GAVINISMS: From the bizarre to the brilliant - 10 of the best Jim Gavin lines

It’s almost time for Jim Gavin to go into hibernation. From the day after the All-Ireland final to the start of the 2018 League, his public utterings will be minimal. Dealing with media, he once claimed, was the most difficult part of his position. From the bizarre to the brilliant, John Fogarty picks 10 memorable Gavinisms

Fri, 15 Sep, 2017 - 01:00

John Fogarty

“We’re very passionate about the Leinster championship, very passionate, I suppose, about east coast football and the way it’s played and the way teams approach their football in Leinster. It’s a very attacking, attractive brand of football”

– East coast football? That new expression was coined by Gavin at the launch of this year’s provincial championship.

“I think to go all the season without losing a game is . . . a reflection of their application, their intensity and their intentfulness”

– Speaking about his team post All-Ireland final replay last year. ‘Intentfulness’ is a word often used by Gavin but according to dictionaries and Microsoft Word, judging by the wiggly red line underneath the letters, it doesn’t exist.

“The way we look at it, we ask that group to be the very best. That’s all we ever strive for. If we get bits of tin along the way, that’s been a good day’s work”

– Again after last October’s replay win over Mayo. From canister to chalice, the Sam Maguire Cup has been called many things but a bit of tin is a new one.

“I don’t think people probably give Leinster football the credit it deserves. I see first-hand the work and diligence the Dublin players put into those preparation pieces for games.”

– Before last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Donegal. More managers now use the word “piece”, which has long been an expression of the highly-regarded Gary Keegan’s who has been consulting Gavin for the last number of years.

“I have seen in our practice sessions that these players are very determined and ambitious and take great pride in representing their clubs and ultimately their county.”

– April this year. They might be training sessions for others but for Dublin they’re practice. A versus B matches are “internal games”.

“Within 24 hours, before the referee’s report had been signed off, there was a... not a media campaign, but it got a lot of traction in the media, and more importantly, (regarding) the right he has as an individual in the Republic.”

– Gavin was never as forthright as he was earlier this year insisting Diarmuid Connolly was unfairly treated following his push on linesman Ciarán Branagan in the Leinster quarter-final over Carlow, which saw Connolly handed a 12-week retrospective ban.

“This Dublin team is a remarkable group of men and it’s a privilege for myself and the management team to work with them. They’ve got great character, they display it to us all the time, great commitment and resolve never to quit. That esprit de corps that was in them last year certainly hasn’t gone away.”

– Gavin was delighted with how his team salvaged a draw against Mayo in their 2014 league game. Esprit de corps is a major motto of the Air Corps, of which Gavin was once a member.

“It’s a very regrettable incident, it shouldn’t have happened. It’s not part of our game but as I’ve said, both players spoke to each other after the game. They want to now concentrate on getting their county jerseys back.”

– In an awkward interview with Colm Parkinson on Newstalk two years ago, Gavin spoke about an incident between Davey Byrne and an Armagh player just prior to a challenge game that left Byrne hospitalised. He later admitted there was a video of the match. Asked if the footage should be sent to Croke Park for disciplinary reasons, which it wasn’t, Gavin virtually gave the same quotes as above.

“Not only were we playing Mayo but we were playing the referee as well.”

– Jim McGuinness was less magnanimous in victory the year previous when refusing to give a press conference until a journalist left but Gavin in 2013 came close when he criticised Joe McQuillan’s performance following their final triumph over Mayo.

“When you see referees who have refereed our previous games being asked to justify decisions that they gave or didn’t give against Dublin, well that’s fine, I’ve no problem with that. But it needs to be balanced. Balance it out to the whole game. Let’s break the game down, then.”

– At this year’s Leinster SFC launch, Gavin also brought up David Gough and Maurice Deegan acknowledging mistakes they made in SFC games involving Dublin last year that favoured Dublin. Neither were “asked to justify” their decisions but in the wake of Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s comments defending his team’s reputation prior to the league final Gavin felt compelled to defend his own.