Dr David Hickey: ‘I don’t have much time for this Mayo team. They’re a tragic outfit’

Dublin legend Dr David Hickey doesn’t have a high opinion of the champions' challengers

OFF COLOUR: A dejected Aidan O’Shea after Mayo’s defeat to Dublin in the 2017 All-Ireland SFC final. Picture: Inpho/Tommy Dickson

“When is this going to appear?” asks Dr David Hickey, a flicker of roguishness in his query. “Saturday? That’s okay then — so Mayo won’t have much time to read it.”

Pride colours so many of the former Dublin star’s words as he talks about the All-Ireland champions, a group many of whom he got to know well as a selector during Pat Gilroy’s time and as a medic in the early part of Jim Gavin’s era.

The man who first publicly predicted Dublin would claim the five in a row, he simply doesn’t see Mayo getting in their way of a sixth consecutive All-Ireland title.

Mayo win all the All-Stars awards and the player of the year and all this sort of crap but they always do because they’re such a tragic outfit. Andy Moran getting player of the year — he played half a game in every match. The Mayo goalkeeper (David Clarke) getting the All-Star ahead of Cluxton there one year.

“Dublin beat Mayo by 10 points in the semi-final last year when it was supposed to be a close match. I don’t have much time for this Mayo team myself. It will be a hard match for a fair bit of it, though. 

“Every game for Dublin is because they burst their bollocks for 70 minutes. You never see those fellas taking it easy. They’re a model for how a team should be. 

“But I don’t rate Mayo and I don’t think Mayo will be close at the end of the game. They could be putting this article up in the dressing room in Croke Park on Saturday!”

The lack of respect for Dublin does irritate Hickey. Although Mick O’Dwyer predicted in 2018 that Dublin would complete the five in a row, Hickey claims the former Kerry manager has never given them their fair dues.

“They won’t get it from guys like Mick O’Dwyer who are steeped in their own importance but anyone who looks at their record objectively will see that there is no question that they are the greatest Gaelic football team of all time. 

“I really wouldn’t be interested in what O’Dwyer says; I think most other people though would acknowledge that. They put more work in than anyone else and they do it on the day as well as in training.

“You get tired of listening to talk of money and population. I think Pat Gilroy had it right the other night — why don’t Kerry, Cork, and Tipperary join forces rather than splitting Dublin in two and maybe they could have a go at the All-Ireland then? I think that’s a good idea.”

Dr David Hickey: Believes Dubs haven’t got credit they deserve. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE  

The son of a Doneraile man, you put it to Hickey that either he, Gilroy, or both of them are being flippant but no, he says.

“I don’t think so. Cork will never win an All-Ireland with the way they approached the game. Their performance against Tipperary was shocking. 

Kerry were similar against Cork. Too arrogant. And no achievements whatsoever — they have won nothing. They won a league this year that nobody gave a damn about. When the fat was in the fire, they packed it in. They (that group) will never win an All-Ireland.

“Split Dublin and the two Dublin teams will be in the final for the next 20 years and that will sicken people even more. The work done in Dublin is huge. 

“People are leaving rugby for Gaelic football in Dublin because of this great team as well as the concerns about concussion. So many of the Dublin team now come from the southside of the city, which was rugby territory up to 10 years ago.”

Hickey obviously speaks from a position of strength but knowledge too. This evening, seven players although all seven are unlikely to be included in the matchday panel, can join the Kerry legends of Denis “Ogie” Moran, Ger Power, Páidí Ó Sé, Mikey Sheehy, and Pat Spillane as eight-time All-Ireland senior football winners. 

Hickey marvels at the longevity of Stephen Cluxton, Michael Fitzsimons, Philly McMahon, James McCarthy, Cian O’Sullivan, Michael Darragh MacAuley, and Kevin McManamon but insists it wouldn’t be possible without their humility.

“Dublin play every game as if they’re the underdogs. They fight for everything, every last cause under the final whistle blows and usually by the end of it they’re 20 points ahead. But they play as if their lives depend on it. 

“Their respect for the opposition is huge no matter who it is. Like, you saw Cork getting caught by Tipp because they didn’t show it and for the same reason Kerry got caught by Cork. Donegal got caught by Cavan but that won’t happen to Dublin.

The best football match you’ll see in Ireland is definitely on a Saturday morning on the DCU grounds when the Dublin’s As play Dublin’s Bs. The Bs run them to three or four points at worse and sometimes beat them. That’s the way they are.

“I think Colm Cooper said it a few years ago — they just play as if you’re not there. You can slap them, you can kick them, you can score a goal against them but they’ll just pick themselves up and carry on.

“They’re an extraordinary group of fellas, I must say,” Hickey continues. “They’re respectful, pleasant, no arrogance about them whatsoever. They’re fantastic. I love watching them. I’m nervous watching them but I love watching them.

“For a while we had all this sledging bullshit and crap that is associated with Ulster football, getting into the face of the opposition and personal stuff. Gilroy came in and all that bullshit, all that chauvinistic crap associated with Dublin teams went out the window.

“Training sessions start at 6am and then every Friday we played a friendly match against Monaghan in Inniskeen usually in the pissing rain, in the muck and the snow. A lot of people dropped out after that. Pat was looking for character and the remaining core of players had that. Cluxton would have been playing corner-forward some nights up in Inniskeen.

“On the coldest winter in years, they were training on Dollymount Strand at 5.30 in the morning and what Pat found was not just footballers but characters. We lost to Cork in 2010 but from there on the profile of the Dublin footballer changed and that profile is still there.

“If we won the All-Ireland in 2012, it would have been difficult for Jim to follow it up with another. He changed it a bit but he didn’t mess with it — he learned from the Donegal loss in 2014 alright — and Dessie is doing the same now.”

The decision by Gavin to resign 11 months ago, as sudden as it was and as much as it left the current manager Farrell with little time to prepare for the 2020 season before Covid struck, was correct, Hickey believes.

“Jim left at the right time. Not that things were stale but that can happen quickly and things get old. A new fella has new ideas. Now, you don’t break what isn’t broken and I think Dessie has seen that but he has introduced some new fellas and has kept the thing going.

“They’re a happy bunch because he’s a considerate fella and so many of them have played U21 with him so they know him a long time.”