Louise Galvin: Dessie's Dublin ain't stopping anytime soon. Why should the ladies?

Dublin already have Cork’s six-in-a-row in their sights; at the back of some minds, they may even be discreetly targeting Kerry’s remarkable nine-in-a-row

BLUE IS THE COLOUR: Dublin’s Sarah McCaffrey, Leah Caffrey, and Noelle Healy savour the moment after yesterday’s All-Ireland final victory over Cork at Croke Park. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

Before the All-Ireland ladies football semi-finals in August 2019, I was in Croke Park for an LGFA media promotional event when I noticed that there was no Dublin player present. It seemed strange but I was soon told the reason why; the Dublin player had been interviewed the day before because they weren’t allowed to do any media duties beyond a certain cut-off point.

That might be standard practise in the men’s game but it certainly isn’t in ladies football. Every county is always thrilled to get the opportunity to promote the game but Dublin are not like any other county. Everything about them smacks of professionalism and a professional outlook. They just think and act differently to every other county.

That was even evident in the post-match interviews after yesterday’s final.

Sinéad Goldrick and Mick Bohan spoke about how Dublin wanted to get better, to raise the standard of the game to another level. Similar to the men now, winning an All-Ireland is only part of Dublin’s final goal because they’re chasing a whole new legacy.

The men have already routed every record known in the game and I’m sure this Dublin ladies side are thinking the same way; they probably already have Cork’s six-in-a-row in their sights; at the back of some minds, they may even be discreetly targeting Kerry’s remarkable nine-in-a-row between 1982-1990.

That level of long-term ambition may seem incredulous in modern sport but why not? The men don’t intend stopping anytime soon, so why should the ladies?

When you don’t have that overbearing pressure on your back of trying to win an All-Ireland, your focus is much more holistic. Cork had enjoyed their level of dominance until they went into transition but, now that Dublin have the game by the throat, the terms and conditions of that control are different to every other county.

Similar to the men, the numbers game and the level of financial investment applies a totally different set of ground-rules. It is fantastic to see the sponsorship money from AIG clearly being invested in the ladies game but the corollary is that we’re less likely to see the dominance of this Dublin ladies team end any time soon.

The big fear now is that Dublin’s playing population is inevitably only going to increase, that their structures are only going to get better, and their ambition is bound to become stronger. There are huge similarities with the Dublin men’s side because they are so unselfish and they always make the right decision on the ball.

The most obvious comparison between both sides, though, is their incredible fitness and conditioning levels. Dublin’s GPS stats must have been off the charts yesterday. The pace and athleticism of the ladies game has exploded in the last few years but Dublin are leading the charge because of the searing pace with which they’re able to play the running game, always having options off the shoulder.

That’s a lethal cocktail when Dublin can marry that speed, footwork, agility, and passing execution levels with such a ferocious tackling intensity. It’s even harder again for any opposition to try and halt that relentless surge when it’s coming at you for 65 minutes.

The dog days of losing three All-Ireland finals in a row are long behind them now and Dublin are only getting mentally stronger. Their captain, free-taker, and penalty taker, Sinéad Aherne was injured, but Carla Rowe stepped up and was unerring. You wouldn’t see a better penalty struck in the Premiership.

Dublin’s Sinead Aherne lays a wreath at the Bloody Sunday Memorial in Croke Park. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

Cork on the other hand looked nervy and anxious from placed balls, even swapping around their free takers between Orla Finn and Saoirse Noonan at stages. When the game was in the melting pot in the second half, Dublin were composed and clinical from open play. Cork couldn’t buy a score.

I wrote down three key questions at half-time which I felt would be decisive to the outcome. Could Dublin sustain the pressure they were putting Cork under? Dublin had been playing at a crazy intensity but I knew they had the conditioning to keep it going.

Did Cork have the legs to sustain their running game at the same high-octane level? By the third quarter, Cork’s forwards were holding up the ball in front of Dublin’s defensive wall but the Cork lines of support runners were already starting to fatigue before they even ran into that wall.

My third question was how much of an impact would both subs benches have? Niamh Cotter made a big difference but no other Cork sub did, whereas two of Dublin’s subs scored in a tight game.

Cork will be disappointed but they’ll still feel they’re not that far away. They have some excellent young players, especially Erika O’Shea, who is still only in secondary school. I also felt Cork could have used the high ball option more because it is so hard to run through Dublin’s defensive wall.

Cork just ran out of puff, gas, and power and their starting point in the chase has to be to try and reach the same conditioning levels of Dublin.

The fear though, is that no matter how much everyone else tries to play catch-up, Dublin will only get stronger again and speed further ahead into the distance.

Am I overplaying Dublin’s potential to dominate? Donegal only lost to Dublin by a goal this year. Armagh put it up to Dublin too. But it nearly says as much about Dublin that, even when not playing as well as they can, they still never looked like losing this All-Ireland.

There may not be as much of a gap as there is in the men’s game, but the fear is that the Dublin ladies are at the same stage now as the men were after they won four-in-a-row in 2018.

And we’ve all seen where the men have gone since.