Pillar talk as Caffrey calms hype in Dublin
The one ingredient missing is the usual bombast about how the Dubs are about to swat aside their country cousins in Leinster before readjusting their sights for a shot at Sam.
The bookies may have installed them as provincial favourites, but manager Paul Caffrey, nicknamed ‘Pillar’, douses the fires of expectation wherever they look like spreading.
“I’m a cautious person,” said the former Na Fianna manager.
“We have won one Leinster title in 10 years, we haven’t won an All-Ireland minor since 1984 and one U-21 in our entire history.
“That is a fact. I’m not making that up or I can’t deny it. That’s what we’re facing. Whatever paper it was recently that ranked us at 12th for the All-Ireland, maybe that’s not wrong. That is our starting point.”
It’s all a far cry from Caffrey’s first year involved with the Dublin management. In 2002, Tommy Lyons looked to inject some of that old Dublin swagger into the team and, for one glorious summer, it worked.
Yet once Ray Cosgrove’s free rebounded off the post against Armagh, Lyons could never re-inflate the county to the same level. The gamble of playing up a previously underachieving team had, ultimately, failed.
In that light, Caffrey’s realism is understandable. Knowing where they want to go is well and good, but Dublin’s priority this year has been to understand where they are coming from.
The county went full pelt at the league and, the abject defeat away to Cork aside, they competed manfully in every game. But the fact that they fell short of the semi-finals for the fourth successive year might have said more about their place in the greater scheme of things.
In Leinster though, silverware is well within their reach. Longford and Meath bar their path to the Leinster final and taking Dublin on in their own backyard for the Delaney Cup will be a big ask for whichever side emerges from the other tougher side of the draw.
Against Mayo and Donegal in the league, the Dubs showed they could win tight games, a skill they seemed to have lost in recent years. Tomas Quinn has been granted many of the plaudits for that.
After a handful of seasons where Dublin’s forwards have passed around the free-taking duties like the proverbial hot potato, the St Vincent’s man has finally stepped up to the plate to accept the burden as his own.
Caffrey said: “Any game you win is encouraging. As for the manner of the victory, some days I was particularly pleased for Mossie Quinn to step up and take pressure kicks which led to big results for us, so that is a positive.
“Within the camp we’ve always looked to have a good free-taker. You can go back to Ray Cosgrove in 2002. Senan Connell took a lot of frees last year. We grew up on a diet of Jimmy Keaveney and Barney Rock and then Charlie Redmond.
“All those guys were significant parts of All-Ireland-winning teams. History shows unless you have a good that free-taker, your chances of winning an All-Ireland title are much slimmer.”
It’s a young, if experienced team, ‘Pillar’ will send out for his championship bow as boss but familiar names like Christie, Goggins, Whelan and Sherlock are sprinkled throughout.
Yet nine of the starters have graduated from the U-21 sides that collected two Leinsters and an All-Ireland in 2002 and 2003. Defeat Longford and the old enemy await. Defeat them, as Tommy Lyons said recently, and even Caffrey may be forced to ride a wave of optimism through to the final.
“I’m not giving Meath any thought. I have far too much credit for Luke Dempsey. He didn’t get near enough credit for what he did with Westmeath the years he was there. He’s a good organiser and he’s bringing up a very young Longford team that’ll be willing to give it one good crack on Sunday.”
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