Month: September 2021

KERRY STAR DEFENDER Paul Murphy has called for a bigger gap between the final Super 8s game and the All-Ireland semi-final, saying the current schedule doesn’t give “enough respect” to players.

The Kingdom are facing into their first All-Ireland decider since 2015 this weekend after narrowly edging out a thrilling encounter against Tyrone.

Kerry booked their place in that last-four tie after finishing as Super 8s Group 1 winners with a comfortable win over Meath in their final game of the round-robin series.

Peter Keane’s side had just one week to reset for Tyrone after that clash with the Royals, and Murphy believes that players need more time to prepare for such a significant game.

“I have no problem with the date of the All-Ireland final being brought forward,” said Murphy at Kerry’s All-Ireland final press event when asked for his opinion at the changes to the fixture calendar.

“But I do have an issue with their only being a week of a gap between the last Super 8 game and the All-Ireland semi-final. If you have three weeks to prepare for the biggest game of the year in an All-Ireland final, then I think possibly only having six days to prepare for the second biggest game of the year in an All-Ireland semi-final is wrong.

It doesn’t give either the competition or the players enough respect. 

Murphy went onto suggest a time frame that he feels would be more appropriate for the penultimate stage of the football championship.

“I feel there should be at least two weeks between the end of the Super 8 and the semi-final. People will say if Tyrone had won the semi-final, that what they did against Dublin was the right thing but its unlikely you will have such a scenario again as happened in that group.”

Kerry players celebrate after defeating Tyrone.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Defending champions Dublin await Kerry in the decider on Sunday afternoon [throw-in, 3.30pm], as Jim Gavin’s side look to complete an unprecedented five in-a-row.

Murphy’s county failed to achieve this feat when they were famously defeated by Offaly in the 1982 All-Ireland final, but the Rathmore star is unfazed by the opportunity to stop Dublin from making history.

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He stresses that any mention of five in-a-row should only refer to their opposition.

“It does not come into the thinking because I don’t think any of us were even born in ’82.

We are just trying to win our first one so that is big enough for us. The significance of it is more so in Dublin’s side of it in what they are going for. Obviously they are going for five in-a-row so the significance of that is for Dublin only.

“We are looking to win our first here with this team. One All-Ireland is huge which gives you an indication of what Dublin has achieved in the last four year is incredible and to be going for five in a row is phenomenal altogether.

“But I think we are looking to win this year and last year doesn’t matter, next year doesn’t matter to us, it’s all about the here and now.”

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– Congratulations to our prize winner, Lonan McDowell. Enjoy the game on Sunday!

WHEN TWO TRIBES go to war… trying to get a ticket is Mission: Impossible.

This year’s All-Ireland football final pairing could hardly have been scripted better: Dublin, chasing a historic five-in-a-row, up against their dearest rivals and the team with more incentive than anyone else to stop them, Kerry.

Sky blue and navy versus green and gold — the countdown to 1 September is on.

And so we’re delighted to announce that our September prize draw, exclusive to The42 Members, will send one lucky winner to Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.

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Along with a pair of tickets to the latest unmissable chapter in the Dublin v Kerry rivalry, the winner will also be treated to an overnight stay for two that night in the four-star Brooks Hotel in Dublin, with a meal in the Jasmine bar, and a full Irish breakfast the following morning.

If you have already joined up as a member, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll be automatically entered into this draw and we’ll contact the winner with the good news on Thursday, 29 August.

If you haven’t joined up as a member yet, don’t worry, there’s still time — join up before noon on 29 August and we’ll make sure your name is in the hat too.

For more info on The42 Membership and all of the great benefits you get, click here, or visit members.the42.ie to sign up.

– Congratulations to Robbie Dunne who won our August Members draw for two tickets to the All-Ireland senior hurling final along with a stay in Brooks Hotel.

IN HIS MIND’S eye, Jim Gavin can still picture the scene like it was yesterday.

Jim Gavin at the All-Ireland final press night.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The year is 1990 and it’s a wet, miserable morning at the Curragh Camp in Kildare.

An 18-year-old Gavin has just been dropped off in line by his parents to join the 67th Cadet Class of the Defence Forces.

He’s wearing one of his father Jimmy’s old suits that’s a couple of sizes too big for him, sporting “big floppy hair” and holding a retro briefcase-style suitcase in one hand as he waves goodbye to his parents with the other. 

It’s a seminal moment in the young life of the Clondalkin native. Much of what he achieved in the GAA, the six senior All-Ireland titles – one as a player and five as a manager – can be traced back to the man that was formed and shaped through his military career. 

Only weeks earlier, Gavin had started his third level studies when a letter arrived in the post saying he was accepted into the Defence Forces. His dream was to become a pilot and to do so he was required to enlist as an Air Corps cadet.

The Defence Forces took on just 30 cadets each year with only six of them qualifying for the Air Corps. 

“I was delighted to get the opportunity,” he recalls. “The Defence Forces looked after me really well. I couldn’t speak highly enough of the career I had, and the great time I had.

“I’ve great, fond memories of my experiences there. Travelled the world. I’ve some great friends from the military.” 

The 67th Cadet Class 1990-1992. Cadet Jim Gavin is on the second row, ninth from the right.

He was brought to the limits both mentally and physically during those early days in the Curragh and throughout his subsequent aviation career with the United Nations that took him to what he calls “the dark heart of Africa.”

But the toughest part of the journey for Gavin came at the very outset, a moment that’s ingrained in his mind.

“Waving goodbye to my mum and dad who had just handed their son over to the Defence Forces, that was probably the hardest thing,” he says.

“They had obviously looked after me so well growing up. Everything else was a massive challenge. Cadet training is very, very demanding. A lot of my class left and said, ‘Not for me’.

“But that’s probably the hardest thing. Once you get into it, like everything else, we’d great fun, great comrades, great friends that training makes for life.”

That floppy head of hair didn’t last long after his arrival.

“I remember it well. I was marched over to Pearse Hall – all the buildings there are named after the leaders of 1916. I’d say it was gone inside of the hour. 

“I sat on the seat, with Reggie Darling, people in the Curragh camp will know Reggie Darling is. His one job was to shave that floppy hair off my head and make it bald.

“I’m not going to say the shouting, but the orders began at that moment to Cadet Gavin.

“Great memories. I’m shaking now,” he admits.

A few years ago, the Defence Forces released some video footage of the training that Gavin’s Cadet class underwent between ’90 and ’92. 

