Dublin not quite a finished article

Carlow and Longford, all respect to them, would have been surprised as anybody else to be name-checked in an All-Ireland winning post-match press conference.

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.