The boys in blue bring the right amount of spice

DUBLIN may be heaven with coffee at 11 and a stroll round Stephen’s Green but I recall walking down Grafton Street, off the Green, five steps behind Dublin football star Tony Hanahoe when he was in his playing heyday.

Incredibly nobody seemed to recognise him. He walked down the premier street of his capital and county and nobody spoke to him, nobody seemed to recognise him, no hand clapped him on the back.

Granted, he was the dapper city gent with his bespoke pinstripe suit and briefcase, in his legal mode rather than stripped for action before the Hill, but it was surprising all the same. Dublin is different and Dublin football is different. Gooch Cooper would not be able to walk through any hamlet in Kerry without being stopped 10 times. Likewise for any of the big stars in any of the provinces. But Dublin is different, and that is both a positive and a negative for its stars.