The military training was deliberately tough so nothing they encountered while deployed would be as intimidating as those tests in camp.

“They mould you, absolutely,” Gavin says.

“You’re essentially raw when you go in there. Our generation were all very fortunate to have opportunities that our parents might not have had, and our grandparents certainly never had.

“So we probably grew up in a very sterile environment. The Defence Forces certainly prepare you for… Well, they’re an armed force.  

Their role ultimately, like an insurance policy, is to protect the citizens of the state from ultimate aggression. The very end of it – their job is to put their life on the line to possibly take the life of somebody else, at the very worst case.

“That takes a lot of discipline, a lot of training to mould somebody into that mindset. To have the discipline to have that and use it in the appropriate manner, is something that probably doesn’t get acknowledged enough about our Defence Forces personnel who are there as our backstop.

“So yeah, it was a great experience and that service of something higher than yourself, as in serving your state. I wore the uniform of the state, with Óglaigh na hÉireann (Defence Forces) for 20 years and I was very proud to do so.

“Each day you’d get up and stand to attention as the national flag was raised. At the end of the day, at sunset, you’d stand to attention as the national flag was brought back down. That’s in my blood, that sense of service from a very young age.

“I graduated from the cadet school as a second lieutenant, essentially as an infantry officer, platoon commander. So you’re taught all those leadership skills at a very young age, which I’ve been trading off in my life ever since.”  

Jim Gavin celebrates scoring the equalising point against Kildare in the 1998 Leinster quarter-final.

Source: Patrick Bolger/INPHO

Gavin played minor football with Dublin in 1988 and ’89 before his army career took precedent. He wasn’t part of the U21 side that reached the Leinster final in 1992, but the following year made his senior debut under manager Dr Pat O’Neill. 

By 1995, he was an All-Ireland winner at 24-years-old. That season Gavin fulfilled the role of what we now know as a modern wing-forward. O’Neill recognised that Gavin had the attributes required for the position. 

He wasn’t the most talented player on the squad but he was hard-working, intelligent and versatile. He was tasked with nullifying the influence of attacking half-backs against both Meath and Cork. 

“He was strong, small, good fitness, good footballing technique with his left foot,” says Charlie Redmond, who was full-forward on that side.

When he came into the team in 1995, he was brought in to do a marking job on Graham Geraghty. He did such a good job there on so then he was kept on to mark Ciaran O’Sullivan – he did a good job there too. He was well able to do a job.

“Not only was he able to do a job though, he was well able to play football as well. He was a lovely man to boot. He always had a love for the game, he always had a love for the behind the scenes stuff too. We also know that he’s a pilot by trade so he’s by the book, he knows the importance of sticking religiously to what you know is good and what works.”

Like a good army man, Gavin was given a brief and he carried it out to the letter. Small in stature, he was a fiery competitor that was prepared to do what it took to win.

“If you gave Jim a job to do, he would get that job done,” adds Redmond.

“He would stick zealously too it, and then he might broaden the perimeters of that job. Just like an army man would, you tell him to do something, he’ll do it. If it wasn’t done, it wasn’t for the want of effort.”

Given his defensive wing-forward role, the army lads would poke fun at Gavin for years after ’95, calling him the best wing-back Dublin ever had. 

The latter part of Gavin’s Dublin career overlapped with the first six years or so of Johnny Magee’s. He could spot the influence of Gavin’s military training on his football a mile off. 

“He was very meticulous with how he went about his training and stuff,” says the Kilmacud manager.

“You can see those attributes in the lads today. On the field, Jim always gave everything. There was no quarter given with him. He gave 110%, it was always the way he went about his training and how he played his football.

“As a guy away from the field I couldn’t speak highly enough of the guy. He always gave time to me. He’s just a generally good guy.”

Gavin during his playing days with Dublin.

Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

Gavin’s Dublin career ended in 2002 and Tommy Lyons suggested he and Declan Darcy fill the void by training a talented Dublin U21 side that was emerging. The team that featured future stars Alan Brogan and Bryan Cullen delivered Dublin’s first All-Ireland at the grade in 2003. 

Magee says Gavin was destined to move into coaching after he called time on his inter-county career.

“Himself and Deccie (Darcy) were the coaches. You could see the lads were eager to get in there and they had the grá for it.

“I think they were at that stage of their career where they knew they were coming to the end of their careers. I think they were looking forward to fill that void that was going to happen after you finish playing football.”

He drifted away from management for a few years as his work took hold once again.

He returned to lead the U21s to All-Ireland glory in 2010 and 2012 before assuming his current role with the senior team ahead of the 2013 campaign.

By that stage, Gavin had risen through the ranks of the Air Corps, operated as its chief flying instructor and flown the government jet before his move to the Irish Aviation Authority. 

“Obviously the aviation industry and aviation itself teaches you so much about managing teams, as in your flight crew as opposed to a football team,” he says.

Aviation, by its nature, the reasons we have commercial air transport is it has become so safe. We take it as second nature to go fly an aircraft, a medium-bodied aircraft, the max take-off weight would be about 80 tonnes, full of fuel, two big engines, 150 degree celsius on fuel. It’s the norm now.

“But the reasons we have assumed it’s so safe is it’s an industry that learns from its lessons. So I’ve always taken that. There’s great lessons to be learned from our game against Mayo. It’s a rich environment for learning, for each challenge that you face.

“We’ll try and take as much as we can from that game in preparation for the next game.”

While the perception may be that life in the military is extremely regimented, Gavin’s experience suggested otherwise and it has shaped his management philosophy.

“It’s probably one perception of armed forces. But from a leadership perspective, because I was taught that as an officer, you’re taught those leadership skills, you gain control by giving control away. 

“Which is another way of saying you empower people. Ultimately as a platoon commander on the battlefield, you can’t control every section of the platoon, every rifle of the platoon. They need to make a choice on the field of play. So they’re the skills.

Dublin manager Jim Gavin.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

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“Even though it comes across as a very authoritarian style, if you’re in a battle, I was fortunate to serve overseas with the United Nations in an Irish uniform, you’re in some very hostile environments. 

“So there has to be a very direct command and a very precise control, because obviously you have weapons and you’re putting people’s lives on the line. Thankfully that’s not the case in sport. But the principles still remain the same.

“You empower people. You’re serving them and the officer and the troops. Myself and the management team are serving the players. We’re enabling them to be their very best, that’s all you’re trying to do. Being your best has many, many guises.

