Jack McCaffrey smiles at the mention of the word. He has not “retired” from intercounty football. But, at the same time, he finds it hard to picture himself playing for Dublin again. Time moves on, and all that.McCaffrey is 32 now. He considered returning to the Dublin squad this season under Ger Brennan but the demands of his job as a paediatric doctor in Dublin made it unworkable. “I spoke with Ger, I had a bit of a feeling that I might be able to get back up to the pitch of things, so I set about doing some training but it kind of quickly became apparent that [it wouldn’t be possible],” says McCaffrey.“I know I’ve stepped away from intercounty football a few times and it’s usually been because I didn’t want to be there. But I’m too busy at the minute. I was trying to go out three times a week to train on my own and I was not able to do that, whatever about trying to commit to a group. “The one thing about intercounty football is when you’re in it, you’re in it. And so it wasn’t going to work. There’s every chance I wouldn’t have been up to the standard, or a million other things that could have happened. “I’ve great time for Ger, having played with him and kind of worked with him in UCD. We had a couple of chats but it just wasn’t a runner, so we left it off.”So he’s retired from intercounty football then?“Never retired, I’m only 32,” smiles the 2015 Footballer of the Year.“No, retirement is a very dirty word. But I think if you were to rock up to pitch 35 in St Anne’s Park [watching him play with Clontarf] you wouldn’t be handing me a Dublin jersey anytime soon.”McCaffrey remains a cult hero for many Dubs fans but while he hasn’t completely closed the door on pulling on the sky blue again, he doesn’t quite see it as a likely scenario either.[ Jack McCaffrey: ‘After my hamstring exploded for the 10th time, I was thinking ‘what am I doing’?’Opens in new window ]“I mean there’s always a possibility, logistically. Yeah, I’m actually going to be working a much quieter job from July, but this is not a ‘come and get me’ to the Dublin management,” he adds.“I think that ship has sailed. And it actually is really exciting as a Dublin fan watching a really new group kind of putting their own stamp on things and going through all the teething issues that come with trying to bring a new group together. “But I think in my silent moments on my own, I probably have to acknowledge that that chapter is over.”Jack McCaffrey at the launch of PTSB’s sponsorship of the Dublin GAA club leagues and championships on Monday. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho His club career is certainly far from over and he has helped Clontarf to a strong showing in Division One of the league in the capital this season. He has been living in Ranelagh recently and so his training warm-up and warm-down has been to cycle across town to sessions. “The club standard in Dublin is really high and then the football is super competitive, but the one big difference between intercounty and club is you can kind of hop off the bike five minutes before training, pull on the boots and get cracking. Whereas at intercounty you’re there 90 minutes before, watching videos and all that kind of jazz.”McCaffrey hasn’t been a militant observer of Dublin games since stepping away. He’ll catch them when he can but his life doesn’t revolve around watching matches. He has, however, kept an eye on the debate over Ger Brennan’s 12-week suspension. McCaffrey says he completely understands why Brennan, who will return to the Dublin sideline against Cavan next Sunday, felt the need to come out last week and clarify his position.Brennan released a statement through his solicitor last Wednesday in response to comments made by GAA president Jarlath Burns – who had said the incident that led to the Dublin manager’s ban was not comparable with the recent flashpoint involving Donegal manager Jim McGuinness in Killarney.“I think Ger has acknowledged and apologised and held his hand up early doors. Probably felt that his punishment was overly harsh and he pursued his appeals – as far as I could see, quietly. And was unsuccessful in them,” says McCaffrey.“And then didn’t say a peep really ... until he did. Which I think was prompted by a particularly verbose member of the GAA hierarchy talking about it.“And I think he [Ger] has every right [to come out and make his point]. Like, he did something wrong, he was punished, he accepted his punishment. “I think Ger has kind of behaved really admirably around the whole thing, in terms of just keeping the head down insofar as he could.”– Jack McCaffrey was speaking at the launch of PTSB’s new sponsorship of Dublin club leagues and championships.