John Fogarty: Return of dynamic duo rejuvenates Dublin
COMEBACK TRAIL: The return of Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion is a huge boost for Dublin football. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Patrick Nice struck again on Sunday. Just over three years since Jim Gavin nonchalantly added — like The Fast Show “which was nice” character — that Diarmuid Connolly was back in the fold, his successor Dessie Farrell was mentioning as a by the by that Paul Mannion and Jack McCaffrey would be available to Dublin in 2023.
Of course, announcing that two stunning footballers, who have missed the last two seasons and McCaffrey one extra, was more than an afterthought. Just as he accompanied Gavin when he made that announcement, media manager Seamus McCormack was with Farrell in Parnell Park as he delivered news that will make Blues supporters’ hearts sing.
McCormack wouldn’t often take in games with Farrell but there he was sitting at the back of the stand for Sunday’s last couple of county SFC quarter-finals. And they remained there following the semi-final draw to be met by Dublin GAA multimedia executive Derek Ryan to capture the interview.
With Mannion’s Kilmacud Crokes having progressed to the last four the day before and McCaffrey’s Clontarf having been relegated from the senior championship earlier in the day, it was an appropriate time to reveal a genuinely big GAA news story.
The delivery of it may have been understated but it’s that minimalist approach that Dublin have been striving for since Pat Gilroy took over and it’s a style that often suits them. Farrell’s reference to the pair was 41 words long. Confirmation of his recent two-year extension comprised 24 words including the upthedubs hashtag.
Neither Farrell nor Gavin are excitable men thus the subdued nature would be very much to their liking, but then the former is only too aware of the base Dublin will be coming from next season, their lowest since 2010 when they lost an All-Ireland semi-final on the back of a quarter-final meltdown the season before.
As the 20th anniversary of their All-Ireland title falls on Thursday, that fine Armagh team are enjoying considerable nostalgic media coverage. They remain the last team from Division 2 to go on and the Sam Maguire Cup (Division 2A as it was back then) later that year. If any team is going to break that hoodoo it will probably be Dublin.
At least to go straight back up to Division 1, they shouldn’t need McCaffrey nor Mannion and Farrell will be mindful not to push them too much given it was a hamstring injury in a league game against Tyrone that should never have gone ahead in February 2020 that made up the defender’s mind to quit. And between bouts of brilliance, Mannion has been quite injury-prone these last couple of seasons.
As contracted as the 2023 season is going to be, if Dublin go about the year the way they intend they will have more championship fixtures than league. Seven rounds in Division 2 and a final will be one less than three Leinster outings, three All-Ireland series matches followed by a quarter-final, semi-final and final. McCaffrey (almost 29) and Mannion (29) haven't been asked back just to tog out for potential spring trips to Limerick and Derry and possibly the first home league games in Parnell Park since 2010.
Whatever differences the pair had with the inter-county scene or personnel involved in it, they have been resolved and it is believed their decisions were made in concert. After the 2019 All-Ireland final replay, McCaffrey wondered if the juice was worth the squeeze anymore given the demands it placed on him on top of his work as a doctor.
From the outside looking in, Mannion’s extended spell on the bench in the 2020 Covid championship seemed strange but frustration with lack of game-time didn’t appear to be the reason for his departure. Although the odd injury has tripped him since, Mannion looks emancipated lining out for Kilmacud Crokes, enjoying his sport as much as Ballygunner’s Stephen O’Keeffe and Philip Mahony have since they finished up with Waterford also in their late 20s.
Having each sat out a season to pursue other interests prior to their most recent sabbaticals, this is a third coming for the duo à la Paul Galvin, Graham Geraghty and Brian McGuigan. Clearly, both men know their own minds but as two of the most genial and generous in the great Dublin group it wouldn’t be surprising if they were convinced by colleagues to get the old band back together for one last reunion tour.
After missing the 1983 season with a cruciate tear, Pat Spillane played 13 championship games for Kerry over the following three seasons between the age of 28 and 30 and his Celtic Cross haul jumped from five to eight. It’s difficult to see Mannion and McCaffrey sticking around as long but their return may already have rejuvenated Dublin.
At a time when the Ps and Qs of inter-county managers have never been more protected, you can rely on the club bosses to speak their minds.
Step forward Nemo Rangers’ manager Paul O’Donovan who this past week called Carbery Rangers’ defensive approach in Saturday’s Cork PSFC quarter-final as he saw it.
“Trying to play and score against that type of defence is extremely hard. I hope I never coach that. I just don’t like watching it,” he remarked after his side’s 2-4 to 0-9 win.
“From a spectator point of view, the game is poor, or if you are trying to get people and kids to play that game, I don’t think there is any attraction to playing that game. They are entitled to do whatever they like, by the way.
“Will the opposition look at that and say, that is the way to play Nemo, I don’t know. You’d hope any team would go out with an ambition to play football, and win. For me, there is no satisfaction in playing that way.”
Without a final appearance since 2016, having lost all three group games last year and fielding six U21s from last season, Carbery manager Declan Hayes arguably felt they needed to crawl before they can walk.
“We have a very young panel,” remarked captain Thomas O’Rourke in a recent interview. “Obviously, a lot of players need to gain experience and get up to this level, and they are definitely getting there.”
Perhaps O’Donovan is coming from a position of strength insisting that he would be loath to be so defensive. The Nemo way, coloured by a touch of panache that borders on the arrogant, is something to be admired but not everybody has their tradition or resources.
They rightly won’t apologise for who they are but maybe a fledgling Carbery, who conceded no pointed free to Nemo, shouldn’t either.
Seeing as the 10-year anniversary of Donegal’s famous second All-Ireland win is later this week, it would be an appropriate time for Declan Bonner’s successor to be appointed.
Exactly 100 days since they exited this year’s championship at the hands of Armagh and 62 after Bonner announced his decision to step down, the wait is becoming excruciating for supporters. That’s not to say it isn’t for those in Monaghan whose patience must be wearing thin at this stage but Donegal shouldn’t be short of suitors.
If the reason for the delay is that prospective candidates are involved with clubs elsewhere in Ulster, it doesn’t help that the Donegal championship is now at the semi-final stage. Just how much budding talent might be overlooked?
Fógra - Kildangan man and endurance athlete Ben Banaghan is currently running from John O’Groats to Land’s End in the UK in aid of charities, one of them the Join Our Boys Trust set up by the Naughton family whose three boys were diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Their eldest child Archie sadly passed away in July.
Ben is running the equivalent of two marathons a day to complete the 1,400km length of Britain in the space of three weeks. In March last year, Ben completed a Mizen to Malin Head run. To support him and his noble cause, visit: mhukandisg.enthuse.com/cf/ben-s-lands-end-to-john-o-groats
