By John Harrington

On May 19, 2012, Dean Rock was watching the Champions League Final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich when Pat Gilroy’s number flashed up on his phone.

Rock presumed the then Dublin manager was ringing to tell him he’d be making his championship debut against Wexford in the Leinster SFC quarter-final two weeks later.

Imagine his shock then when Gilroy told him straight out that he was ringing to tell him he was cutting him from his panel.

The following day Rock hit the roads and ran and ran until his heart hurt and his legs burned as he tried to flush the disappointment from his system.

Fast forward eight and a half years and he has six All-Ireland medals and is Dublin football’s all-time top-scorer.

That pain of that rejection he suffered in 2012 lit a fire in him that still burns hot today.

“It just transpired that for whatever reason, I wasn’t deemed good enough at the time,” recalls Rock of being cut from the panel back then.

“I remember the next day going down to Garristown, where I live, running and running for hours until my Dad had to come down and pick me up.

“So I think it was just that resilience piece that you need as a sportsperson. You’re going to have your setbacks.

“I certainly had them and I could easily have packed it in and walked away.

“But I made a promise to myself that I was going to do what I could. Luckily enough the club came to the rescue for me that year. We won the club championship and that set me up for when Jim (Gavin) came in in 2013.

“So yeah, I suppose from there, I never looked back.”

Rock now qualifies for veteran status given his long service, but he’s probably playing the best football of his life.

His free-kicking is as accurate as ever, and no Dublin forward scored more from open play than him in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Cavan and Leinster Final win over Meath.

His movement in both of those matches was a joy to watch as he continually made himself available on looping runs that allowed him to pick up possession in a pocket of space and get a shot off.

“I feel great,” he says. “I’m 30 now but I’ve always looked after my body really well and thankfully, I’ve missed very few games with Dublin over the last number of years.

“So I take great pride in my preparation on and off the field. I make sure I’m in a position to challenge for a starting position.

“So I think when you’re looking after yourself on and off the pitch, that transpires to good performances on it.

“Yeah, I’m really enjoying my football. The club championship has been brilliant this year. It has freshened things up for all of us really.”

Rock believes that he and his Dublin team-mates actually benefited from the enforced break from football earlier this year caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was always going to be a big ask for them to recovery mentally and physically from the exertion required to complete the historic five-in-a-row, and in the early rounds of the League there were signs of fatigue.

After coming back from lockdown, though, Dublin look like a rejuvenated force.

“After the All-Ireland last year, the League probably came on us a little quicker than usual, with everything that was going on,” says Rock.

“Maybe it was a blessing in disguise in terms of the delay in the championship, who knows?

“But I think it was a reprieve. Even from the mindset perspective. It meant lads could have a good quality club championship with their clubs and not the usual two or three weeks you get at the end of the year.

“It was nice going up to Poppintree Park in Ballymun and train there, where we trained when we were kids. From that perspective, it was hugely refreshing.

“For me personally, it’s been a great year. Turning 30, winning with the club was obviously very satisfying this year. It obviously hasn’t gone unnoticed the struggles we’ve had with Ballymun over the years in terms of getting our best players on the pitch.

“So to be able to train with the club lads all summer and give that a full whack was one of the most enjoyable moments in my career.”

Rock reached the landmark of 100 senior games for Dublin in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Cavan and in that time he has scored an incredible 18-478.

In recent times he’s leapfrogged players like Kevin Heffernan, his own farther Barney, and Bernard Brogan on the list of Dublin all-time top scorers.

And he finally made it to the top of the pile when passing out the long time incumbent, Jimmy Keaveney, after kicking 1-8 in Dublin’s League win over Meath last October.

“I wouldn’t have been too aware of it until the end of last year,” says Rock of his record-breaking exploits.

“Probably after the All-Ireland final, somebody said something that I overtook my Dad.

“Then you now you were close to overtaking Bernard Brogan and Jimmy Keaveney and those great guys.

“You were aware of it. But it’s one of those things. You just tick it off your list and move on. You wouldn’t be going out in a game saying ‘I need to get six or seven points here to overtake whoever.’

“It was just go out and perform and the rest of that stuff looks after itself.”

Rock is as prolific as he is thanks to an ability to block out all external distractions when going through his free-kick routine.

You might think that’s easier to do now that there are no supporters in the stadium trying to put him off, but opposition players have taken up the slack.

“It probably is a little bit surreal,” says Rock.

“The last number of years, obviously big games at Croke Park, you’d be used to having the crowd at your back, or giving you a few cheers here and there.

“It is quite surreal, but it’s probably just more with the way you practice, unusually because there is no crowd there. It’s a bit more like the rugby side of things.

“You probably have to stay a little bit more disciplined in terms of your own process and routine and try not to let yourself, drift, or listen to the guys who are trying to put you off, beside you.”

“Obviously, it’s different, but we have embraced it, the challenge and the change that this year has brought from all angles of life.

“Look I think we are in a very privileged position to be playing in an All-Ireland final on the 19th of December and I’m sure there are lots of people who would give up their right hand to be there.

“We are hoping to put in a really good performance and give the people of Dublin something to shout about.”