Jerome Johnston had a decision to make early last year.
His first child was due in August and Covid was rampant.
It was a time of uncertainty with vaccines not yet available and some leading inter-county players questioning if the League and Championship should go ahead at all.
Kilcoo and Down player Johnston sat down with his girlfriend, Sheryl, and they decided it wasn’t a time to take risks.
“We were getting ready for the birth of our son, Lar, so it was just too dangerous to commit,” said Johnston.
“I had no vaccines, Sheryl wasn’t able to get vaccines and I didn’t want to be putting her at risk by bringing something like Covid home to the house.
“We made the decision together to put Lar first and thankfully we did. He has arrived and it is the best moment of my life.”
The flying forward, 28, is now “completely focused” on Kilcoo ahead of Sunday’s AIB Ulster final encounter with Derrygonnelly.
But asked if he was open to a Down return he didn’t hesitate as he said: “Absolutely. There has been no chatting to James McCartan yet but I am sure once Kilcoo is over, hopefully he will have a chat with a number of boys.
“James is a Down legend, an unbelievable player. He took Down very close in 2010 to the All-Ireland. There was only a kick of the ball in it. James was a massive appointment for Down.”
Johnston’s brother Ryan has represented Down seniors while another sibling, Shealan, was U20 captain for last year’s Ulster Championship triumph.
With their athleticism and pace, the prospect of the three brothers lining out for their county together in the future is a very real one but that’s for another day.
Either way, Jerome reckons more has to be done to prevent players ending up on an endless treadmill of training and games.
He is hopeful the ‘split season’ – which comes into play this year after being delayed due to Covid last year – can work if it is tweaked.
This year the All-Irelands will be over by July 24, barring replays, with players then able to turn their full focus to the club scene.
Johnston believes a split season would be good for Down football at inter-county level, the clubs and county players who wouldn’t have to serve two masters any longer.
“It needs to be done correctly,” he said. “It needs to be a proper split season. Is it really a split season at the minute if you have boys still playing with their club when you have inter-county
running?”
He added: “Now with the split it seems like the season has actually got longer and there is more overlapping taking place.
“I think that’s something definitely Down would really, really get the benefit from, if inter-county and club went to a complete split season and there was an off season from the third week in December to the third week in January.”
