Talty the Tribal elder glad to be an adopted Dub
He was a member of the Galway team which was humiliated by 12-man Dublin in the infamous All-Ireland SFC final of 1983.
Yet all of his recent involvement with the GAA has been in Dublin, where he teaches. And, on Sunday he completed a notable treble of Leinster final victories as a member of the Paul Caffrey-led management which successfully plotted the downfall of Laois.
The first of those was with the Dublin minor team which featured Ciaran Whelan and Jason Sherlock, the other with the U-21s.
Ironically, both times his native county frustrated their ambitions Galway triumphing at semi-final level in the minor grade and in the final on the next occasion.
Talty takes pride in the seniors' achievement at the weekend, praising Caffrey for his leadership.
"People talk of Paul being a rookie, but he's really experienced,'' he says.
"He was Tommy Lyons' right-hand man for three or four years and gained a lot of experience from working with the lads, from mistakes made along the way. He has done a massive job.''
In terms of the way they achieved victory, to record the county's 45th title in front of the biggest crowd ever to attend a provincial final Talty agreed the most pleasing aspect was the character the team showed in coming back in the second half.
And, nobody personified it better than Tomás (Mossie) Quinn, first with his equalising score from a 45-yard free and then the winner from a 45.
"To stand up and take those massive frees showed his character. It wasn't a question of waiting around for somebody else, he just responded. It was great to see it.''
The management had reason to be pleased that a few decisions made since taking over proved beneficial.
Arguably, the most significant was to move Brian Cullen up to the half-forward line initially to the wing and for strategic purposes to the centre on Sunday.
"Brian had played with Dublin in the forwards before and with his club. You could play him anywhere, he's that kind of a player.
"The interesting thing is that a lot of people complained about him being played at wing-forward, that he's naturally a defender and all that. He had been doing a great job on the wing, but on Sunday we needed somebody in on top of Tom Kelly and he was the man.''
When they made the hard call to take off Coman Goggins at half-time, converted forward Colin Moran proved his versatility by settling in at wing-back immediately and contributed a vital score near the end.
"When Collie was going forward, the lads were saying 'give it to a forward'. Then somebody said, 'but he is a forward.'"
Right now, players and management are basking in their triumph, with Talty commenting that the emotional reaction of the crowd as much as the players showed that winning the provincial title remained a prized objective, just as much as it has been shown to be in Munster, Connacht and Ulster.
"What happens next is down the line really. We'll start thinking about it tonight when we come together. Then again, you don't know who you are playing.''
The original record attendance for a Leinster final stood at 59,643 from 1962 (Dublin v Offaly) until the 1990s, when on three occasions 60,000-plus crowds were recorded. In 2001, it reached 66,825 for the Dublin-Meath decider and went as high as 78,003 three years ago when Dublin won their last title (against Kildare).