We embrace diversity, we want guys to be different, to think differently. We like having guys from different backgrounds, who have different tastes in music, different tastes in whatever. We see that as a strength rather than a perception that everyone needs to be robots. That’s the last thing we want.”

In many ways it was his experience serving overseas with the UN that defined the Dublin manager. His time serving with the UN brought him all over the world into some exceedingly hostile environments. It was a life-changing experience.

“I served with the United Nations, a 12,000 troop contingent in Chad,” he explains. “My role was in force headquarters – chief of the military aviation was my title.

“Controlling air assets, from MI26 helicopters, MI28s to various other transport aircrafts from Bangladesh, Canada, Norway. But that particular country is called the dark heart of Africa for a very good reason.  

Gavin looks on during the Super 8s clash against Cork.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

“On its west is Cameroon, to the north is Libya, to the south is the Central African Republic. But to its east is a country called Sudan and there’s a conflict area called Darfur, which was the land of Fur that kind of goes into the eastern part of Chad.

In the countryside, for every five kids who are born, three are dead by the age of five. Horrific conditions. I spent a lot of time on the ground as well with Nepalese and Mongolian troops, walking the land. 

“So that certainly gave you a perspective on life, and makes you very humble and grateful for what you have on this little island on the northwest corner of Europe, that’s closer to the poles than we are to the Equator.

“But we have a relatively stable democracy, good economy generally speaking, and lots of opportunities for you to excel. So it makes you very grateful for what you have.” 

So when it comes to talk about the five-in-a-row and what’s at stake on Sunday, Gavin can retain a good deal of perspective. 

“That’s it. There’s obviously a lot at stake for both counties, a lot of expectations. But, yeah I’ve been fortunate.

And in the aviation industry as well, as one who is exposed as someone who regulates the industry, and one who sees on a regular basis incidents and accidents and fatalities, and understands how fragile life can be. 

“I’ve lost some great friends, some very close friends, pilots in aviation accidents. Life can be very fickle. So it probably informs my view on the sporting world that there are no guarantees.

“You just turn up every day, and all we have done by winning an All-Ireland semi-final is to earn the right to perform in another game, and that’s simply it. If you can perform to the best of your ability, hopefully you’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the game.”

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THE PLOTTING AND planning will have started once the semi-final business was wrapped up.

Earlier this month Dublin’s dismissal of Mayo and Kerry’s completion of their Tyrone assignment meant the final two for the 2019 All-Ireland football championship were confirmed.

After getting this far, who will Jim Gavin and Peter Keane be looking to shut down on the opposition side in order to get their hands on silverware next Sunday?

Dublin

For the champions this is a potent Kerry forward line that they will be facing. The twin dangers inside are David Clifford and Paul Geaney, with the latter showing a capacity of late to drift outfield. Both are in good recent scoring form with 0-22 from Clifford to date this summer and 2-13 amassed by Geaney.

Dublin’s specialist defenders for this task look set to be Jonny Cooper and Michael Fitzsimons. Cooper had a fine outing in taking on Clifford in a league game in March 2018. The Fossa youngster has progressed rapidly since then but that duel could be replicated to leave Fitzsimons with the role of quietening Geaney.

The added Kerry dimension for Dublin to deal with is the Kenmare duo in the half-forward line that have become integral since the counties last met in championship fare in 2016. Stephen O’Brien is approaching Player of the Year territory. Jack McCaffrey may have a similar level of acceleration but Dublin will hope to keep him free and could turn to John Small to look after O’Brien. Then Sean O’Shea, in his second season in the senior ranks, will be closely monitored, perhaps by James McCarthy.

Kerry

There’s a dual Dublin attacking threat that Kerry will be keenly aware of the need to police. Con O’Callaghan and Paul Mannion are both in terrific form, as illustrated graphically by the manner in which they blitzed Mayo in the semi-final. O’Callaghan’s strength in possession poses a real difficulty and Tadhg Morley seems Kerry’s best prospect to mark him. 

That leaves the question of what to do with Mannion? Tom O’Sullivan has been superb for Kerry this season in nullifying the threats of a succession of players such as Peter Harte and Jamie Brennan. Whether Kerry look to keep him close to goal to watch someone like Mannion or release him to the half-back line to look after a player like Ciaran Kilkenny, thereby entrusting Jason Foley with the inside post, will be intriguing.

Away from their defence, Kerry need a solution at midfield given the prowess of Brian Fenton there and the transformation his play can have on Dublin’s form in a given game. David Moran has been Kerry’s midfield leader, do they pit him against Dublin’s powerhouse? Is it time to recall Jack Barry given that he has had some joy before with Fenton? Otherwise it will be Jack Sherwood, Diarmuid O’Connor or Adrian Spillane that manager Keane might turn to.

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BEFORE DAVID MORAN and Tommy Walsh carved out reputations in their own right, they were just the sons of famous fathers trying to make it big.

Tommy Walsh, Sean Walsh, David Moran and Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran.

Source: Inpho

Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran and Sean Walsh, two mainstays of the great Kerry Golden Years side, won 15 senior All-Ireland medals between them from 1975 to 1987.

The late broadcaster Weeshie Fogarty once described the bloodlines of footballing families as “the secret of Kerry”. The county have traditionally always had breeding that transcended generations, from the Ó Sés to the Spillanes, O’Keeffes, Sheehys, Fitzgeralds, Kennellys and the Lynes.

The Morans and Walshes belong in that category too. 

Of course, it’s not uncommon for sons of former players to follow in their father’s footsteps on the county scene.

Of the current Dublin squad, James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Dean Rock, Bernard Brogan and Con O’Callaghan all had fathers who donned the county colours in the past. 

Dean Rock’s father Barney is tackled by Tom Spillane in the 1984 All-Ireland final.

Source: INPHO

That exposure might not have made the journey any easier but it made it seem more obtainable, less of a dream, more of a reality. They certainly had odds to beat and mountains to climb, but having fathers who already beat those odds and scaled the heights makes the journey a lot less daunting. 

The other side of it is the expectations placed on youngsters with a famous surname. They may have inherited physical and footballing gifts, but they also had long shadows to emerge from. 

“I think in Kerry if you’re any good, then you’re better than any of they were,” David Moran said in 2015. “Or if you’re not as good, then you’re way worse. You’re never just as good as.”

37 years after ‘Ogie’ and Sean saw their five-in-a-row hopes go up in smoke against Offaly, their sons have the chance to deny Dublin a similar feat this weekend. It would be a fitting symmetry for David and Tommy, who’ve both overcome plenty of battles along the way. 

