Dublin not quite a finished article
Jim Gavin, though, is not your average champion manager. When it was put to him Dublin’s future is bright, he argued there were no guarantees and spoke of the progress made by the U21s in the smaller Leinster counties.
Gavin’s football may border on cavalier but his words are careful. He is not like his captain Stephen Cluxton who won’t utter two words when one will do but he is quite the master in talking a lot and saying little.
So when he says Dublin had to play the referee, Dublin haven’t been getting a fair shake from referees and Dublin were frustrated, not cynical, in their late tackling it’s time to sound the sirens.
Like Jim McGuinness’ stance against a journalist last September, his indignant defence of his team took a little gloss off the achievement.
Was this the same manager who applauded Kerry for not taking down Kevin McManamon on his way to scoring the winning goal in this month’s semi-final?
His exact words were: “Kevin wasn’t taken down when he went through for the goal. There was no time wasting by either goalkeeper. Nobody was feigning injuries. No aggressive tackling off the ball. So it was played in the right spirit, the way I think Kerry people like the game to be played and the way Dublin people expect the game to be played. Whether it brings success or not, that’s a different matter. But that’s the way I believe the game should be played.”
Gavin didn’t change his tune after Sunday’s match. He repeated the same aristocratic philosophies he holds dear but they rang a little hollow having seen what his team resorted to in the closing stages.
Frustrated by Joe McQuillan’s calls? Maybe they were but was it more desperation and tiredness having effectively been reduced to 13 men that shaped their cynical tackling in those last 15 minutes?
Gavin is not the sanctimonious type but in his urgent campaign to defend his team he has shown himself to be no different to any other manager when Dublin have done nothing to dissuade the perception that they play a brand of football that is purer than the rest.
Dublin didn’t have to beat the referee as well as Mayo. McQuillan wasn’t overly harsh on them. The Rory O’Carroll yellow card was on the harsh side but contrary to what Gavin said, Dublin fouled significantly more than their opponents.
Why did Gavin take such offence when Dublin had won the game? He had the luxury of doing so, of course, but there are further journeys for him and this group. There is still so much to steward and sustain.
On Sunday, less than an hour after Cluxton held the jug aloft, he drew some bemused reactions when he said: “I know from speaking to other managers, they’re already setting themselves up for the 2014 Championship. We’re probably behind now already.”
Yes, it was all told with a straight face.
Yesterday, he shot more arrows towards 2014. He mentioned the next stage for his players. “We spoke about it in the quiet time in the dressing room afterwards that they need to go back and play well for their clubs.”
In regard to why it’s 23 years since Billy Morgan became the last manager to claim back-to-back All-Ireland titles, he stated: “I think there’s a lot of distractions after winning and you’re exposing all your tactical game-plans in your winning season and if you’re not prepared to evolve and to move on then teams around you will evolve and move on.”
Gavin’s plans are just as forward as the thrilling style of football he has delivered in his debut season but it’s not without its blots.
Dublin aren’t a cynical team but neither are Tyrone or any team out there.
However, they will be able to adapt to the black card rule quicker than most next year not because they are any cleaner than their rivals but because right now they’re simply better.
Better on the pitch and better on the sideline. However, a little reality wouldn’t go amiss.
* Email: john.fogarty@examiner.ie
If Sunday finally convinced Mayo supporters they are not cursed, but their teams simply haven’t been good enough to win an All-Ireland, then it might just be termed a success.
James Horan has done an incredible job to rid Mayo of the misery so many in the county seem to wallow in. It’s a brutally onerous gig, though, especially when there are so many former managers and players in the media and they need no prompting to point out what the current incumbents have done wrong. He who casts the first stone is most certainly with sin.
But a sense of responsibility isn’t in ample supply in a county where providence is reasoned as Mayo’s downfall. Not poor shooting, not bad decision-making, not questionable tactics.
Those at last night’s homecoming in Castlebar were told “America got Bin Laden, Mayo will get Sam Maguire”. What Mayo needs now apart from Horan for another season is not vacuous, populist soundbites, but collective reflection.
Curses are a crock of proverbial, to be honest. To say the 1951 tale arrests the Mayo senior football team is like believing Conor Mortimer’s infamous line that they wouldn’t win an All-Ireland without him has gravitas.
The sooner Mayo people realise it’s a record and not a curse they have to break the better it will be for their team.
It’s likely a first floodlight All-Ireland senior final awaits us this Saturday and it’s the goalkeepers this column feels for most.
If they’re not being pinballed on their way up to take frees, they’re putting their bodies on the line to stop opportunistic free-takers and being criticised for being braver than they should.
Now they must deal with the possibility of contending with the glare of lights in their eyes — and through visors!
As Ger Cunningham and Davy Fitzgerald would agree, it helps to be a little mad to be a hurling goalkeeper. But do they have to be straitjacketed?
