Preparing for finals a familiar routine for Dublin football’s star couple
Dublin's Niamh McEvoy and Dean Rock are both gunning for All-Ireland final this weekend. Pictures: Sportsfile
Dean Rock doesn't drop the ball too often so we felt for him the night he was on The Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ TV.
It was a few weeks after he and partner Niamh McEvoy had both helped Dublin teams to All-Ireland final wins over Mayo opposition in 2017 and they were questioned about their romance.
They first met while coaching kids at a summer camp in 2014, McEvoy revealed, prompting D'Arcy to enquire if it was love at first sight, a case perhaps of 'eyes meeting across a training field'?
"No, I wouldn't say that," responded Rock, slipping subconsciously into media mode as he tried to play things down but realising it was the wrong response entirely as the crowd gasped and cheered.
After regaining his composure, a backpedaling Rock quickly clarified that, "Obviously it took Niamh a while longer to be drawn to me but for me, first time, it was (love), yeah."
By the end of the show, any lost ground had been recovered as Rock revealed that he watched half a dozen reruns of McEvoy's 2017 final win but only one of his own team's win over Mayo, despite kicking a memorable winner that day himself.
Three years on, Dublin football's power couple now possess 10 All-Ireland senior medals between them - six for Rock and four for McEvoy - and they can each add another one in the space of just 24 hours this weekend.
Rock, arguably in the form of his career, will be first up in blue at 5pm tomorrow for Dublin's All-Ireland final against Mayo. The following afternoon, McEvoy and the ladies will challenge for a fourth consecutive All-Ireland win when they play Cork at 3.30pm.
A similar situation occurred last year when the Dublin men's team completed the five-in-a-row by beating Kerry on a Saturday evening, hours before the ladies made it three-in-a-row at Galway's expense the following afternoon.
"I didn't go to that game last year," said McEvoy of the men's replay. "That was before Covid times when you were allowed to have people over to your house so what we did was I had the St Sylvesters girls, Sinead Aherne, Nicole Owens and Kate Sullivan over for dinner the night before, just to watch the lads' game. They were all home and we were in our beds early."
McEvoy had gone to the drawn game but reckoned she couldn't invest such emotional and physical energy again, just hours before competing in her own final. It all worked out, of course, and by Monday they were celebrating together.
"The great thing is, we've a lot of experience of it over the last number of years," said Rock of preparing for such hectic weekends as the one coming up.
"Obviously we would talk about them quite a lot because it's at the forefront of your mind. It's very hard to get away from that. But we have our own routines away from football too.
"We have certain things to take our minds off football. But look, luckily for us football has been part and parcel of our lives. It's hugely exciting for Niamh and our families."
Formerly a primary school teacher, 30-year-old McEvoy completed a Masters Degree in Business and Entrepreneurship last year. After the 2019 All-Ireland she jetted out to Australia and spent several months playing for Melbourne in the AFLW with plans to return shortly after Christmas for a second season with the oval ball. Rock, also 30, is the Fundraising and Communications manager at Stewarts Care, a centre for people with intellectual disabilities, in Palmerstown in Dublin.
"It's always a chilled vibe, mostly on his side of things," said McEvoy of the mood in their house before a weekend like this.
"He's a very laid back type of character. That obviously is good for me and rubs off some of the time. We've been in this situation a lot of times over the last couple of years and we really enjoy it. Thankfully we're training on the same night for the last couple of weeks which is nice, so we're getting to really enjoy our football and to enjoy each other as well."
Perhaps it was McEvoy, with her enterprising spirit, that convinced her other half to push ahead with the novel 'Dean Rock Free Taking Project' earlier this year.
Or perhaps as a brand ambassador for a Toyota car garage and with the Puma sportswear company pinned to his Twitter profile, he was already well down the road to capitalising on his own talent and hard work anyway.
What's certain is that, for a fee, aspiring free-takers can tap into the expertise and experience of one of the game's all-time great dead ball kickers. When news of the coaching project initially broke, some were critical of an amateur charging other amateurs. Most simply said, 'More power to him'.
"Ah look, with everything, everyone is entitled to their opinion," shrugged Rock. "It comes with the territory when you push yourself out there with that sort of thing. It's something from talking (to media) over the last number of years I think it's something people understand, the value I put on it, and the love I have obviously for place kicking, from all different types of sports throughout the world. I just went for it and thankfully it's going well so far.
"At the moment, it's just really for those aged 17 and over, whether it's from a club, or different county players or minors, that's kind of the clientele.
Asked if he's busy lately with the project, Rock shook his head.
"Not at this time of year, my full focus is on Dublin GAA and playing myself."
McEvoy gives a similar answer when the question of her imminent return to Australia is raised. The AFLW season begins for Melbourne on January 30 against Adelaide Crows.
She'll be joined at the club again by Dublin colleague Sinead Goldrick while Lauren Magee will also play her first season with them.
"It's a couple of days after Christmas," McEvoy confirmed of their departure date. "I'm not practising AFLW at the minute. My main focus is only on Gaelic football and what's in front of me.
"We have two weeks of quarantine when we get over there so we can try to sharpen up a bit. But it's completely to the back of my mind at the minute I have to say."
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