We chart the careers of both men, from hot-shot minors to All-Ireland champions and AFL dreams, to the injuries and doubts they suffered along the way. 

EARLY DAYS (2005-08)

Tommy Walsh was a powerful minor in 2006.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

David Moran and Tommy Walsh grew up about half a mile apart in Tralee and were best friends as far back as they can remember. They rose through the underage ranks of Kerins O’Rahilly’s together and played on the same school team. 

Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston was close with ‘Ogie’ Moran and once said his earliest memories of young David was “how he used to raid my fridge as a four-year old.”

On the football field, Walsh and Moran were a formidable combination. Walsh played mainly at full-forward with Moran at centre-field for the school and club. They won every single county championship with Kerins O’Rahilly’s in their age group all the way up to minor level.

Off the pitch, they were inseparable. Tommy’s brother Barry John was two years younger while David’s brother Brian was two years older. “The four of us would be very tight,” recalled Moran in 2016.

Walsh played two years minor for Kerry in 2005 and 2006, while Moran was on the team for the latter season. The pair lined out in midfield for the All-Ireland final replay defeat to Roscommon in ’06. Moran grabbed two points in the drawn game at Croke Park. Walsh scored a brace in the replay but they lost by four points. 

The Kerry U21 team ahead of the 2008 All-Ireland final against Kildare.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

In 2007, Walsh made the U21 panel. He featured at full-forward but Kerry’s Munster campaign ended in a 1-6 to 0-6 loss to Clare. Moran received his U21 call-up the following season as Kerry won their first All-Ireland title at the grade since 1998.

They defeated Kildare by 2-12 to 0-11 in the final, with Walsh scoring a point at full-forward while Moran clipped over two from midfield. 

SENIOR BREAKTHROUGHS (2008)

David Moran during his Kerry debut in February 2008.

Source: Andrew Paton/INPHO

Walsh featured once under Jack O’Connor in the 2007 league but made three appearances in the competition in 2008. He scored two points in his only start, against Laois, before making his championship debut off the bench against Clare in Munster.

The teenager came on as a sub in the Munster final defeat to Cork and started five of Kerry’s next six games, including the All-Ireland final defeat to Tyrone where he bagged a point.

Moran made two starts during the league but the U21 success in May saw his stock rise. He managed to force his way into the reckoning under new boss Pat O’Shea by the end of the summer, arriving off the bench in the All-Ireland semi-final and final.

The pair were well able to handle the rough and tumble of Kerry training, even at a young age. 

“I remember he came in first, Tommy and David Moran came in off the back of the minors,” recalls Aidan O’Mahony.

“We had a trial game inside and he (Walsh) came in full-forward. And you would always introduce some young lad to training, you would have a pull of a jersey off him a small bit.

“He gave me a belt of an elbow and I was saying to myself we are not dealing with no young lad here. He was a different calibre of player.”

In his autobiography, Colm Cooper recalled an incident prior to the quarter-final, when Moran accidentally caught veteran and rival for his position Darragh Ó Sé during a training drill.

“Anyway, whatever way he caught Darragh, the big fella wasn’t having it,” wrote Cooper.

“So he hit David a right clip and, I don’t know, it just seemed bang out of order. I suppose the feeling would have been ‘Fuck it Darragh, if you’re going to clip someone, don’t do it to a young fella!”

“He’d have had big time for David, but maybe this was partly his way of putting down a marker too to the new midfielder. Only one big buck in this town.” 

ALL-IRELAND & AFL DREAMS (2008-09)

Mike Quirke and Tommy Walsh celebrate All-Ireland success in 2009.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Following the conclusion of the All-Ireland SFC, Moran and Walsh went straight back into club duty. The Strand Road side reached the Kerry SFC final and their two young stars were offered trials by AFL club St Kilda. The county final went to a replay, meaning the pair were forced to turn down the offer. 

The deadline for international recruits had passed by that stage ruling out the chance for them to sign for the 2009 season, but Walsh took up the Melbourne club’s offer to fly out following the replay defeat to Mid Kerry. Walsh had taken a year out from his studies in IT Tralee, but Moran had to skip the trip due to his Christmas exams in the University of Limerick. 

In 2009, Walsh reached new heights as part of a ‘Twin Towers’ full-forward line alongside Kieran Donaghy with Colm Cooper playing off them. He kicked four points in the All-Ireland final win over Cork, two off either boot, on the way to claiming Young Footballer of the Year. 

“I played with Tommy in 2009 before he left and he was just outstanding,” remembers Tomas Ó Sé.

“He kicked four from play in the 2009 final and we thought we had another Gooch – we had another Gooch – and then he went off to Australia.” 

Tommy Walsh training with his new St Kilda teammates in Melbourne.

Source: Getty Images/INPHO

Aidan O’Mahony adds: “He had a massive year in 2009, he kicked four points in the All-Ireland final against Cork. Massive loss to us at that time when he went off to Australia.

“It was the start of players going off. For us that time, he was something different to what we had. We tried the Twin Towers in 2008 with himself and Donaghy inside. He was a beautiful kicker of the ball. But he was so strong, Jesus Christ! He was an animal of a player.”

Things were trickier for Moran, who couldn’t break the midfield partnership of Darragh Ó Sé and Seamus Scanlon, while Tadhg Kennelly took up a deep half-forward role. His four championship appearances that summer were all off the bench. That winter, both Walsh and Moran headed Down Under to train with St Kilda. Moran returned, Walsh stayed put.

“It would have been nice, to be a professional athlete for a while,” said Moran last year. “But I wasn’t offered a contract. So that was that.

“I would have liked to have had a shot at it. I have mixed emotions on it. I have no regrets, which is a big thing. I went over and gave it everything I had. I came up short. I came home. I got on with my career. I don’t wake up in the middle of the night wishing I did or didn’t go.” 

DIVERGING PATHS (2010-13)

David Moran lies injured after tearing his ACL for the first time in 2011.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

Walsh took time to adapt to the oval ball and was largely employed as a defender during his first campaign in Australia with St Kilda’s second team. After Darragh Ó Sé’s Kerry retirement, Moran’s path to the starting team was blocked by Mike Quirke, Anthony Maher and Scanlon.

Following two seasons playing in the VFL (the AFL’s reserve league), Walsh requested and received a trade to the Sydney Swans in October 2011. ”I feel like I’m ready,” the 23-year-old said. “We won’t know for sure until I actually play, but I do feel ready. I don’t mind where I play. I just want to play.”

