Age no barrier as Dolan leads Saints’ Croker march
Except there’s nothing sad about a 32-year-old leading his club to an All-Ireland final. Nothing washed up about the former Roscommon footballer finding a new lease of life with St Brigid’s and recently being named AIB club player of 2010 in Connacht.
Dolan’s critics can be forgiven for thinking the ridiculously talented forward didn’t get as much out of his inter-county career as he should have.
He’d argue the same but not for the same reasons.
“You can never achieve enough in football. When I was with Roscommon I had a few bad injuries, I had knee injuries and operations on my shoulder and that didn’t help me because you need to be seriously fit for the county scene.
“I missed a lot of training through the years and it didn’t help me. Thankfully, this year has been different. I’ve been probably fitter than I ever, it’s great not to be getting any major injuries.”
On Thursday, Dolan sets foot on Croke Park soil for the first time since 2004 when Roscommon went down to Dublin in a round four All-Ireland qualifier.
He’s enjoying the elder statesman role at Brigid’s. He has fine lieutenants in the likes of Karol Mannion but there’s little doubt who’s the on-field general.
“Loving it, it’s great,” he stated about his football now. “I suppose people would probably say you’re too old for club football. I’m 32 but the year has gone well for me.”
He added: “I’m playing with lads now that I saw my brother hanging around with. They used to call to the house on bicycles and they’re playing with me now. You’d know them as young kids and it’s great to be playing with these lads now, especially in a final on Paddy’s Day.”
The secret to Brigid’s success this year? Fearlessness and a revelry in the underdogs status.
It’s well known there was tidy amounts of money in Roscommon placed on the club before thesemi-final win over Nemo Rangers.
Those in the know about Brigid’s were aware Nemo’s impressive win over Dr Crokes in the Munster final had taken too much focus off the Connacht champions.
Dolan revealed: “We didn’t fear playing Nemo, we watched them and we’ve a couple of serious footballers. People don’t realise that — hopefully they will after Paddy’s Day!
“There was no pressure on us which was great going into the Nemo game.
Nemo are probably talking about All-Irelands every year but we’retalking about county titles, no more so than Crossmaglen the next day. They’d be talking about Ulster titles and going on to All-Ireland finals at the start of the year so there’s probably big pressure on them to deliver.
As for Brigid’s defeat to Crossmaglen in the 2007 All-Ireland semi-final, Dolan says it will have no bearing on the Thursday’s game.
“They’re probably two completely different teams now. We weren’t as physical as Crossmaglen and I think the two teams now are more running teams. Crossmaglen have changed, they’ve lost a few lads.
“A few of their senior players are coming on for the last 10 or 15 minutes so they’re two completely sides from a few years ago. You can’t really take anything out of the game four years ago.”
Having grown up watching nearby rivals Clann na Gael lose four straight All-Ireland finals in the eighties, Dolan’s aware it’s a case of treating this decider as the club’s last.
It will likely be his but he maintains there has to be a concerted belief that they have one shot and that’s it.
“When you get to four All-Irelands you probably think you deserve to win one but you don’t deserve to win one unless you put in a serious effort and you need a lot of luck on the day.
“They were just unfortunate that they didn’t win one. You have to take it that you’ll never be here again. Hopefully things will go our way and we’ll get a bit of luck on the day.”
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