HE'S the newly crowned Opel/GPA Footballer of the Year, but rewind 12 months and Jack McCaffrey admits he was a picture of disappointment.
Sandwiched between the individual brilliance of the Dublin defender's 2013 and '15 campaigns, both of which yielded All-Ireland medals, the 22-year old briefly lost his way, starting just two Championship games in 2014.
That campaign would ultimately end with a disastrous semi-final defeat to Donegal and, when the post-mortem was conducted, it didn't reflect well on the young Clontarf man. Putting it bluntly, the UCD student of medicine reckons he simply took it all for granted, having enjoyed a thrilling 2013 campaign and subsequently captaining the Dublin U21s to All-Ireland glory.
If there was a moment it all turned around, it was perhaps last February when, against Donegal in the Allianz League at Croke Park, a significant fixture given the two teams' history, McCaffrey came off the bench and scored a decisive 1-1. He would cut a dash from the half-forward line in the Sigerson Cup for UCD, before helping Dublin to a three in-a-row of league title successes and starting every game in the successful Championship campaign.
Right now, he says his chief concern is juggling the All-Ireland celebrations with his studies, a far cry from the personal disappointment of last winter. Asked what he puts his 2014 dip in form down to, McCaffrey said he was actually thinking about it just recently.
"Probably a bit of complacency, to be honest, having had a good year in 2013 and winning the All-Ireland," said McCaffrey.
"I probably got a little bit... you know, took the eye off the ball. In the early rounds of the league and the Championship, it was always 'ah, there's plenty of time, I'll get in at some point'. That set my season back a bit and, when I did get in, our season ended abruptly, so there was no time to push on from there.
"I didn't look at anything in particular this year, probably just getting in decent shape, fit. Other than that, no. Like tackling and shoring up our defence was something that we all might have looked at, not just me. Other than that, it was about going back to what had made us successful in 2013, which was going out and enjoying playing football. Once we went out to Croke Park with a smile on our faces, things seemed to go our way."
McCaffrey said he never questioned himself or his ability to pull himself out of the slump: "I just set out this year to be in the best possible shape that I could be, playing as well as I could play," he added.
"If I wasn't picked when I was doing that, then fair enough, the better man wins. But, thankfully, I was picked."
McCaffrey's spike in form this year resulted in not just that Player of the Year award, but a maiden Allstar, meaning he and his father Noel have both won Allstars in the half-back line for Dublin.
"His Allstar award is from 1988," said Jack.
"We have it at home and I actually managed to snap it in half when I was two-years-old. I knocked it off a shelf or something. The two of them are sitting beside each other now. It is lovely, great to have that tie to generations gone by. My family, the McCaffrey family, have always been very involved in the GAA, so it was very nice."
Jack is also attempting to emulate his father by becoming a doctor. He is studying at UCD and, in time, will have to balance his inter-county commitments with work placements and hospital training.
"I don't know, I actually always thought the football and the study go hand-in-hand - it's only when I found recently that, when you're trying to celebrate and study, they are at odds a bit," McCaffrey joked.
"No, our pre-season occurs over Christmas and in January, when college is on break, and the summer time too, when the Championship is on, again you're on your holidays. So I would hope to continue to do everything. So far, so good anyway."
