Dublin No.1 Gibbons' patience and perseverance paying off 

Eddie Gibbons of Dublin poses for a portrait during the launch of the 2026 All-Ireland SHC at Blarney Castle. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

No need for introductions, Eddie Gibbons and patience are long acquainted. If they weren’t, it’s doubtful Gibbons would still be part of the Dublin dressing-room.

The Kilmacud Crokes shot stopper joined the Dublin set-up in 2022. He was handed his National League debut in February of 2023. It was another two years and two months before a first championship involvement in blue followed. 

The journey to the Dublin No.1 shirt was far from complete, mind. Patience was forced to stick around.

Gibbons began between the sticks for the 2025 Leinster round-robin outings against Offaly, Wexford, Antrim, and Kilkenny. But when the latter crowd put five past him at Nowlan Park, he was relegated back to the bench. 

He was reduced to spectator status for the sensational All-Ireland quarter-final win over Limerick and subsequent semi-final against Cork.

Gibbons remained in reserve for nine of Dublin’s 11 League and Championship outings following that not-so-pleasant Nowlan Park experience. 

The root of his return was a literal reversing of roles, long-time sparring partner Seán Brennan enduring his own not-so-pleasant experience at O’Connor Park on the opening weekend of this year’s championship when Offaly raised four green flags.

Successfully holding onto the No.1 jersey for Dublin’s five most recent games is the longest unbroken sequence Gibbons has put together since joining the panel four years ago.

Patience, perseverance, and all the rest of it is finally beginning to pay off.

“The goalkeeping position, it's not like any others where you can work your way into a different position. It's only one man gets the jersey and then it's up to you to hold on to it. There are days when you are disappointed and you are sitting on the bench waiting for your chance, but it could be weeks, months, even a year until you get your next opportunity,” Gibbons begins.

There was more than patience needed when losing the jersey last summer. As a 'keeper, adds Gibbons, you’re going nowhere without a healthy dollop of resilience.

“It's always a tough call to get when things don't go your way. I've felt it, Seán has felt it, so we both know how it feels. It definitely does drive the pair of us on. I think it's definitely made us both better players at the end of the day.

“I was disappointed not to be playing the first game [of the 2026 championship], but I knew starting out the year, I wasn't playing up to my potential. I didn't deserve to be there, essentially, but I felt that in the weeks coming up to the Championship, I'd turned that around. Self-belief is huge, so I had to believe in myself and be ready.” 

Gibbons won’t be punished for a Leinster final scoreline that showed him breached on four occasions.

Basic defensive cover was so often non-existent against the Tribesmen. That decider put a significant dent in a Leinster campaign where Niall Ó Ceallcháin’s side had moved beyond one-off victories.

Wexford, Galway, and Kilkenny were all overcome in relatively quick succession. No one triumph stood in isolation.

Getting back to that consistent flow will not sate Ó Ceallacháin’s group, his goalkeeper insists.

“We're in this to win the All-Ireland and that's it at the end of the day. There'd be no point committing so much time to it if we weren't. Backing it up with one game after another isn't good enough anymore. 

"It’s about building on that again, where in previous years maybe getting two big wins in a row was great, and it did show development in that, but we're at another level now, so we need to kick on.

“We left a good few chances behind us in both games against Clare this year. We need to start coming out the right side of these games more often. 

"We've done so already this year in the Championship with Kilkenny and Galway, but it just needs to be something that happens more often with us.”