He took the number 17 jersey from the recently retired Kennelly, who he’d be living with for a spell after his move to Sydney. 

Meanwhile back in Kerry, Moran was enduring a hellish period of his career. He tore his cruciate in his left knee for the first time against Monaghan in the 2011 league and 10 months later suffered the exact same injury while training with his club.

He sat out two summers in succession and didn’t kick a ball in championship for Kerry between July 2010 and August 2013. Shortly after he completed his second ACL rehab he suffered a shoulder injury that derailed his 2013 league campaign.

Then that May during a challenge match against Laois, Moran suffered a tore retina inside his right eye after a freak accident. 

“I remember turning around to Aidan O’Mahony, asking him was my eye open or closed, because I couldn’t see anything out of it,” Moran said in 2015. “He just looked at me, and asked, ‘What are you on about?’

“And the retina is not like a bone, which you know will mend. This was fluid, which is totally different. With the cruciate, it was almost easier, because you have to do the rehab, anyway, to get yourself right, for the rest of your life, whether that’s going for a jog, or whatever. With the eye, it was killing me, not knowing how it would react to the treatment. Thankfully it all came well in the end.”

There were initial concerns about his ability to regain full vision in his eye, let alone return to the field. He underwent a laser procedure in Cork University Hospital and the eye was mended in time for him to appear as a sub in the quarter-final against Cavan and semi-final defeat to Dublin.

The same month Moran suffered his eye injury, Walsh made his AFL debut for the Swans against Melbourne. It was one of just five senior appearances he’d make for the club. In June, he suffered a devastating hamstring injury, tearing the muscle off the bone during the AFL round 10 clash against Essendon.

David Moran lifts the Sam Maguire Cup in 2011.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

COMEBACK TRAIL (2014)

After a 12-month absence, Walsh made his comeback for Sydney’s reserve side but the injury took its toll and he failed to force his way back into the senior team.

“When things are going well, you’re on top of the world but because it’s not just a sport you’re playing, but your profession, there are lows,” Walsh remarked. 

During that summer, Walsh and a few Kerry natives based in Sydney would gather to take inthe county’s championship games on TV together in the one house. 

They watched as Moran enjoyed a coming-of-age campaign.

He benefited from a sustained run in the team during the 2014 league before a knee issue slowed down his progress. An injury to Byran Sheehan paved the way for Moran to start in the epic drawn All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo. In the replay, he logged 47 possessions, more than twice any Mayo player, and was now firmly Kerry’s key man in the middle third. 

Kerry powered to victory in the final against Donegal and Moran finally had his All-Ireland medal as a starter. His emotional embrace with his parents after the final spoke volumes of the journey he travelled. 

“I suppose there was a lot of pressure on him coming in and his own background and everything,” says Ó Sé. “But over the course of the years and to come back from two cruciates and to be the leader he is, he has great character in him.”  

RETURN HOME (2015-18)

Walsh celebrates scoring a goal against Cork in the 2015 league but things didn’t work out on his return to the Kerry panel.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Walsh announced his decision to come home from the AFL at the end of the 2014 season, describing his Oz adventure as “the best thing I ever did”. He was 27 when he returned to the Kerry set-up in 2015 under Eamonn Fitzmaurice but struggled for game-time.

Mikey Sheehy – a selector under Fitzmaurice – admitted earlier this year that Kerry may have rushed back too soon.

“I was very anxious to get back with Kerry and they were very anxious for me to come in,” Walsh said last year on the GAA Hour podcast. “Looking back I probably would have done things a bit differently, and I’d say the management would as well. I just didn’t get the run after that.”

After he was an unused substitute in the 2016 league final, he opted to drop off the panel.

“When he was in with us and it didn’t quite work out…he was so professional, he was so courteous,” recalled Fitzmaurice on the Irish Examiner podcast recently. “There was no sour grapes or throwing the toys out of the cot.

“But I do remember when he was finishing up after the league final and he went back to the club, he said to me, ‘Look, I don’t feel that my Kerry story is over.

“And I said, ‘I agree with you, I don’t think it’s over either.”

And so it transpired.

Moran and Kerry were beaten in the 2015 All-Ireland final, before falling in the semi-final to Dublin (2016) and Mayo (2017), while they exited at the Super 8s stage last summer.

A NEW DAWN (2019) 

Walsh and Moran during the All-Ireland semi-final win over Tyrone.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Walsh rehabilitated his mind and body and slowly rebuilt his form back where it all began – on Strand Road with Kerins O’Rahilly’s.

“He was terrorising us in the club games for years when he wasn’t inside in Kerry, so I’m happy he’s actually back inside with Kerry,” laughs O’Mahony.

“It wouldn’t have been easy for him to come back after the Aussie Rules. I think a lot of players if they had that injury they wouldn’t have come back after it. It was a frightening injury.

“He came back and when he left the panel that time, definitely I could say even if it was myself you’d say, ‘Look, I’ll throw my lot in with the club now and that’s it.’ He was asked back in again by Peter Keane. He’s made a massive difference this year.” 

The call came from rookie boss Keane last winter and after showing signs of class during the league, he had to bide his time until he had a major impact off the bench in the All-Ireland semi-final comeback win over Tyrone.

“For Tommy to come back, especially with the injury outside, and to rebuild his confidence again, it’s a huge achievement for himself personally,” says Ó Sé.

“He’s buzzing like. I think he has an attitude where he’s like, there’s not much else that can go wrong. He’s had his lows like. He’s throwing everything at it and it’s gone brilliantly for him.”

O’Mahony is in agreement and feels Walsh could have a similar impact to Seamus Darby in that famous final of 1982 when Ogie Moran and Sean Walsh watched the Drive for Five dashed with a late goal.

“And now he is 31, and he is still effective and he has come back from that horrific injury,” continues O’Mahony. “I definitely think we would have won more if we had Tommy Walsh back then.

“Wouldn’t it be unreal? Tommy Walsh, the Seamus Darby and his father and all playing (in 82). It’d make a great headline.

“That gives us hope below in Kerry that these young players have come through and there’s a mixture. When you’re talking about the older lads you’re talking about David Moran, who’s having a majestic year for Kerry and you’d hope he’d have another one in the All-Ireland final as well.”

So a decade on from their last time they shared the field in an All-Ireland final, Moran and Walsh are central figures for Kerry once again.

And their legendary fathers will be in the crowd on Sunday, hoping to see their now-famous sons deliver the big prize. After all the ups and downs they’ve encountered on their respective journeys, this would be the sweetest one of them all.

