to put in their time in camp for a year or so. There’s every chance that bealham will be back-up th v England but you wouldn’t bet on it
@munsterman: There’s every chance that Bealham will start and Jager on the bench if Furlong injured.
@Con Cussed: yea that’d be the most likely scenario I’d imagine. It’s quite tough on otoole who’s been very good for Ireland too
@munsterman: Agreed. It just means the pressure is now on all four to keep the momentum up. It’s a tough position and injuries abound so can see them all getting a chance in the future.
This could mean Furlong has an injury concern… I hope not!
Has anyone authoritative said that Bealham was dropped? As far as I recall the mood music before the Welsh game was that Bealham had proved himself across a number of matches to be no great step down from Furlong; and that Farrell was taking advantage of a game we were almost certain to win to have a look at Jäger off the bench.
Depressing stuff
@Kevin Ryan: when have we ever seen farrell use a competitive game to just have a look at a player? The only time he ever changes up his side much is v the most tier2 of tier2 nations in Nov or else gets A games set up
@munsterman: Giving a guy a debut as a bench prop is not really changing the side much, though. And if he didn’t pick this game, he’d have to wait until the Autumn, assuming SA too strong. Anyways, we’ll see what Farrell does with the selection for the England game.
The story around Bealham is a bit of a head scratcher. Why was he dropped? Some say he needed time off as a new dad. Personally I believe the coaches think Jager is a better prop. When your coach uses faint praise to describe your last performance then you are in trouble. I think Farrell described Bealham’s last outing as “decent enough”. In all these scenarios the public never gets a true picture until someone writes a book.
@Tom Reilly: I seem to have missed him saying that about Bealham – was that in a press conference? I checked the post Italy match press conference again to refresh my memory, and Faz was effusive in his praise of the set piece, calling it excellent and top notch, so I’m surprised he would then be naming Finlay as not being a top performer. A lot of media said that Finlay was doing as much as he could possibly do to challenge Furlong for the starting berth on the back of his performance against Italy, so I don’t think I’m the only one who thought he performed excellent in that match.
@Tom Reilly: ah, I heard it now – it was from the pre-Wales match conference. To be honest, the way I hear it, it seemed more so saying that Oli deserved a chance in spite of Bealham having a decent performance. TBH, I think he couldn’t say “Wales’ scrum is poor so this is the best chance to give Oli a tryout in the six nations window”, so has to justify it on the basis of competition for places. If he said Finlay was excellent, then he would effectively be needing to say that Oli is even better, which would be a huge amount of pressure to put on a debutant. So, he kind of has to nearly qualify Bealham’s performance so as not to put down Wales.
@JoeVlogs: As I said earlier it is hard to know what exactly is going on. I think most people think Bealham did not deserve to be dropped from a playing point of view. Maybe something else is going on.
The euphemism that Alex Ferguson developed to replace “dropped” was “rotated.” The image that most of us have of a “dropped” player is of someone so bad in the last match that they had to be replaced. Sometimes it is about building squad depth, other times you were the Lions captain last week and this week not in the 23 – an utterly unexplainable event.
I suspect that Furlong has twinged his hamstring. If Furlong is out, Bealham absolutely starts ahead of Jager – and we all know that.
@PatN: I meant calf not hamstring
Bealham should be pushing Furlong for a starting position not getting dropped
When was the last v good game from Furlong?
@Derek Casserly: Last week!
There is much debate about the word “dropped” concerning Bealham. Was he or wasn’t he dropped. IMO if a player is available for selection, has been selected everytime he is available and then he is not selected, then he is indeed deemed “dropped”.
Let’s stop using the word “dropped”. To play at elite level you need a squad of 35 players and the ability to get game time into all of them. ( let’s not repeat RWC errors from the past). Rotatated is a much better word.