When tracing Jack Grealish’s rise to Aston Villa captain at Wembley, and probably playing there for England next month, not many would nominate an under-13s Gaelic football match in Birmingham as an influential fixture in his development. But Kevin McGinnity can, and does.
“It was 11, 12 years ago,” McGinnity says. “We played Castleblayney, from Monaghan. They were the champions from the previous year and we demolished them.
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“That was in Birmingham, at the Féile, quite a big achievement. We — and he — turned a lot of heads that day.”
The “he” was Grealish, then making his way at Villa’s academy, while playing Gaelic football on Sundays for the John Mitchels club.
Second and third generation English-Irish boys defeating Irish lads over from County Monaghan is no small feat and when McGinnity speaks of Grealish’s role in these local, Birmingham under-age Gaelic football teams, he sounds like someone describing the Grealish of this season captaining Villa in the Premier League.
“Jack has just got a football brain, full stop,” he says, “whether it’s Gaelic or soccer.
“You could see that from an early age. He was able to retain the ball, use the ball, he would control games. We had a really good little side and he gelled it all. He’d be able to see a run or a pass and whether the ball came out of his hand or off his foot, it got there. And that’s what he does now.”
Although Grealish’s parents, Karen and Kevin, were born in England, their parents were Irish, and young Jack entered the large Irish community in Birmingham both physically and culturally.
“Jack started with us at under-10s, I think,” McGinnity says. “He was brought to the club by his family — the Sharkeys would be cousins of his. They’ve played for the club over the years and still do.
“Jack played under-10s, under-12s, in a Féile tournament for under-13s, and he played for the county — Warwickshire — at Croke Park [the Dublin stadium that is the Wembley of Gaelic sports] in 2012, in an exhibition match at half-time.”
Last month, Kevin Grealish said of his son: “It was a summer sport, Gaelic, and he’d play that non-stop. He didn’t care about your crickets or rugbys.”
McGinnity says Grealish’s Gaelic enthusiasm rubbed off on his team-mates: “As soon as the lads saw he’d be playing, it lifted everybody. He loved it and he’s such a nice lad, a genuine lad.”
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Gaelic football combines hand and foot technique on sometimes vast pitches. It is combative and draining — Kevin Grealish describes it as “brutal”.
McGinnity understands. He says: “I find it funny when I watch football now and he [Grealish] is the ‘most-fouled player’. I’m thinking, ‘He was the most-fouled player when he was playing Gaelic.’ It’s meant to be non-contact at that age, but it’s not.
“He was small, but he was strong and he was able to take contact even then. His dad Kevin said recently that it toughened Jack up; he used to take some awful rattles.
“We get a lot of rugby lads who come to us, because it’s mainly a summer game, and when they go back to their clubs their coaches ask us: ‘What are you doing to these lads? They’re so strong.’ It certainly had an impact on Jack.”
Strength is one thing, but there is also the protective, shielding element to Grealish’s gait. In some sense, the sport shaped him and he himself has said: “Getting kicked around at Gaelic, getting shoulder-barged, it helped.”
Villa, however, had something to shield and as McGinnity says: “Later, he kind-of tailed off. He still played games here but the commitment to Villa was too much, really. I’m not sure he should have played the games for us that he did.”
Grealish, 24, remains in touch with the club via social media. With such a surname and grandparents from Dublin, Galway and Kerry, the Football Association of Ireland were always going to be interested and in May 2010, aged 14, Grealish was called up by Republic of Ireland Under-15s. There was no equivalent offer from England.
Kyle McFadden, from Donegal and Norwich City, was in that squad and when Grealish progressed to the Irish under-17s and a 2011 UEFA qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan, McFadden was the team’s captain.
“Sometimes when you’re an English lad coming into an Irish set-up, it might take a wee while to get involved,” McFadden says, “but Jack was straight in. He’s a big personality. He got on with everybody.
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“There were two other English boys — Jordan Graham and Bradley Lewis — and they were both at Villa as well. That might have made it easier. But Jack didn’t need much pushing to get involved. He was a sound lad.”
Grealish’s gregariousness was mentioned more than once by McFadden, who says there was no particular integration policy, beyond rooming together, for the English-Irish players.
“As Irish boys we always like to turn and face the flag for the anthem. If boys didn’t want to do it, no problem — as long as they did their stuff in the game,” he says. “But the English boys did turn, fair play to them.
“As a player, you knew from the first time Jack came on board that he’d be top class. I’ll never forget one of our team-talks — it was in Kazakhstan — and our coach, John Morling, basically said, ‘Get the ball out wide to Jack.’
“We’d no problem doing that, and we qualified. We’d a good group of players, but he was definitely a big spark for us.”
And, McFadden adds, what all the Irish boys saw was Grealish’s lower-body strength.
“He’s a very low centre of gravity — and his legs are massive. When we played against Holland, he could hold his own against Nathan Ake,” he says.
“I remember that’s what the boys would always say in the changing room: ‘You’re so young but your legs are massive.’ Maybe that’s why he wears his socks low? Because his calves are so massive he can’t pull the socks over them.
“His Gaelic background probably helped him. He’s hard to get off the ball for a wee fella.”
Those low-slung socks are actually a Grealish homage to George Best.
Grealish remained in the Irish youth system through to under-21 level. He won FAI player of the year at under-17 level in 2012 and under-21 level in 2015. He was a full Ireland international in the making.
At Villa, he was part of the team that won UEFA’s NextGen under-19 series in 2013 and a couple of days after his 18th birthday, Grealish was sent on loan to League One Notts County.
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He made his senior debut at MK Dons in September 2013, replacing Danny Haynes as a second-half substitute. And while Kevin Grealish has said Gaelic football has given his son upper-body strength, Haynes, like McFadden and the Irish boys, recalls: “His legs are like tree trunks, massive.
