'It was hard watching last year', says McCrabbe
February 04, 2014
Dublin's Alan McCrabbe
The former All Star missed out on a coveted provincial medal after taking a year out from Anthony Daly's squad due to work commitments, but he is looking forward to making his return in a challenge match against Offaly this week, having missed the recent Walsh Cup campaign with a broken hand.
Explaining his decision to opt out of the panel last year, the Craobh Chiarain clubman told the Irish Independent: "I didn't want to stand out giving 70 percent or 80 percent instead of 100 percent like the rest of the lads.
"I wouldn't feel I was giving enough to the team if I was only doing that. So I took the decision myself just to stand out until I was right to go back.
"Circumstances have changed. I'm after getting a new job and I'm working on an 8am to 4pm shift so it gives me time to get out to training and go everything else with the lads and put the effort in."
He continued: "It was very hard watching last year and probably thinking to myself that I could have done a little thing here or there for the team. Obviously I'm going to put the head down and try to get back into the starting 15, or back into the panel anyway, and see how things go from there.
"There's unbelievable talent there now. I came back this year and there's young lads in the team that I've never ever seen before. It's good to see. They're big lads and they're all fighting for positions in the team.
"I definitely think there's an All-Ireland in this team. They weren't far off last year." Tweet
