How the crop of '93 became Dublin's Invincible Five

CLASS OF '93: Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion are two of five Dublin players born in 1993 who have claimed 30 All-Irelands between them. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

It may not have been a memorable year for Dublin’s seniors but in time 1993 turned out to be a most profitable year for the county’s footballers.

Born 30 years ago, Brian Fenton, Ciarán Kilkenny, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion and John Small have claimed 30 Celtic Crosses between them. No other year has given them as many winners, although 1986 wasn’t bad (Paul Flynn, Michael Darragh Macauley and Kevin McManamon won a combined 22).

While victory for Dublin on Sunday will push Stephen Cluxton, Mick Fitzsimons and James McCarthy ahead as the all-time All-Ireland medal holders with nine, it would also see the county’s Class of ’93 match the 35 attained by Kerry’s Class of ’57 (Eoin Liston, Charlie Nelligan, Jack O’Shea, Mick Spillane and Seán Walsh).

For one year to spawn such an abundance of talent is unique never mind that the Dublin quintet have never lost a championship game when they have all been on the field – the Kerry five’s two defeats together came against Cork in 1983 and ’87.

Of course, nobody knew 1993 would spawn such success for Dublin, not even when they were showing promise on development squads in the mid-2000s. Split into three divisions at U13 and U14 before coming together at U15, Dublin’s 1988 All-Star Noel McCaffrey was head coach with the northside group featuring his son Jack, Brian Fenton and John Small. To the west, Dessie Farrell oversaw the cohort including Ciarán Kilkenny and in the south Paul Mannion was under the supervision of Alan 'Nipper' McNally.

“There was an extraordinary bunch of talent coming up in Dublin at that time,” recalls McCaffrey. “There really was. I would have been coaching from nursery upwards and the Raheny bunch, there was a wonderful group of players there. Brian was one of them but he was only one of them. There was Rutherson Real, Gavin Ivory, a few strong teams and then there was (Ballymun) Kickhams who had a great bunch and then there was Castleknock who had Ciarán. Templeogue-Synge Street were strong too.

“I remember fantastic games in those days, very high quality at U10, U11. It was around the time the Go Games were coming in and a number of them doing the other foot game in Croke Park, one sock up, one sock down and they could only kick with the bad foot as a training exercise. They were really great times. I suppose it was a preview of what was to come but nobody would have known that at the time.” 

Fenton and Small were the last to make their senior debuts for Dublin in 2015. All but future two-time footballer of the year Fenton featured in the 2011 All-Ireland minor final defeat to Tipperary, his delayed progress a unique occurrence.

“Dessie didn’t pick him for the squad,” McCaffrey retraces. “By a mile, Brian was the best player in Dublin bar none until he was about 13 or so but then he didn’t grow and the rest passed him out. Literally, when Brian was about 19 or something, he grew about eight inches in one year and then he got onto the Dublin U21 squad.

“But people think Brian appeared out of nowhere when he was 18. Everybody knew that Brian was a genius, he just physically was slow to become what he became. It’s a very interesting lesson in biology.”

Born in 1994, Cormac Costello and David Byrne were also part of Farrell’s 2011 minor group, Costello starting the final and Byrne coming on as a second-half substitute. McCaffrey is certain the experience of losing a final in dramatic fashion as the seniors won theirs later that afternoon stood to the youngsters.

“That minor match, the lesson for Dublin that day was they had loads of time before and after that goal to win that game so they didn’t deserve it. Tipp, when their chance came they took it, and they were still standing.

“Early in that game, we were eight points up and they got a goal just before half-time and hung on in there. We can’t complain at all about that. In hindsight, it was a very good experience for that group of players and that Tipp team went on to do great things as well.” 

When the 1993s and ‘94s combined with the group fostered by Pat Gilroy under Jim Gavin, the cocktail made for a heady one. Two years after coming out of minor and Kilkenny, McCaffrey’s son and Mannion were starring in an All-Ireland-winning senior side and both were nominated for young footballer of the year.

“Putting together a group that had been battle-hardened and burnt a couple of times and this group coming in was a strong mixture,” says McCaffrey. “I’ve a great memory of the Cork match in 2013 (All-Ireland quarter-final) and it was the coming of a number of Dublin players. It was an extraordinary game because of the speed of it. Cork had some wonderful players like Graham Canty who really struggled with the pace of it. It sort of brought an end to a few careers. I’ve a fantastic regard for Graham Canty but the speed was tough for him.”