Mickey Whelan has had a huge impact on Dublin GAA

Always learning, even at 78. The godfather of Dublin coaching, Mickey Whelan, has left an enormous and lasting legacy on the current Dublin set-up, one those involved are more than happy to acknowledge, writes Kieran Shannon

‘THE Americans have a saying: “If you want to run fast, you’ve got to run fast.” In other words, you can’t train to be a sprinter unless you sprint. You can’t train to be a footballer, unless you train to play football. We’ve produced athletes here in Dublin the last 20 years that will jump over the moon, but we’re not winning All-Irelands. We’ve been falling down in the skills of the game, whereas Kerry don’t. If they get 30-to-40% of the ball, they’ll get enough scores to win a game. It comes down to playing, making decisions on the ball under pressure, instead of running the sugar out of fellas. People are only buying into that now.’