Geezer and Dessie... it's more than just bragging rights

CAFFREY INSISTS OLD PALS WILL BE DESPERATE TO CLAIM CRUCIAL WIN

- Pat NOLAN

IT WAS at the Olympia Theatre a few years back that Paul Caffrey last crossed paths with Kieran McGeeney.

Copperface Jacks The Musical was on and Caffrey was in attendance with Cathal Jackson, the owner of the legendary nightclub that spawned the show, and much else besides.

'Pillar' and McGeeney picked up seamlessly, just as they will whenever they bump into each other again in the future. That's the nature of their relationship and, Caffrey senses, McGeeney's with those whom he will share the Croke Park sideline with tomorrow.

"I had a great chat, that's just the way he would be," says Caffrey. "He was with his wife Maura that night.

"I'd send him the odd text or WhatsApp after big games or before them and he'd always come back to me, be very respectful to me and all that, so I'd imagine that's the way he operates with the likes of Dessie or Mick Galvin or these fellas that would still touch base with him."

As it happens, it was in Coppers that Dessie Farrell and McGeeney first made acquaintance in the late '90s, which led to the Armagh centre-back throwing in his lot with Na Fianna.

Managed by Caffrey and with Galvin having joined from St Oliver Plunkett's, they won three Dublin Championships in-a-row, a Leinster title and reached the 2000 All-Ireland club final, losing to Crossmaglen Rangers.

Farrell and McGeeney were also key figures in the formative years of the Gaelic Players' Association and well beyond, serving as chief executive and secretary respectively.