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FORMER DUBLIN MANAGER Paul ‘Pillar’ Caffrey told a story recently that summed up Stephen Cluxton’s mentality. 

The Dublin netminder is chasing his seventh All-Ireland medal this weekend, and sixth as captain, but back in 2002 he was one of the greenhorns on the panel.

On this particular afternoon, Dublin were due to take on Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final during Cluxton’s debut campaign as the number one.

They were without manager Tommy Lyons, who was laid up in hospital with gallstones, and in his absence selector Caffrey took the bainisteoir bib. After arriving at the team’s designated meet-up spot in Parnell Park, he was met by Cluxton who had “a big long face on him.”

“Everything okay?” Caffrey enquired.

“No, it’s all your fault,” Cluxton replied. “The lads’ heads aren’t right. Tommy’s not around and it’s going to be shite today.’”

Even as a 20-year-old, the Parnells man had no issue in speaking up when he felt things were not right. Acc0rding to Caffrey he was “a serious guy, didn’t say a lot and was a little bit narky.”

Cluxton during the 2002 campaign.

Source: INPHO

Dublin coach Declan Darcy smiles when that story is recounted to him. He’s worked with Cluxton and this group since Jim Gavin took over in 2013.

“I don’t know if you’ve put yourself in a dressing room and stared at these lads and seen Stephen Cluxton looking up at you,” Darcy says. 

“Any sense of bullshit and you’d be fucked out of the room fairly quickly. I’m firmly in the fast-lane and there’s only one way I can go unless I get off the road. 

“Everybody keeps driving each other and no-one accepts anything less than the best. That’s a great credit to them.  But it drives everybody. You can’t turn up to training dopey some nights. You’ll be caught out by this group, big time.”

Cluxton, in particular, remains a huge driving force in this group, even at 37.

“You’re talking about probably the most influential player in Gaelic Games the last 15 years.  And there he is staring at you. You need to have your ‘A’ game on. But I love that. That’s what gives energy to us as a coaching group, the players keep driving you. 

“We challenge them, we give it back to them as well which is good and I think they enjoy that. They all understand clearly that the only reason we’re doing it is for the betterment of the team. 

“There’s an honesty and trust piece there at the minute that seems to be working.”

He admits coaches and players haven’t always seen eye-to-eye over the years, but that’s par for the course with such a driven squad.

“We’ve had our moments! We’re pretty strong-minded people. There’s a lot of big dogs in that room. But, at the same time, once the understanding is that its in the best interests of the team and there’s no agenda other than to try to help, I think once that’s understood it will always function properly.”

Cluxton leads Dublin in the parade before the semi-final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Cluxton’s former understudy John Leonard recalled in his 2015 autobiography the remarkable level of dedication he applied to his craft. 

“When I was training I was trying to get any edge I could,” Leonard wrote. “Initially, I tried to go in earlier than ‘Clucko’ but I couldn’t. He was in at 5 o’clock at training two hours ahead of everyone else. You could never get there before him.”

Darcy says Cluxton is still the first one through the gates at their St Clare’s training base. 

“I think it’s really important that your big players function correctly and set really good standards and a good culture within the group. He does that. 

“He doesn’t talk, he acts it. He does come to training two hours before it starts and he will do it. And he will tell you that you’re not doing it. 

“That’s what you want. If your top players are doing it consistently and you have enough of those players in your group then you have a chance of being successful for sure. 

“I’ve often said this, John O’Mahony used to say it to me, if you can get more than seven or eight of those types of players in your team then you have every chance of winning. If you have any less than then you’re not going to function. 

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“We’re very lucky we have a very strong group in that context. A very experienced group of players as well, but all of us at the same time are trying to drive the standards. And Stephen certainly epitomises everything that’s good about this team.”

He’s still the one setting the standards, all these years after he growled at Caffrey. 

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IF ENNIS WAS the setting for their low point this year, then it was also the location for something more promising.

As the spring of sorrow for the Cork footballers unfolded, Cusack Park on 10 February was the game which plunged them firmly into a relegation battle. The nine-point loss to Clare that day was a product of a vastly inferior performance.

Cork did mount a recovery in winning two of their last three league games but Ennis was the site of their heaviest defeat of the campaign and left them facing an uphill task thereafter, relegation to the third tier confirmed by the end of March.

Yet the Clare venue also transpired to have a different impact in shaping Cork’s 2019 football fortunes. Just over three months after that senior loss, the county’s minor side pitched up on 15 May for a pivotal Munster play-off. They departed with a four-point win over Clare that night and suddenly their whole season swerved off on another course.

On Sunday Cork will be one of the last two minor sides standing in the country, contesting with Galway for the Tom Markham Cup. August has already yielded one All-Ireland crown after the U20 side staged a remarkable final comeback against Dublin.

Now there is a chance for a national underage football double, something Cork have only achieved in the same year once before back in 1981. With the senior side qualifying for the Super 8s, all three Cork teams were still in championship action up until this month. After a wave of disappointments and setbacks in recent years, it all adds up to a more positive outlook.

Cork players celebrate their Munster U20 football title win.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

For a succession of Cork minor sides, participation in the advanced stages of the championship has been beyond them in recent times. That was partly due to a tricky system and partly due to collisions with a series of top-class sides that Kerry churned out. From 2014-18 Cork lost out every season in Munster at minor level to a Kingdom outfit.

There was little complaint when they were soundly beaten by a David Clifford-inspired side in 2017, while 2014 and 2016 final losses preceded All-Ireland quarter-final exits. The 2015 and 2018 defeats were the sources of frustration, teams of good potential losing out by a single point in early May and seeing their season end due to the lack of a second chance.

A shift in structure in Munster this year installed two round-robin series which enabled Cork to capitalise. It meant after being thrashed in April by 16 points against Kerry, they defeated Clare to get their campaign back up and running. The gap had closed to three by the time they renewed acquaintances with Kerry in the Munster final.

Since then the benefits of prolonged exposure to collective training and top-level games have been demonstrated. Cork have taken care of Ulster champions Monaghan and Connacht winners Mayo, just like opponents Galway have defeated the Leinster and Munster title holders. A third of the Cork starting team has been altered since their seasonal opener and they’ve booked the county’s first All-Ireland minor final spot in nine years while chasing a first title since the class of 2000 that featured James Masters and Noel O’Leary.

James Masters captained Cork to the 2000 All-Ireland minor football title.

