Kevin Cassidy

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Kevin Cassidy
Kevincassidy.jpg
Personal information
Irish name Caoimhín Ó Casaide
Sport Gaelic football
Position Wing Back
Born 1982 (age 41–42)
Gweedore, County Donegal
Nickname Cass
Club(s)
Years Club
1999 – present Ghaoth Dobhair
Club titles
Donegal titles 2
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
2002–2011 Donegal
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles 1
NFL 1
All Stars 2

Kevin Cassidy is an Irish Gaelic footballer from Gweedore, County Donegal. A former member of the Donegal inter-county football team, Cassidy was twice an All Star—in his maiden season and in his last. He plays his club football for Ghaoth Dobhair.

Regarded as one of the best attacking wing half-backs of his generation, Cassidy has also played in midfield. A fluent Gaeilgeoir, he lives in the Gaeltacht area of Donegal. Cassidy and his wife both teach as a profession and have two young children.[1] At present, he is absent from the inter-county scene after becoming involved in a dispute about a book with manager Jim McGuinness.

Early life

Cassidy's mother Anne is a native of Gweedore, while his father Tommy is from Scotland. His mother emigrated to Scotland where she met his father. Kevin, his brother Stephen and his five sisters were born in Glasgow where they lived until Cassidy was eight years of age. Then they moved to the Gaeltacht and Cassidy learned the Irish language.[2]

Playing career

Club

Cassidy won a Donegal Senior Football Championship medal with Ghaoth Dobhair in 2002.[3] While in the United States in 2006, he played in the Boston Championship. He returned later in the summer to win a second Donegal Senior Football Championship with Ghaoth Dobhair, beating St Eunan's in the 2006 final.[3]

Inter-county

Cassidy made his Championship debut against Cavan at Breffni Park on 12 May 2002.[4] In his first season with Donegal, the team reached the 2002 Ulster Senior Football Championship final, but were defeated.[3] Then he famously went on the lash when Donegal secured a draw against Dublin in their August Bank Holiday Monday All-Ireland quarter-final. Dublin obliterated Donegal in the replay.[5] Nevertheless, Cassidy was awarded an All Star for his performances that year.[1]

The following year, his commitment to the team was called into question again. With Fermanagh having knocked Donegal out the Ulster Championship, the team entered the All-Ireland Qualifiers, with their first game coming against Longford on a Saturday evening in Ballybofey. Cassidy spent the day before at a wedding in Gweedore. He later recalled: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Things were not going that well and I was at that point a bit fed up with football. I ended up going on the beer that night. After that I stopped messing, cos I'll never forget it. At the time, I thought, 'ah sound, the game is at a quarter past six,' but this is a championship game we're talking about. I woke up at 12.0 (the next day) and there were a couple of missed calls on the phone. And it was just then that I thought, 'what have you done?' I rang John Gildea, he was the most senior player at the time. 'How's things, wee Kevin?' He'd obviously heard. I went up and Brian [McEniff, team manager] said, rightly so, 'you're dropped off the team.'[5]

A Kevin Cassidyless Donegal overcame Longford, and ultimately reached the All-Ireland semi-final where they sustained a narrow loss to Armagh at Croke Park.[3][5]

In 2004, Cassidy helped Donegal to reach the Ulster Senior Football Championship Final which they lost, again to Armagh.[3][5] Their Championship season ended in defeat to Fermanagh.[5]

In 2006, he and Eamon McGee were suspended from the Donegal football panel over a breach of discipline.[6][7] As a result of his suspension, Cassidy played no part in the 2006 Championship and went to Boston in the United States for the Summer. Cassidy returned to the Donegal team the following year, this time in midfeld alongside Neil Gallagher, and went on to play a pivotal role in helping Donegal win the county's first ever National Football League title in 2007.[8] It was the first piece of silverware for the county senior team since 1992.

Cassidy was named Donegal captain for the 2008 season.[9] He savagely criticised the treatment of Brian McIver as a "disgrace", when the County Board famously forced McIver to resign.[10] He quelled a potential players revolt in 2010.[11]

Cassidy had announced his intention to retire after Donegal's Championship exit in 2010 but new Donegal manager Jim McGuinness called him into the 2011 Dr. McKenna Cup panel.[12] Cassidy went on to help Donegal to their first provincial title in 19 years with the defeat of Derry in the 2011 Ulster Senior Football Championship Final.[13] In the All-Ireland quarter-final against Kildare in Croke Park on 30 July 2011, he scored a long-range winning point in stoppage time at the end of extra-time, a point that sent Donegal on to an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Dublin.[14] This thrilling end to an "extra-time epic" is to this day regarded as "the finish to a sporting contest normally only imagined inside the heads of Hollywood scriptwriters".[15]

Dispute with Jim McGuinness

In November 2011, manager Jim McGuinness dropped Cassidy from the Donegal team after he contributed to a book (This Is Our Year).[16][17][18]

He appeared not to understand why this was so.[19][20]

Cassidy has not played for Donegal since.[21]

In what went down as a "surreal moment for the viewer", Mícheál Ó Domhnaill famously interviewed McGuinness following a live 2012 league game on TG4 while Cassidy, in the role of television analyst, stood beside him with his head bowed.[22][23]

He moved to Boston in 2012.[24] He moved to Chicago in 2013.[25]

Neil McGee thinks about him after every game.[26]

International rules

Cassidy has in the past represented Ireland in the International Rules Series.[3]

Personal life

While young, Cassidy's childhood football heroes were Derry's Anthony Tohill, Seán Óg de Paor of Galway and Donegal's Anthony Molloy.[1]

Cassidy is a fan of the Celtic soccer team, having spent some of his childhood in Glasgow, Scotland. He regularly attends matches at Parkhead.

In July 2012, Cassidy was found guilty of affray and sentenced to community service.[27][28][29]

See also

References

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  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Donegal Senior Captain
2010–2011		 Succeeded by
Michael Murphy

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