In 2003, Laois played Dublin in the Leinster semi-final.
At half-time, we led by two points and RTE went pitchside to get the reaction of a injured member of the panel who was no less sure of things because he wasn’t involved.
It’s thirteen years ago, but I can still remember what I said. It may have sounded arrogant, but I thought it was simple logic. The interviewer asked me was I confident Laois could keep this up.
“Definitely, I think we’re a better footballing team. I think Dublin are hyped up by the media. We knew coming up here if we rattled them, that they’d be overconfident, that we’d be able to get a run on them and that’s the way it’s going. So hopefully in the second half, we’ll be able to drive it home. I can’t see us losing from this point to be honest with you.”
Last week, I wrote about how GAA players need to be more assertive in interviews, but this wasn’t a case of me being lippy. The thing about Dublin back then was that you could say those kind of things and not worry about a backlash.
We were on a roll under Mick O’Dwyer in his first year with us. He gave us the confidence to believe the Dubs in Croke Park were beatable. If anyone knew the secret it was him, but it was also common sense.
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The gameplan was simple – show them no respect, get in front and the crowd would turn against them. We had a very good young team and the best manager in the country. Dublin would be over confident and we would beat them. That’s how it played out.
We won that day in 2003, but it feels like a lifetime ago. Dublin had won Leinster the year before but that was their first victory since 1995. They were the third-best team in the province. They were hyped up every year only to fail to superior Meath and Kildare sides. The following year, they sunk to a new low when they lost to Westmeath in the Leinster championship.
Inflated egos and inflated reputations were features of Dublin teams back then. Dublin played that way too. Pillar Caffrey steadied the ship the following year by bringing in a more professional approach and Dublin dominated Leinster again. Pillar was a very good manager, but he bought into the ego ethos. The Dubs systematically jeered and goaded opponents on the field.
I marked Paul Casey in the final in 2007 and he jeered and pinched me whenever Dublin scored. Psychologically it’s difficult to keep your head when the crowd erupts after a Dublin score, especially if that’s followed by a pinch and your marker jeering you.
Even Alan Brogan, always a class act, joined in on the goading. He scored a late goal that day, pointed to the scoreboard and then put his hands in the air celebrating in front of our goalkeeper Fergal Byron.
Alan and I had a row over text message later that night in which I resorted to telling him his father wouldn’t be happy with that kind of carry on. He told me where to go. We didn’t talk for four weeks.
It was easy to hate the Dubs back then. Their annual failure against the big boys Kerry, Tyrone and Armagh was as enjoyable as it was predictable.
This Dublin team is different though. The egos are gone, or at least hidden. They play brilliant football. They play fair football. Jim Gavin, and Pat Gilroy before him, have turned them into winners, likeable winners. They’re champions the country can be proud of.
Whenever I meet the likes of Paul Flynn and Bernard Brogan I’m reminded how humble and hard working they are. At the end of this decade I’m sure they’ll rank up there as one of the best teams to play Gaelic football. They are that good. They will be that dominant.
However, like so many aspect of the GAA, it’s not a level playing field. Dublin are the closest thing to a professional outfit in the country. They enjoy so many advantages other counties can only dream of.
– Population
– Home advantage in Croke Park which, in my view, has three main advantages:
1. Familiarity. Dublin players know every blade of grass in Croker and they know their range which is so important.
.@SenanConnell and @Woolberto can't believe their eyes on today's #GAAHour… Out soon https://t.co/aH5tWXD6yo pic.twitter.com/P1wA8Hb2HD
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 18, 2016
2. Home support. The roar from the hill and the stands when Dublin score is demoralising for opponents. It’s often said goals are oxygen to them because of the atmosphere they create.
3. Routine; travel. Again so important to a player on match day, sleeping in your own bed the night before and no long buses journeys is a big advantage.
– Backroom team. Dublin have a backroom team of over 20. They have the best professional advice, training and analysis. Smaller counties simply can’t compete.
– County boards set up. Their county board is run by professionals. They have a CEO, John Costello, who runs the business side of things. No other county employs a full time professional CEO. Not only that they have a Commercial department managed by marketing manager, Mossy Quinn. That drives the revenue to pay for the most professional set up in the country.
– Thirteen different sponsors – Dublin receive €4 million from their main sponsor, AIG.
– Merchandise – Dublin are expected to sell 55,000 jerseys this year. They sell thousands of hoodies, t-shirts and tracksuits too.
On top of all this Dublin receives the highest Croke Park funding in the country – the rich get richer.
Yes they have their house in order but they can afford to hire professionals to run it. Other county boards rely on amateur volunteers whose intentions are good but who have neither time nor the expertise to run a business. They depend on handouts from their provincial councils to stay afloat.
It’s time that Dublin’s sponsorship money was pooled together and shared throughout the country. Why should Dublin get richer because of a natural advantage like population? With the money, other county boards should be required to hire professional CEOs to run the business side of their affairs.
I often hear the theory that provincial domination is cyclical. That’s an old fashioned view. Those days are gone. The Dubs have won 11 of the last 12 Leinster title and three of the last five All Irelands. They won’t be touched in Leinster for the foreseeable future. When does the cycle end? In the professional era of Gaelic football Dublin are going nowhere.
I think I preferred it when I hated them.
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