He’s cautious of describing Dublin as a ‘great team’ at the moment.
Legendary football manager Mick O’Dwyer doesn’t place Jim Gavin’s Dublin in the pantheon of greats. Not yet. While the doyen of football management concedes that Dublin are head and shoulders above the rest currently, he will not call them ‘great’ until they ‘hammer’ a team in an All-Ireland final.
While Micko’s opinion on footballing matters is still highly regarded, his latest comments have attracted some ire, particularly from disgruntled Dublin fans. Last season, the Dubs became the first team since Micko’s legendary Kingdom to clinch a hat-trick of Sam Maguires.
However, given that Dublin have won four out of their five titles by a single point, O’Dwyer hinted that they won’t stand alongside his Kerry side until they swat away an opponent in a September showpiece at Croke Park.
“Well at the present time, they’re an exceptionally good team but then they’ve only won All-Irelands by single points against Mayo,” he told RTE during a civic reception in his honour in Tralee on Monday. “Until they hammer a team in an All-Ireland final by seven or eight, ten points then I’ll say they’re a really great team.
“But they are certainly the best team I’ve seen for quite a long while and they’ll take a lot of beating.”
'Until Dublin hammer a team by seven, eight or ten points in an All-Ireland final, then I'll say they are a great team' – Mick O'Dwyer has his say pic.twitter.com/poS6tbxKDi
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 12, 2018
Considering that he presided over some of the most dominant All-Ireland performances we’ve ever seen, O’Dwyer’s logic is understandable. However, as one man pointed out on social media, it doesn’t matter if you win by one point or ten points – the colour of the medal is the same.
And that would be Dublin’s argument. Whatever way you look at it, no matter how you analyse how it was done, the fact remains that they have won three All-Irelands in a row and, judging by their ominous League form recently, they’re a relatively safe bet to secure number four.
If they hypothetically achieve that by edging the final by a single point again, there’s a good chance Micko won’t change his tune. But so be it. He’s entitled to his opinion, as are the people who would call this Dublin team ‘great.’ There isn’t much debate over who the best team at the moment is so, if anything, it’s a good thing that Gavin’s side are still generating some healthy debate.
https://twitter.com/ennis_eoin/status/973294358375092225
https://twitter.com/Sarge1972/status/973292752812281856
https://twitter.com/DubmickThompson/status/973326084677697541
Micko’s some man but to deny the Dublin team are greats is lunacy- to dominate the game where players are technically superior is immense
— Dan Mallon (@DanMallon1) March 13, 2018
