Dessie Farrell relishing the challenges of a job like no other

Despite his previous public declarations, managing Dublin was always the end goal for Dessie Farrell

TRUE BLUE: Despite his previous public declarations, managing Dublin was always the end goal for Dessie Farrell, an All-Ireland-winning player in 1995 who was similarly successful as manager of minor and U21 teams. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Exactly four years ago yesterday, Dessie Farrell was asked at his last media briefing before stepping down as head of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) if he fancied the Dublin senior job.

The inference was that with the onflicting GPA gig out of the way, he may be able to narrow his focus on the Dubs position. Could he see himself ever being a runner for that and potentially replacing Jim Gavin?

“No, I can’t to be honest,” responded Farrell at the time. “I think the commitment is too great. I’ve been happy coaching young players and being involved with young players over the years, U21 is probably the limit for me.”

Months later, Farrell guided Dublin’s U21s to All-Ireland success and was asked again if the senior job was the next logical step.

“No, I think that’ll be somebody else’s (ambition), we worked through to U21 and we’ve seen it out now and that’ll be it,” said Farrell.

Now at the end of his first season as senior manager, and on the brink of leading the county to the six in a row, he is reminded of those comments.

“I think at the time it was probably more out of respect to Jim and the current management team,” explained Farrell. 

“You don’t necessarily need to be distracted by what some gobshite is saying in the paper.”

Managing Dublin was, of course, always the end goal for Farrell, an All-Ireland-winning player in 1995 who was similarly successful as manager of minor and U21 teams.

“Probably deep down there was always this harbouring sort of (ambition), that it would be something that would be a great honour to do at some point,” he said. 

“I’ve been involved with Dublin football as a player and as a coach of underage teams and it is a great honour and it’s something I enjoy immensely doing.”

The senior job is a time consuming and hugely intensive role and Mick Bohan, Dublin’s skills coach for the 2013 All-Ireland win and manager of the county ladies team preparing to challenge for four in a row this weekend, has said he couldn’t ever take on such a commitment.

“Mark these words, I’ll tell you one thing, at that level, not a chance, I could not do it,” said Bohan at the end of 2018, recalling how he regularly woke up to emails from Gavin which were sent in the middle of the night when they worked together.

“Everyone has different ways of doing things, personally I’m well used to emails in the middle of the night from a previous world and a previous life,” said Farrell. 

“It’s definitely not a case of the hard work or the time commitment scaring you off, it was moreso did you have the tools and the know-how and what not? That was probably the greatest concern.”

So has it been a life changing experience taking on the Dublin job? 

“I won’t say life changing but it definitely makes you...there’s a massive adjustment for sure,” said Farrell. 

“You have to get better at managing time, prioritising, compartmentalising things. And because it’s so all consuming, you also need to remember the important stuff in life as well and that can be a challenge. By and large you get there and muddle your way through it and you do what you have to do.”

Farrell may have taken on the easiest job in GAA management given the deep pool of talent available to him. Or it could just be the hardest given the vast expectation on Dublin to deliver now, year after year. Anything short of success next Saturday evening against Mayo will go down as a failure. He could be remembered as the man who dropped the ball when the six in a row was within touching distance.

If that happens, Farrell will at least have some difficult experiences from the past to call upon. His first season in charge of the Dublin minors ended with a shock All-Ireland final loss to Tipperary in 2011. His first season with the U21s two years later concluded with an even more surprising defeat to Longford. Asked if he reflects on those losses more than his two All-Ireland U21 successes as manager, or the 2012 win with the minors, Farrell nodded.

“There’s always a sort of negative bias in the back of the head. You don’t tend to focus on the ones that worked out. It’s the ones that you lost along the way that tend to consume you. There’s a discipline around that of course in terms of having that positive outlook and staying optimistic. It’s something you get a little bit better at as you get older I think as well. Yeah, there have been plenty of experiences to fall back on, it’s how you choose to view them that is the big thing.”