Some of the most lauded underage footballers are being fooled into thinking senior success is a mere transition. Dublin footballer Paddy Andrews says that because he was one of them.

“I think underage players probably are blown up a little more these days,” says Andrews. “Especially with social media and all that. You can nearly be too successful at underage, not realise the challenge it is to play senior, and be successful.

“I might have been a good minor with Dublin, good with the club (St Brigid’s), or DCU. But it’s a huge step up to play senior, which you mightn’t realise at that age.

‘Huge step up’

“It might be easier for underage guys to have success, kick scores, things like that. College is a step up. But senior is a huge step up again. It might take some guys a few extra years to realise that. For me certainly that was the case.”

Andrews is speaking from considerable experience here: now aged 27, he was brought into the Dublin senior panel at the start of 2008, aged 19, under then manager Pillar Caffrey. A year later, with Pat Gilroy in charge, he played corner back in the panic and pandemonium that was Dublin's "startled earwig" display against Kerry. A year after that he was dropped off the panel completely.

So, while Dublin on to famously claim the 2011 All-Ireland, beating Kerry in the final, Andrews watched from the stands: a year later he was back in the panel, although it was only when Jim Gavin took charge – who previously managed Andrews at under-21 level – that he eventually made the big breakthrough.

Now, after being named GPA/GAA footballer of the month for September – mainly on the back of his man-of-the-match display against Mayo in the replayed All-Ireland semi-final on September 5th – his journey to the top is complete. Not that Andrews ever doubted himself.

“To be honest, no,” he says. “Not even when Pat dropped me off the panel, for 2011. Obviously it wasn’t the ideal year to be dropped, the way things panned out. But I always believed I had the talent, and potential, to play with Dublin. It was just a matter of being a bit more mature in terms of approach, work-rate, training, and things like that.

“And I suppose when you’re a young guy, you just need to grow up a little. But I never sat down and thought ‘this is it, I’ll never play for Dublin again’. It was just about working a bit harder, really buying into the team ethos, which Dublin needed at the time, to get that success. Fortunately for me it panned out quite well. But it never reached the stage when I thought that was it for me, no.

“But again, when I started with Dublin, I’d just turned 19, and expected I could just keep doing what I was doing at underage. But that’s definitely not the case. So maybe I learned it the hard way, but I am glad I did.”

Proved crucial

The fact Gavin then reinvented him as a Dublin forward proved crucial in this journey, although Andrews reckons he was never a natural-born defender anyway: in Dublin’s first league game under Gavin, against Cork at the start of 2013, Andrews started at full forward and hit 0-5 from play. A first hint, perhaps, of that 0-5 he hit against Mayo in the replayed semi-final last month.

“Well, I’d played centre back on the DCU Fresher’s team, that won the All-Ireland. At the time, we felt that maybe that was the best option there. I ended up corner back [against Kerry, in 2009], and like all the Dublin players, struggled that day. But it was a real watershed moment for the whole group, not just myself. But thank God I haven’t been back there since.

“When things like that happen, it’s not just bad luck, or a once-off. There’s a real structural change needed, a real cultural change. Maybe at times back then, we did get a little bit carried away with things. Considering we hadn’t won the All-Ireland since 1995. Or even been in a final.

“You can see now the way Dublin players, Dublin teams, carry themselves.

“Pat, and then certainly Jim in his period involved, have really gone back to that. 2009 was the start of it, but getting over the line in 2011 really gave us that belief.

“Winning in 2011 can’t be understated, how important that was for the belief of Dublin, because it had been so long. You’ve seen it numerous times over the last number of years. Obviously both games against Mayo this year, then a very scrappy final against Kerry. That comes with experience, as well as having that success.”