Source: Andrew Paton/INPHO

Similar to the U20 side, the Cork minor team have showcased a strong capability to score in attack. They’ve hit 13 goals in their five games to date, running up totals of 3-19 and 4-12 in the All-Ireland series. Captain Conor Corbett (3-15), Patrick Campbell (2-12), Ryan O’Donovan (1-16) and Michael O’Neill (1-7) have all been to the fore.

Their U20 counterparts struck 13 goals in the four ties en route to All-Ireland glory and averaged 3-18 per match. Cathal O’Mahony (2-20) and Mark Cronin (3-13) were their principal marksmen with support at key stages from Damien Gore (1-7) and Blake Murphy (2-4).

Cork U20 manager Keith Ricken assembled a strong backroom team around him and they duly prospered, casting the net wide for players. 20 different clubs were represented in that final win over Dublin with six of the starting side having never played for Cork in the minor grade, graduating through good form at club and colleges level.

Minor boss Bobby O’Dwyer is at the head of a structure that trawled the county in a similar fashion for players. 18 different clubs are set to supply members of Sunday’s match-day squad with seven of them operating at junior level from a range of Buttevant in the north of the county to Urhan in the western Beara peninsula. 

Cork minor manager Bobby O’Dwyer.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

The Cork minor management were in place last year and always felt an extended campaign would lead to a natural improvement in their play. That view has been bolstered by the development of the team this summer.

Cork have seen promising underage sides come and go before. The trick as always is to limit the number that slip through the cracks as they move up to higher levels. May’s appointment of Conor Counihan as Project Co-ordinator for football and the news this week that Aidan O’Connell is coming on board in the county as High Performance Director, a role encompassing both codes, are both positive in embracing that challenge and mapping out a pathway for players.

Cork’s fall in the football rankings has been steep since the start of this decade and that’s left them with a considerable road to travel to try to challenge the senior elite again. Contesting the Super 8s was a positive but results went against them and they’ll be starting out on their 2020 journey in Division 3.

Yet the last couple of months have shown there are raw materials to work with and underage talents to be harnessed over the next few years.

Another piece of national silverware on Sunday would be a boost but the real test is to use the promise of 2019 as a springboard for the future.

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DUBLIN WILL HAVE their shot at GAA history on Sunday afternoon in Croke Park, an appearance in the All-Ireland senior football decider where they will attempt to complete five-in-a-row.

This particular run of final glories began in 2015 when they claimed victory by 0-12 to 0-9 against Kerry. It took them two attempts in 2016 to get the job done with 1-15 to 1-14 replay success over Mayo following the 2-9 to 0-15 draw.

Then in 2017 it was Mayo they defeated again by a narrow margin, 1-17 to 1-16, and last year they overcame Tyrone by 2-17 to 1-14 in Croke Park.

Jim Gavin’s side are aiming then to lift Sam Maguire for the fifth successive year but can you name the players who have featured in the deciders to get them to the brink of this feat?

Time to test your knowledge.

If it doesn’t display correctly, click here to play.

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ON SUNDAY, GAVIN White will have the unique distinction of captaining Kerry in the All-Ireland final without having played a minute of league football for the county.

The 22-year-old was called into the panel by Eamonn Fitzmaurice during the summer in 2016 and was absent for the following year’s league campaign due to Dr Crokes’ run to the All-Ireland club title.

He sat out the 2018 league with injury and missed this year’s competition because of club duties once again. 

“Yeah, 100% true. I’ve never played a league game,” he says. “Not one league game. I’ve played all the championship last year, obviously I’ve played championship this year, but yet to make my league debut so it’s something I want to do.”

The contrast with Dublin’s skipper couldn’t be more striking. Stephen Cluxton is 15 years White’s senior and has featured in every league campaign since 2002. The Parnells man also has 104 championship appearances to his name.

This will be White’s first-ever competitive game against Dublin at any level. 

“No, no, never played Dublin. I’d say maybe (the last time was) a challenge match at 16, 17 years of age.”

After struggling with an elbow injury earlier in the summer, White failed to start the semi-final win over Tyrone but was introduced at half-time for Shane Enright. The nature of Kerry’s second-half turnaround leaves White in with a good shout of starting the final.

But what about the prospect of Kerry’s captain beginning the decider on the bench? 

“Obviously everyone wants to start, but I don’t think it makes a whole pile of difference to tell you the truth if it helps Kerry to win an All Ireland you’re going to do that,” he remarks.

“If it’s starting on the first 15 or coming off the bench, you’re going to do as much as you can. From my point of view it doesn’t really matter if the manager picks me or not.

“You’re happy to be number 26 on the bench if it helps Kerry to an All Ireland title.”

Gavin White takes off against Cork.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

His searing pace means mean’s likely to be employed at wing-forward pick-up Dublin speed merchant Jack McCaffrey. White is naturally a wing-back but has been used higher up the field by Peter Keane this season. 

“From my point of view I started off the championship at wing-back and wing-forward now. Just given instructions to go out there and work like a dog basically.

“Defend as much as you can, get forward as much as you can. I don’t think much has changed really. When I was playing at seven or on the half-back line my game was going forward, now I would see myself as a strong defender as well.

“I don’t think much has changed really. I play more around the middle, everywhere really I’m kind of given the license to do a bit of everything.” 

White is fortunate to hail from a club filled with former Kerry captains. Colm Cooper skippered the Kingdom in 2011 and 2013, Eoin Brosnan did so in 2012, Fionn Fitzgerald held the honour in 2014 and Johnny Buckley led the side in 2017.

All four clubmates have provided a sounding board for White as he prepares for the biggest sporting occasion of his young life to date.

“I suppose they would have said to me one or two things. I think a lot of the things I would have gotten naturally from watching them growing up, especially having the opportunity to share a dressing room with them.

“I would have gotten a few things from them, whilst being with Gooch, with Brossy, Fionn, and Johnny was there, you kind of soak in and soak up the information that they’ve been giving to us while I was growing up on the senior team.

“Yeah look it they had a few pep talks with me, nothing major now, things I would have thought myself, there isn’t anything groundbreaking, to be honest.”

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IT’S HARD TO believe that a man who had the presence of mind and calmness to chip Paddy Cullen with a close-range free in the 1978 All-Ireland final would report feeling drained 10 minutes into the same game four years later. 

As Mikey Sheehy will attest to, strange things can happen to players and teams who stand on the cusp of the five-in-a-row.

Kerry legend Mikey Sheehy.

