‘Legacies can inspire rather than burden’

Step into the impressive St Vincent’s GAA bar room and it’s not long before you’re reminded of the club’s glory era.

The 1970s and early 1980s were good to Vincent’s and that’s hardly surprising; Brian Mullins, Jimmy Keaveney, Tony Hanahoe, Fran Ryder, Bobby Doyle, they were all in their prime.

The thing is, those pictures of famous days had the potential to both inspire and intimidate. And for a while there, it looked as if the latter may be occurring.

The famous Marino club went all of 23 years before a new team dominated Dublin again in 2007, beginning another glory era with, arguably, an equally talented team.

In All-Ireland teams, the current team have actually outdone the side that Mullins graced by a two to one count.

And if they win back-to-back AIB Leinster titles this weekend, they will have gained three in total, the same number as the side Mullins was on.

Clearly, the weight of history hasn’t been troublesome for this team.

“There would be evidence to suggest that if legacies are presented in a certain format, then they can serve to inspire people, rather than burden them,” said Mullins.

“At some stage, it was maybe the case too that the current crop of players understood that the legacy really, of the victories of my era and the era before me, represented a simple message. Hard work. Dedication.

“It doesn’t change. That is the same mantra you’ll hear from the All Blacks, from Joe Schmidt and other sports. Achievement in sport is as a result of hard work and dedication.”

If Mullins could pick one player to sum up his argument, to demonstrate dedication on top of talent, he would probably pick Diarmuid Connolly. It is only half the story that Dublin’s All-Star forward is an outrageously gifted footballer.

“He’s reaping the benefit of innate and instinctive ability but he’s had to put the hard work in on top of it,” stressed Mullins.

“There’s coaches all over the world who will tell you, ‘so and so is a great player but he hadn’t got the dedication’. It’s not automatic that you perform because you’re skilfully talented. There are more ingredients than that needed.”

Mullins says it’s a collective attitude within the team that doesn’t stop with Connolly.

“As a club, they decided two years ago or more that they wanted to try and do all of this and they’re still on that route.”

The returns so far from their commitment have been impressive; back-to-back Dublin titles, potential back-to-back Leinster wins and, just maybe, a successful All-Ireland defence.

At county level, players like Connolly learned with Dublin this year of the pitfalls that accompany high expectation however. And there were suggestions in the county final and against Garrycastle last time out that Vincent’s may be coasting at times in games. It’s a dangerous activity which Mullins says must be eradicated from their performance if they’re to beat Rhode.

“It’s one thing that the Vincent’s management need to be very wary of — you’re only as good as your last game,” said Mullins. “And the great thing about sport is that there is always opposition out there waiting to knock you off your pedestal or who go against the grain in terms of expectation.

“I have no doubt Rhode are going to be within a hair’s breadth of winning this match, at every stage of the game. And I believe it will come down to the wire.

“And anybody who says opposite to that or who says it’s going to be a cakewalk, they don’t know their football.”

Still, Mullins tipped his hat to the players’ ability to maintain such strong form for the guts of two years now.

“Ultimately, they’re a very dedicated bunch,” he said. “They have a great sense of unity of purpose. It’s a unique competition and probably the most difficult All-Ireland to win.

“But I think it’s the dedication, the commitment, that stands to them. Which is no different from other campaigns in other sports. Maybe then on top of that, you need to be a bit luckier than some of the opposition.”