Mindset shift set Ciarán Kilkenny free for final replay

After failing to score for Dublin in the drawn All-Ireland final, Ciarán Kilkenny required less than 90 seconds to get his first point of the replay.

He scored his second point in the sixth minute and had three to his credit before the game was 22 minutes old.

Kilkenny finished up with 0-4 and was named man of the match, a marked turnaround in fortunes that he puts solely down to the license to thrill he was handed by management between games.

“My mindset for the first game was that our inside forwards, Dean (Rock), Con (O’Callaghan), Paul (Mannion), they’d been playing really well all year, they were electric, so my mindset for that game was that as soon as I got the ball, give it to the best man in the best position, get these guys on the ball, look up for them, see if I can get it to them,” said Kilkenny.

“We had a meeting with the guys after the game, the management team and a few players, they just said: ‘Ciarán, we need you to get scoring’. So my mindset completely changed for the second game. I was like: ‘As soon as I get this ball, I’m going to take my man on and I’m either going to get a shot away or I’m going to put him under pressure to try to create a free.’

“My mindset shifted.

“I was still trying to get the balance right of giving it off to the guy in the best position, but as soon as I got the ball my first instinct was to take my man on. That was definitely a big mindset shift in the second game.”

Along with drafting in goalscorer Eoin Murchan for the replay, allowing Kilkenny to express himself much more was among the management team’s best decisions.

“The guys just gave me massive confidence going into that game, they said: ‘We need you to get into these positions — we back you 100%. Just go out and enjoy the game, be yourself’,” said Kilkenny.

“I remember Declan Darcy just saying: ‘Pretend you’re a kid, you’re an eight-year-old again. Do what’s instinctive to you. Don’t be worrying about what’s going on, just go for it and enjoy it’. That was the simple message: ‘Just go for it and enjoy it and do your thing’.”

It was an effective message that allowed Kilkenny to power Dublin to the five in a row. Afterwards, he was ecstatic and memorably roared to the crowd in a live TV interview: ‘We did it!’

“When that final whistle blew, I’ve never felt anything like that before in my life,” reflected Kilkenny.

He celebrated with his colleagues for several days before jetting out to New York on the Wednesday with fellow forwards Dean Rock and Paddy Andrews, only returning home yesterday.

They were having breakfast in Times Square one morning when an Irish waitress congratulated them on their historic achievement.

“Even Irish-Americans that wouldn’t be big GAA fans, you hear them saying: ‘Hey, you guys did the five-peat!’ To witness how far it stretched around the world was special. And humbling for us.”

Yet back at home the achievement was still only sinking in when the debate around Dublin’s perceived advantages, from the county’s giant population to its financial position, kicked off.

An episode of RTÉ’s Prime Time series was devoted to the subject, frustrating many of the players that were involved.

“For me, at the end of the day, you have to go and run, train, and practise,” said Kilkenny.

“If you saw where we train in the off-season, it’s muddy, there’s no warm showers, you have to put in the hard yards and that’s essentially it, hard work and dedication that we’ve put in over the last number of years.

“Lads put their life on hold for this team and each other. It was a bit frustrating to see that (reaction) because I thought it was a pretty special thing we did.”

The fear within Dublin is that Jim Gavin may walk away after engineering the feat. There has been similar talk about 37-year-old captain and goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton potentially leaving.

“I thought he was phenomenal this year, he’s phenomenal every year,” said Kilkenny. “The guy’s just a legend, he’s a freak of nature how good he is, how fit he is, what good shape he’s in. If you saw him with his top off, he’s absolutely shredded! He’s in incredible shape. That’s just a testament to the guy he is and the leadership he brings within the group. It’s completely up to Stephen but he’s an exceptional leader and an exceptional player and will go down as one of the all-time greats, if not the greatest.”

- Sure brand ambassador, Ciarán Kilkenny, was speaking at the Sure GAA Stats season review. As official statistics partner of the GAA, Sure has compiled and analysed every pass, tackle and shot of both Dublin and Tipperary’s championship seasons, as well as those of Dublin footballer Ciarán Kilkenny, to shed light on the stats that made them unbeatable this year.