“He’s always had big legs, he is physically strong. Everyone noticed that. He is stronger than he looks.”
Haynes also noted Grealish’s youth — “He was a child playing a man’s sport” — and his ability.
Notts County manager Chris Kiwomya had also secured a 20-year-old Callum McGregor on loan from Celtic and together the two youngsters influenced their seniors. Not long after Grealish arrived, County lost 2-1 away to Carlisle but as Haynes says: “The scoreline didn’t show it, but if you’d been at the game, you’d know we played total football.
“Jack and Callum started and they were unbelievable. That’s when we began to say, ‘These kids…”
Grealish stayed a season, scored his first senior goal — against Gillingham — and helped County avoid relegation by three points.
“Jack developed very quickly,” Haynes says. “I knew he’d get somewhere. But I didn’t know he’d get to this level.
“The Jack Grealish we knew — since then he’s matured a hell of a lot. He had issues off the field and I believe coming to Notts County helped him overcome that and mature as a young man. I commend him massively. He could have let it go to his head.
“At the same time, you’ve got to understand he was a teenager. It’s a man’s sport and everyone expects people to mature the same, but they mature differently.
“Remember, children leave school, go to college or university and they still do childish things — Jack’s no different. He was a teenager and everyone’s expecting him to be this man? That’s not the case. He’s a kid. Come on, he’d just left school.”
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Haynes is referring to incidents such as the “Hippy Crack” episode — which made the front and back page of one tabloid and headlines like: “Grealish in New Party Storm”.
Hence, says Haynes: “If you’d have told me at Notts County that Jack would be captain at Aston Villa and doing all the great things he’s doing, I’d maybe have said ‘No’. But he’s matured so quickly.”
At the end of that Notts County season, Grealish returned to Villa and was given another debut — two minutes at Manchester City as a replacement for Ryan Bertrand.
Paul Lambert was Villa manager then, the first of six Grealish has seen in his six seasons with the first team. Tim Sherwood succeeded Lambert and at the start of the 2014-15 season, as his 20th birthday approached, Grealish was a first-team squad member appearing regularly from the bench in the Premier League.
Attention moved towards his nationality, and not just publicly. Villa’s goalkeeper was Shay Given, whose status — 134 Irish caps, from Donegal like McFadden — meant he got involved with his club team-mate.
“I did sit down with Jack, yeah,” Given says. “I spoke to him in a serious way.
“I talked to him about his family, his background, playing for Ireland. I said he’d play every game for Ireland but he won’t for England. And [five years later] he’s still not played for England.
“If he had come across, he’d have 30 caps for Ireland by now, and if I was Mick McCarthy I’d still be on to him every day.
“I definitely tried. But you have to put yourself in his shoes and he was a young boy born in England; and to be fair to Jack, he should be in the England squad. His decision would be justified.
“From a selfish perspective, I’d love to see Jack in the Irish midfield, making things happen. But it’s easy to judge, it’s difficult to decide.”
Grealish revealed his decision to choose England in September 2015, five months after he announced himself on England’s national stage. In early April there was finally a Premier League start for Grealish, at home to QPR. Just 12 days later he was at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
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Boldly, Grealish was selected to start against a Liverpool midfield of Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can, Joe Allen and Philippe Coutinho.
“Surprised?” says Given, “possibly not.
“Jack had been knocking on the door and Tim Sherwood put him in against QPR and he played well. Tim had faith in him — Tim still says that now.
“You couldn’t say it was a no-brainer, but Jack was extremely talented and he proved it against Liverpool that day.
“The paper talk was all about Steven Gerrard — I think the cup final [that year] was on his birthday and it was all set up for his last game for Liverpool. It was all supposed to be Roy of the Rovers stuff. But it happened to Jack instead.
“It’s a special memory — everyone who watched it that day thought, ‘Who’s the No 40 for Aston Villa? He’s a player’ — but it seemed like just another training session for him, not at Wembley in front of 85,000 people. ‘Just give me the ball.’”
Villa won 2-1 and the performance of the English-Irish boy in their midfield relaunched an Ireland-England international debate.
One year later, Grealish did play for England Under-21s but four and a half years on from his big international decision Grealish has still not won a senior England cap.
Being part of a Villa side relegated to the Championship in 2016 — and spending three seasons there — hardly helped, but Grealish’s form back in the top flight this season has been outstanding. It will look odd if Gareth Southgate does not call him up for the March friendlies against Italy and Denmark.
Grealish will go into Southgate’s squad as a footballer almost fully-formed. On Sunday he will be back at Wembley, where he first really entered England’s consciousness. He goes there as an established player, a captain, he is no longer a prospect. He goes there toughened by his background — “He played Gaelic football as a kid,” said Villa manager Dean Smith in December — and by Villa’s fitness coaches — “I know he’s done a lot of work with them,” says Given.
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Back at his Gaelic club, McGinnity laughs when he says: “No, I wasn’t OK,” with Grealish’s choice of allegiance — “and his uncle Trevor told him he’d made the wrong decision. Trevor Sharkey, he’s from Tyrone.
“He was only joking.”
Given’s tone is one of regretful understanding. As is McGinnity’s: “I was gutted. Jack’s born here, been brought up here. He’s very proud of his Irish roots. But it’s what is in you. I wish him all the best.”
McFadden, too, says there is “no animosity” where he is — at League of Ireland club Sligo Rovers. But there will be others in Ireland less generous.
Back at Wembley, Grealish will be observed keenly from across the Irish Sea, from Notts County and from Pairc na hEireann in Solihull, where those Gaelic matches are played every weekend. They will see the vision, as well as the thickened Irish roots in their boy, the coming England man.
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