Rebel Dominic Creedon Reflects back on his fine Intercounty career Despite the trials and tribulations of holding down a place in a county team spoilt for its choice of ambassadors, erstwhile star footballer Dominic Creedon wouldn't have had it any other way. For five years he fought hard to prove himself on the Cork senior football stage, suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous bangs and knocks but galloped on in pursuit of personal goals, in search of that winning feeling with the Rebels. Challenges were never something the man was allergic to, however. Between 1980 and '85 the man from the village of Inchigeela mixed it with the best of the rest that Cork came up against in Munster and further afield. In that period of time there were highs and lows, one of the latter being particularly ingrained on his mind. Defeat to London in the All-Ireland Junior Final of 1986 still evokes heart-tugging emotions. Understandably the then Rebel midfielder (who commentators said played well and fired over three points that day into the bargain) mostly has painful memories to recall. "Maybe we took things for granted. It was the final proper and we probably thought we had done all the hard work. It's very hard to explain why we lost. No one could understand it, at least no one that was in Ruislip for the game. I remember we should have had it won in the first quarter. We should have had at least four goals in the first half. We hit the crossbar a couple had the backing of a gale force wind. When we went in six points down at half time I thought we could come back but we couldn't keep up with them in the second half. It just went from bad to worse for us," Dominic remembers. Born and reared in Inchigeela in mid-Cork, Dominic Creedon admits that the Ruislip episode was one of his most embarrassing moments in the famed red jersey but the sheer pressure that envelopes people involved in playing for Cork is one of the principal things he remembers from his high profile stint with Cork seniors. "The public in Cork have this perception that their teams ought to win every time they go out. There's a huge burden of expectation placed on the shoulders of players on the county team. It's definitely a drawback because it puts added pressure on the players and to be honest, I never enjoyed the playing side of things. It was hard work and you were under a lot of pressure before the match and to get into the match was a big relief. The tradition in Cork is such that teams are expected to succeed in both codes, largely because the county has such a large pool of players. Players know that if they play badly, they're going to be hauled off and an equally good player put instead of him," the Cork city based legal eagle confirmed. A qualified solicitor since 1979, Dominic recalls then team manager Eamonn Ryan putting the strength of Cork football into perspective. "I remember him reminding us that the team that beat Tipperary in the Munster Junior Final of '88 was practically a third string Cork side. He was emphasising the strength of football in Cork, not demeaning the value or talent inherent in that particular county side." A senior debutant with Cork in a National League match at Newcastle (versus Down) in the Autumn of 1980. Dominic remembers taking some time to adjust to the step-up in class that he was party to at that time. Playing with his own Junior club Ivelery in the mid-Cork division and coming up against the likes of Jack O'Shea and Brian Mullins ('my most difficult opponent') appeared a whole different ball game. A combination of all sorts of factors the building of his own home and a burgeoning law career seen to it that Dominic's inter county career took a fatal nose dive long before any nose dive was due. "There was a cleanout of players after the 1984 Munster final. New selectors came in and the likes of myself and others who had been about for a while found out that we were out of favour. I have to admit though that I saw the writing on the wall. The new selectors played a different emphasis on what they wanted and I was obviously surplus to requirements and after playing in the Munster Championships of 1982, '83 and '84 I decided to pull out for good from the county scene." A strapping midfielder who found it increasingly difficult to mix a burgeoning career with top class football. Dominic found that trying to merge both worlds was both physically and mentally draining. "You need to be mentally alert and agile on the field of play but I found myself becoming physically drained and soon I had lost a stone in weight. The loss of this type of poundage didn't help me playing football. Such a position reminded me of Ireland and their World Cup preparation. Jack Charlton didn't have the squad training in America, full time. They were finely tuned and didn't train hard for the matches. It seems to me that the Antrim hurlers were physically drained from this year's All-Ireland semi-final. It may be alright to train at full force at professional level but not in an amateur sport like GAA. You need a balance in your preparations," Dominic declared. Acknowledging that the demands on players nowadays are now such that professionalism is moving inexorably closer to being a really, Dominic Creedon can empathise with the strain on player's social and family circumstances and the strain on their pocket. "It's very hard to say whether players should get paid or not but the loss of work, of wages and of valuable time with their family does deserve some reasonable compensation. The whole thing needs to be cleared up either way because it's a bit of a grey area and the whole affair is coming under the microscope by an increasing number of players." Times have changed, changed utterly since Dominic Creedon embarked on a shorter than expected Senior County stint, and the man himself realises that the time will come when the huge amount of money filtering through into the game will have to trickle on down into the players pool. "The amount of sponsorship is enormous and players are aware of the sort of money that is floating about and benefiting certain sectors of the Association. I wouldn't begrudge the players a slice of that money and it's something that administrators shouldn't lose sight of." Ironically or perhaps predictably, the mid Cork divisional player of times past reckons that administration work is not for him in the GAA sense. He would, Dominic confirms, run a mile away from any invitation directed towards him in connection with pushing a pen, reading the minutes or going through the chair on behalf of club or county. The playing side of things always remained Dominic's soul brief. One of a family of fourteen born to John and Gretta Creedon of whom brothers, Tom, William and John were no mean exponents of the game of football either, the former Mungret College graduate who excelled at the game of rugby as well, ironically made his senior football debut at representative level in goals for University College Cork in 1977. He was in good company there too with the likes of Eugene Desmond of Cork, Kerry super-sub Sean Walsh, Johnny Mulvihill (current Kerry selector) and Cork's Tim O'Regan around at the time to bolster the Rebel academy. The move outfield was to come about sooner rather than later. With a good pair of hands and a rangy loping stride that ate up the ground like a ton of worms, Dominic graduated to play midfield for the Muskery division, served his apprenticeship there and went on to enjoy his senior innings from 1980 to '85. Most memorable match? "It would have to be the '83 Munster final when Tadhg Murphy scored a last minute goal to beat what was a brilliant Kerry team. It was my most memorable game but it was also a very disappointing year at the end of the day because we come to within a whisker of making the All-Ireland final. It's everyone's ambition to play in an All-Ireland final but it wasn't to be. Still, I've no regrets, enjoyed my football, made a lot of friends through it and had a good innings." Written by The Hogan Stand Magazine 14th Oct 1994. Tweet

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