Sideline View: Did Gavin show faith or was he plain wrong?

Jim Gavin’s response when asked if there was a sense of regret at neglecting to take Jonny Cooper off David Clifford when he had the chance could have hardly been more definitive.

“No,” he responded. And that was that. No qualifications. No explanations. Next question, basically.

He had ample opportunity.

There was a moment 23 minutes into the first half yesterday when Dean Rock stood over a 45. Gavin stood more or less at the end of the same whitewashed line from where the ball was placed and yet his eyes and his mind were far, far away.

As Rock gathered himself for the kick, his manager’s head was turned almost 90 degrees to the right.

The scene that so captivated him up by the Davin End was the mundane sight of Johnny Cooper keeping step with David Clifford as the young Kerry forward trotted around like a thoroughbred in a parade ring.

Gavin studied the pair for an age, his interest in Rock’s ultimately successful score being piqued only when the ball was about to scrape over the bar and beyond Shane Ryan’s outstretched gloves and the Hill’s roars announced the need for the umpire’s white flag.

Cooper had been shown a yellow card just six minutes earlier for his second foul on Clifford. His first had resulted in a penalty but no further reprimand.

Cooper is vastly experienced and no slouch, and he was giving only two inches in height, but he was running just to stand still here.

Gavin’s demeanour on the line is fascinating. Look at him from a certain angle on the Hogan Stand and he looks like a man scratching his shoulder with his chin when he turns his head to speak calmly into the contraption attached to his tracksuit top.

Jonny Cooper of Dublin, second from left, is shown the red card by referee David Gough. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

It was only in the last ten minutes or so, especially when Kerry took the lead, that he moved with anything like intent or urgency and even then it was just a few steps to confirm a substitution or the like.

More often than not, it was his earpiece or Jason Sherlock that served as his conduit to the outside world.

And Sherlock was off onto the pitch like a hare with a fox on its tail when Cooper got his marching orders.

Gavin’s decision not to relieve Cooper of his duties on Clifford prior to that can be digested in many ways. You could say it was a voteof confidence in Cooper.

A belief that Dublin as a collective could handle this. That his players and his team could once again think on the hoof and adapt to the swirling circumstances of All-Ireland day.

Or you could argue that maybe he was just plain wrong not to act. Clifford had just the one point to his name at this stage but he might have had four inside the opening dozen minutes alone if he hadn’t skewed three attempts wide in a fashion utterly unlike him.

Michael Fitzsimons actually spent a minute or so on Clifford in between Cooper’s first and second yellows and it was the Cuala man who had been deputised to the task on a full-time basis when they sides reappeared after the interval.

It will be interesting to see if Gavin decides to double down next Saturday week.

Quirke's Final Podcast: Kerry learn on the job. Gavin's gaffe. 'O'Shea is a joke'. Gough's big calls