“The guys are obviously delighted after winning an All-Ireland title. It’s great energy down there and great songs being sung – they’re just obviously very happy.”
No one here is nominating Jim Gavin for public speaker of 2016, the face the man projects outwards is a personality vacuum.
The quote above found its way out of the Dublin manager’s mouth in the immediate aftermath of a dramatic All-Ireland final replay, which ended with Gavin’s team claiming their third title in four years.
Throw in four straight Allianz League titles and four Leinster SFC titles and the former air corps man is now the most successful manager in the second most successful Gaelic football county in history – surpassing Kevin Heffernan.
‘Heffo’ is lionised across the capital as a tough-talking, no-nonsense firebrand, who, in two spells, wrested three Sam Maguires out of the greedy claws of Kerry by the power of his intellect and the strength of his will. To listen to some recall that golden era, the players were almost secondary actors, pawns, as Heffo and Mick O’Dwyer duelled atop Mount Olympus on Jones’s Road.
In more recent times the likes of Jim McGuinness and Jack O’Connor have been rightly lauded for their managerial talents, without ever enjoying the same level of success as Gavin – who remains relatively unheralded for his achievements.
There are a number of reasons for this. First and foremost is the current strength of Dublin football. Fuelled by massive funding grants from Croke Park, the capital have finally harnessed their huge population advantage and, at club and county level, are currently reaping the rewards of a particularly talented bunch of footballers.
Second is Gavin’s aforementioned manner. The man, in public at least, is as dull as ditchwater. Put it down to the early morning starts or the promise of quotes stripped of any colour by a man whose careful choice of words has been honed by a career in the military, but journalists despise Dublin’s pre-match press conferences.
Look at the unbridled joy on everyone’s face in the picture above. That is what a Jim Gavin press conference will do to a journalist thirsting for a line, a tidbit, a mispoken word, a strongly-held opinion – the Dublin manager can masterfully withhold all these things.
Look at the quote at the top of this article, for christ’s sake, he said that after winning an All-Ireland, with Dublin as far away from their next game of football as they could possibly be. Still his words are sterile and safe.
He would have you believe that this is who he is, even within the sanctity of the Dublin dressingroom. At his own unveiling back in 2012, the Under-21 All-Ireland winning manager was quick to play down his role as manager.
“I’ve never ruled a dressing-room with a stick. It’s up to the players. I’m very much a facilitator and about empowering players. I set a game plan but I want players to express themselves,” he said, the description of himself as a facilitator would stick.
But what is wrong with being a facilitator? Between players and a 23-strong backroom team, Gavin is over more people than the manager of a decent-sized hotel or supermarket. And this is his hobby.
Of course he is going to facilitate and he seems to be quite good at it. While you are always less likely to hear moans from a winning camp, can anyone imagine a Dublin player coming out and complaining that a pre-match meal was 15 minutes late because of mass, or a bypass was missed on the road to Derry?
No doubt Jim Gavin has to deal with malcontents and frustrated players, just as Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly did, but he is most likely just really, really good at listening to their complaints and either offering a solution or an explanation.
Former footballers of the year Bernard Brogan and Michael Darragh MacAuley were dropped for the final replay but both understood Gavin’s decision was for the greater good.
“Part of their culture and their value system is they are about the sum of the parts. Players are obviously disappointed that they don’t play,” he said.
That is management. Jim Gavin is a good manager.
He is also a good coach however, possibly the greatest of the modern era. How else do you explain Dublin winning three All-Irelands in three very different ways?
In 2013 they went for gusto and blew everyone out of the water by getting the ball into the hands of their forwards quickly, in 2015 Gavin changed things up and utilised the running from deep of the likes of Philly McMahon and Jack McCaffrey. This year Dublin proved a much more difficult team to beat, showcasing a defensive mind-frame and willingness to slog hard in the middle-third.
He may have the best players but Gavin has never rested on his laurels. He has developed his side, developed his players and stayed one step ahead of his rivals.
In a year that saw he who shouts loudest and longest prevailed in elections and referendums, isn’t it nice to see someone excel in his field from under a bushel?
Jim Gavin is an expert at what he does. Donald Trump and Nigel Farage have had enough of experts – they prefer loud noises and lies.
Jim Gavin isn’t into all that. He likes to quietly go about his business of managing. His business of facilitating.
His business of winning.
