Dublin in a league of their own, says Ballyboden boss Andy McEntee

Ballyboden St Enda’s manager Andy McEntee has more pressing matters on his mind this week but admits he finds it difficult to see other football counties catching up on Dublin.

“It’s hard to see it. You look at the strength of the Dublin league. The Division 1 league is a harder competition than the championship in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of weaker teams involved in the championship but there are no weak teams involved in the league. Any time you turn up for a league game in Dublin, you’ll earn your stripes.”

Meath native McEntee can understand why people are asking questions about why Dublin received almost half of the entire funding for development last year but doesn’t deny the work put in by clubs in the capital nor the commercial attractiveness of Dublin as a team.

“They have better coaching structures. The amount of coaches they have in schools and clubs is starting to show. People are whinging and moaning about the finances. There are areas of the finances which are a bit uneven but if you’re in the market for sponsoring a team who are you going to sponsor? You’re going to sponsor the best team with the biggest population. That’s why Dublin are where they are. I’ve no issues with that. They’ve done the work. This wasn’t done this year, last year or the year before; this was put in place a long time ago and they’re getting the fruits of their labour.”

Part of Ballyboden’s power has been the ability to finance Paul Durcan’s flights back from Qatar for games. The Donegal goalkeeper is understood to be in the country at the moment ahead of Thursday’s All-Ireland final against Castlebar Mitchels. “We are fortunate enough to be able to foot the bill but it’s not insignificant.

“He’s been huge for us. We have a couple of other keepers who just don’t have the experience and Paul has come in at a really good time for us. I think the other fellas will learn from him and benefit from watching him play and hearing his thoughts on the game and he’s a really good outlook on the game. He’s not just a shotstopper; he’s a really good ball player.”

McEntee accepts Castlebar have a distinct edge over Ballyboden, having reached the final before in 2014. “That’s very relevant. They have been here. They ran into a real bang-in-form Diarmuid Connolly and bang-in-form St Vincent’s team. A little bit unfortunate on the day they lost and they lost a key member of the team (black carded Richie Feeney).

“It’s a very important factor but we would like to think with the experience we have in the team we’ll be able to approach the game and try and treat it just like another game. We all know it’s not another game. That’s one of the big issues, I suppose.”

McEntee admits to being frustrated by how Ballyboden’s run to the final has been perceived in some quarters as fortunate. “Like anybody else, I suppose you get fed up with people saying ‘you were lucky at the weekend’ and ‘you were lucky at the weekend’ and ‘you were lucky at the weekend’.

“Our guys have shown great resilience going right back to the Maurs game. That was a tight game too. Kilmacud tight game, Plunketts tight game, Clontarf really tight game. Drogheda, tight game. We’re finishing all these games strong. We do work hard, they’re in very good shape. We’re lucky (China-based sprints coach) John Coghlan has worked with the team for the guts of a year. Guys have great faith in the work he’s done with them. I think there is a knowledge there that there’s more in the tank if it’s really needed.”

He added: “My opinion from the word ‘go’ was if Ballyboden are the biggest Gaelic club in Ireland, Europe, the world, they should be winning the All-Ireland Club. That’s what Vincents do, that’s what Kilmacud do. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t.”

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