Source: © Billy Stickland/INPHO

In the six All-Ireland finals he played before 1982, Mikey Sheehy ran up a personal tally of 4-23. He finished as top-scorer for Mick O’Dwyer’s side in five of those games. In the only final he wasn’t Kerry’s highest scorer he still managed to grab 1-4, but was bested by Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston’s tally of 3-2.

During the four titles in succession Kerry strung together, Sheehy’s final tallies were 1-4 (’78 vs Dublin), 2-6 (’79 vs Dublin), 1-6 (’80 vs Roscommon) and 0-5 (’81 vs Offaly).

And he only found himself on the losing team on one occasion before ’82 – his first final in ’75. Even with five Celtic Crosses in his back pocket, a veteran forward like Sheehy was affected by all the hype surrounding Kerry’s bid for history.

Against the Faithful in ’82, he scored just three points – his joint-lowest tally in a decider – and saw a crucial penalty saved by Martin Furlong. 

“It does get into your psyche,” he admitted earlier this year. “I would probably said that before that (’82 final) – I missed a penalty at a crucial point in the game – I would have said that day that I just didn’t feel right myself.

“And I kind of felt it was tension thing that I felt drained. I felt after about 10 minutes in the game, ‘Jesus Christ, have I done any training for this game?’

“I was stuck, stuck to the floor, it was just a tension, drained. It was a mental thing. Different players. I think the players nowadays are totally differently tuned to the way we were.”

The Kerry team ahead of the 1982 final.

Source: INPHO

The manner by which the Kerry players dropped deep to protect their lead in the closing stages of that final against Offaly was striking. It was probably done subconsciously but the space Kerry gave out the field to Liam Connor allowed him to deliver in the perfect ball to Seamus Darby for the most famous goal in GAA history.

Interestingly, Dublin coach Declan Darcy admitted that his side looked a little nervy in the first period of the semi-final against Mayo.

“I think there were a lot of nerves in our group for some reason,” he said. “They were a bit tentative. 

“I wouldn’t say tentative, but you just don’t know how fellas are going to respond to a game. In every situation, sometimes if a goal happens early in a game it settles lads down really quickly. 

“But if things aren’t going well and they miss (chances) then that apprehension heightens by what they’re doing on the pitch. It can easily be something that can settle them down in the game.

“And if it doesn’t happen early enough then you can have a little sense of, yeah, they’re finding it hard to figure things out. 

“I thought there was a little bit of that, but I think they were over-thinking it, to be honest.”

So how do the Dublin players avoid finding themselves in a situation like Sheehy’s, where their energy levels are affected by the pressure in the build-up?

The Dublin team ahead of the 2018 All-Ireland final.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“You’ve got to look at everything, so how was he eating, how was he sleeping, what’s he thinking?” performance psychologist Gerry Hussey told The42.

“So it’s easy to say ‘my legs were heavy’ but there’s always loads of different reasons why your legs are heavy. From a psychological point of view what happens is we exert so much energy before the game that by the time we hit the game we’re almost hitting with 40% of a tank of diesel. 

“Our fuel tank has been emptied and it’s that fight or flight stress response. It’s very hard to want to go into battle if your subconscious mind has perceived it as a threat.

“Particularly if it’s perceived as a threat that it’s terrified of losing, it’s very hard to be full of energy and full of passion about that. 

“Psychologically, the power of the mind is incredible and it changes the physiology of the body all the time. A very simple way of looking at it is, if we have a sad thought we’ll start to cry.

“If we have an embarrassing thought we’ll go red, so the blood vessels of the face will dilate. So we know from those two simple situations that the mind and the thoughts we have physically and psychologically affect blood flow and heart rate.

“So if I’m in a stressed limbic state, it’s going to affect me physically and physiologically.”

Hussey believes the collective mindset Jim Gavin has instilled in the group means they are well-placed to cope with the psychological demands of a five-in-a-row bid.

“What we know about the Dublin team is they are incredibly process-focused,” he said. 

“They focus on the moment in front of them and they win that. They don’t go out to win a game, they go out to win as many moments as they possibly can. They pride themselves on things like composure, decision-making – so they’ve put a lot of time and effort into developing mentally as a team.

“The on-field stuff is really important. Then the immediate off-field stuff is the culture. What’s the culture in the dressing room? Is this a continuous improvement culture?

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“One where we’re always asking, what makes this team better and how can we move forward? And also how do we celebrate success? In some teams there’s a lack of fun, there’s a lack of passion. 

Dean Rock, Paddy Andrews and Ciaran Kilkenny after the semi-final.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

“These guys are amateurs, they should enjoy it, there should be a sense of fun. In some of the counties, I wonder how much fun they actually have. What sustains that constant improvement is a sense of fun, a sense of clarity and constant feedback to players.

“They need feedback all the time. Whether they’ve had an incredibly good game or incredibly bad game. They need feedback all the time and they need focus.”

The value of the feedback provided to Jim Gavin’s players was witnessed in the second-half of the semi-final. 

Dublin trailed Mayo by 0-8 to 0-6 points at half-time and were operating way below their usual level up to that point. Much of that was down to Mayo’s strong start to the game.

Dublin’s strike runners like Brian Fenton and Jack McCaffrey were turned over by Mayo defenders, as Dublin coughed up possession 11 times in the tackle during the half. 

What happened in the 12 minutes after the restart may go down as the greatest spell of dominance ever seen from this team. 

What exactly went on at half-time?

Darcy paints the picture of a serene dressing room under the Hogan Stand.

“It’s as simple as half-time is a rest period, so they come in and have a reflection themselves and have a few pointers they want to raise. Then the coaches input back into them and then out they go again. 

“It’s a very short window, there’s not actually as much time as you’d think with them. Because really what it is, is a rest period. Where they recharge themselves for the second-half. That’s basically it.  

Niall Scully and Michael Darragh Macauley talk before the Mayo game.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“I think sometimes when they get in and reflect on what they’re doing and realise this isn’t as complicated as what we thought it was. They just need to do things better in a simpler way. And just take a little bit of pressure off their shoulders and just go after it and not think about it. 

“I think that’s the problem with players sometimes, if they overthink it they start to not function correctly. They seize up and there’s tension. 

“But if they just have that trust and let it go and not think about it – think about it after the game but not during the game. If you can get them into that state of mind, that’s when I think they function at their best.”

The key for Gavin and his coaching team will be having the players relaxed but focused during the pre-match pageantry that comes before the All-Ireland final throws-in.

As Michael Darragh Macauley put it earlier this week, ‘It means everything and it means nothing.” 

That’s a good way to look at it.

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