A September omen?
The former Dublin star, wing-back on the All-Ireland winning team of 1995, led the capital’s juniors to their sixth success at the grade in Portlaoise on Saturday.
There were big performances from former senior players Darren Homan, a second-half sub, captain and midfielder Denis Bastick and Eoghan O’Gara who led the line superbly from full-forward.
It was a strong performance from a Dublin team that was always in control and led from Adrian Darcy’s first score of the game after just 15 seconds until the final whistle.
Roscommon had plenty of star names in their ranks too, with former senior ace Frankie Dolan at corner-forward and All-Ireland winning minor star of 2006, Fintan Cregg, full-forward.
The hope now is that Paul Caffrey’s senior team can follow the juniors’ lead and Deegan sees no reason why it won’t happen.
“Hopefully, we’re overdue All-Irelands so hopefully this is the Dubs’ year,” said Deegan, who reckons several of his players including O’Gara can make an impact on the senior team.
“Eoghan is 22 years of age, he has a lots of work to do and knows that but he’s got great ball-winning ability.
“Maybe he needs to get a bit more movement and speed into his play but there’s no doubt he has it. He caught a few great balls and laid off plenty of ball and he caused them real trouble.
“He’s a player for the future no doubt and I’d like to see him on the Dublin senior panel.”
One player who definitely won’t be returning to the senior panel is veteran Homan, a former team-mate of Deegan’s who stabilised midfield and hit a vital point after his second-half introduction on Saturday.
“I played with Darren for three years after ‘95, when I retired in ‘98 he kept battling away until three years ago and I thought he’d never win it (an All-Ireland) so I’m just delighted for him,” continued Deegan.
“He’s a fantastic person and still a top player.”
Dublin led 0-6 to 0-2 after 21 minutes with Karl Connolly notching back-to-back points but three in a row from Roscommon left just one between them at half-time.
The interval stalled Roscommon’s momentum though and Dublin restarted with three in a row themselves from Bastick, Johnny Cooper and Connolly to move 0-9 to 0-5 clear.
It was a crucial run of scores and from there Dublin turned the screw, with Darcy, Cooper and Homan sealing the deal with fine points.
C Clarke; D Daly, M Fitzsimons, C Prenderville; M White, A Dennis, N Brogan; D Bastick (0-1), C Daly; R Joyce, K Connolly (0-3), J Cooper (0-2); W Finnegan (0-2; 1f), E O’Gara (0-1), A Darcy (0-3; 2f).
D Homan (0-1) for Joyce 47, C Norton for Finnegan 51, N Tormey for Connolly 62.
M Miley; N Carty, R Cox, J Whyte; E Towey (0-1), J Harte, C Garvey (0-1); B Higgins (0-1), M Reynolds; D Moran (0-2; 1f), J McKeague, K Higgins; F Dolan (0-1), F Cregg (0-1), P Garvey.
R Brady for Whyte 6, D Ward for Towey 48, C McHugh for Higgins 46, M Killilea for McKeague 57.
M Sludden (Tyrone).
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