Gemma Fay on the cusp of another Dublin breakthrough

Seventeen years on and Gemma Fay still holds firm that Diane O’Hora was in the square when scoring the goal that won Mayo the 2003 All-Ireland final.

Just so we’re clear, the former Dublin footballer isn’t the least bit sour over that final defeat or, indeed, the game-changing goal, but when the score arises early in our discussion, Fay can’t help herself.

“Diane knocked it in from inside the square,” she chuckles.

That afternoon represented Dublin’s first All-Ireland final appearance. Indeed, that summer represented their breakthrough campaign. Mayo had taken them at the semi-final stage the year previous, but Mick Bohan’s side scalped both Monaghan and Kerry to climb a rung higher and reach September. And when a 20-year old Fay split the posts four minutes from time to send Dublin into a 0-5 to 0-4 lead, the Jackies were looking good for a first Brendan Martin Cup.

“We led for a lot of the game so, at that stage, we probably thought we had it won. We were waiting for the clock to run down,” Fay recalls.

A minute from time, Mayo won a free just inside the 45-metre line. Cora Staunton swung a right boot at it, but it lacked the distance. The ball broke in the square, Diane O’Hora snapped up possession and proceeded to break Dublin hearts.

“It was gut-wrenching, just an absolutely awful way to lose an All-Ireland,” said Fay.

Back they came in 2004, September again reached. The Dubs led by six after 25 minutes, threatening to overrun a young and inexperienced Galway outfit.

“We just couldn’t sustain it,” says Ballyboden native Fay. “They got goals to get them back into it and I just don’t know what happened to us that day.”

Galway again marked their card in the following year’s All-Ireland semi-final and they’d slip further back into the pack with each passing year.

“The few years in the wilderness was a wake-up call as to what was required to win an All-Ireland. The commitment really stepped up, gym programmes were implemented and we were really minding ourselves off the pitch. Along with that, the Dublin underage scene was on the rise.”

A new Dublin team began to take shape and come the 2009 final, it was they who stood as the latest challengers to Cork’s dominance. Fay had spent that summer in America and so was confined to a spectator’s role in the Hogan Stand. Similar to 2003, the Sky Blues were in the ascendancy rounding the bend for home, caught by a late Cork surge.

“I thought we had it won. But Cork being Cork, they came back and dug it out. I was devastated watching on and devastated for the girls. I would have loved to have been out there helping in whatever way I could. That made me more determined to get back for 2010.”

Cork fell at the quarter-final the following summer and it was Dublin who capitalised. Tyrone were walloped by 3-16 to 0-9 in the decider, Fay lining out at left half-back.

“That was the year where it all came together,” continues the two-time All Star. “We were so well prepared going into the final and we got the goals early to establish a lead. Mary Nevin’s words were inspirational at half-time where she reminded us of all the hurt from previous years when we didn’t make it over the line.

“That medal was all the sweeter given the previous heartache. That win really helped build the profile of ladies football in Dublin and it was great to be able to bring the cup around to the various clubs to help inspire the players of the future.

“Cork have been fantastic champions, but it will be nice to see new winners and it will be a big lift for the game in either Mayo or Dublin, as was the case back in 2010. Our girls went so close in 2014, ‘15 and ‘16. You hope they have it in them to push on and finish off the game this time because Mayo, as we learned back in 2003, will stay going all the way to the end.”