Inside Track: I should have been consulted on JJ’s planned Man U walk-out
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
It wasn’t right, me not being consulted over JJ Gabriel’s next move. After all, no-one has written more about this precocious 16-year-old, keeping a Skibereen Eagle-type eye on his progress from underage football to a potential place in English Premier League, or maybe even La Liga.
JJ was born Joseph Junior Ó Cearúill, son of Joe Ó Cearúill, a name which, to those who didn’t pay attention when Irish was being taught at school, translates to the one appearing at the top of this page.
I was first attracted to the name when I saw in a Sunday paper that a Joe Ó Cearúill was being released by Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, in his Highbury summer clean-out.
It piqued my interest: who could this chap be? So, I got on his case and saw that Joe had moved to a grade of football that wouldn’t have a Gunners team involved.
At different times after that he played with teams around London, Boreham Wood, Forest Green and the like, and at one stage tried his luck in Scotland. He even made it across to this country, signing forms with St Patrick’s Athletic. A real journeyman, if ever there was one.
It was on his trip with Pat’s to Oriel Park for a pre-season friendly that I made it up the Carrick Road to reacquaint with the grounds I had known well in my teenage years.
The purpose was to meet and have a photo taken with my namesake. The suggestion had come from photographer Mick Slevin. Democrat colleagues at the time, Gerry Prendergast and James Rogers, were in on it as well.
After an introduction, there were a few words.
Me: “Well, how are you? (None of your, “What’s the craic?” I wasn’t into that then, and am still not.)
Joe: “I’m fine, mate”
Me: “I share a name with you, and just wondering would you stand in for a photo. I write a column for the local ‘paper, and would love to publish the photo.”
Joe: “No problem, mate.”
Mick clicked his camera. Then there were a few words, a thank-you and a handshake, and it being a Tuesday night, I was off down to the Gaels for the lotto. There was no mention of his son – indeed, Joseph Junior might still have had to come into the world.
While Joe’s only outing of note with Arsenal was a place on the team that played in Dennis Berkamp’s testimonial, he was chosen by Stephen Staunton for a tour of America when the former Liverpool and Aston Villa was in charge of the Republic of Ireland team. By then, however, he had played with Ireland underage teams.
He got two matches in the States, and mustn’t have done too well. On his return home there were no prominent clubs scrambling for his signature.
He continued on his role as roamer, bringing up to nearly a dozen the teams for which he lined out. He may not have turned out with Pat’s, his stay at Inchicore lasting only a short while.
The next time Joe was in the news was when his son began to make waves. Even before he clicked into his teenage years, Joseph Junior was coming to several clubs’ notice, Real Madrid among them. And Nike wanted to have his name attached to their products, and were successful.
Such was his precocity, Joseph Junior was likened to a certain Argentina player, given the nickname ‘Kid Messi’. If that wasn’t enough, the young man was landed with another name.
Joseph Junior Ó Cearúill might appear on his birth cert, but for someone playing in the Premier League, or its equivalent elsewhere in the world, the handlers felt something more marketable required. JJ Gabriel is what they came up with.
Maybe it wasn’t ‘they’ who made the decision – dad is keeping a close eye on things and it might have been he who wanted the change.
When he settled in at Old Trafford and began scoring goals for fun with underage teams, JJ’s future looked to be in the famous red of Man United. Just a fortnight ago he scored three times in his team’s UEFA Youth League the 5-0 defeat of Sabah.
Last season he became the youngest-ever to be presented with the club’s Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award.
Though he had that lucrative deal with Nike, JJ wasn’t an earner with United, he being too young to sign professional forms. (He’s not 16 until next month.)
There were suggestions he was to be included in United’s squad for last Thursday night’s match with Brighton. But on the day before the Old Trafford match, he – or at least one of his background team – said he was quitting the club.
In ways, his announcement took some of the heat off the senior team and its management after the 3-2 defeat by Brighton, United handing back the lead after going two up.
It made news all over the place, getting no shortage of headlines and column inches, with several pundits, Roy Keane among them, also offering their tuppence worth.
Concensus is that the young man should mend his bridges with United. I know that’s what I’d be telling him, but, as said earlier, no-one, not even Joe, messaged to see what way I was thinking.