Time is ticking on veteran Johnston’s quest for honours
TIME is no longer his friend, but Seanie Johnston is entitled to wonder if it ever was. The clock is ticking on an inter-county career heavy with promise and drama but light on success. One life, two counties, three beginnings and soon enough the end will be in sight. ‘When you are younger you think it is going to go on forever. I came in at 18 thinking just that and suddenly you are 32 looking back and you have not won anything. I suppose you do appreciate it that bit more now,’ he muses. It could be argued that in his first stint with Cavan he was at his peak at a time when the county had hit rock bottom, while the contentious manner of his transfer to Kildare blurred the reality that he joined a group that were already shaping for a nose-dive in 2012. Looking at it from that perspective, this just might be the sweetest hand that time has dealt him. Back with his own for a second chance he thought he might never get, not least when he spent two years in the inter-county cold after finishing with Kildare in 2013. ‘Yeah, it was a difficult time and there is no point saying otherwise but I think is important for me to look forward rather than back.’ He tasted promotion on coming back last year and marked Cavan’s return to Division 1 against Dublin by kicking three points from play before a 16,000odd crowd at Breffni Park back in February. ‘We will not be playing there [Division 1] next year but we feel that we got a lot out of it,’ he added. For all that, though, as Monaghan – who along with Donegal and Tyrone represent Ulster’s ruling class – come to visit tomorrow, Cavan have already been dismissed as provincial lightweights and he doesn’t disagree. ‘Until you win something you are not going to be included in that group. That is the reality for us,’ admits Jonhston.