The end of an era. Dublin manager Dessie Farrell took on the very definition of a tough gig, following in the footsteps of Jim Gavin, the manager who had broken the five-in-a-row barrier. Not alone did he make that six but added another, less expected title last year.
On Saturday, he was making no fighting promises of getting everyone back next year for another crack and made it clear that it was time for the passing of the torch.
Reflecting on his team’s epic defeat by Galway, he was philosophical.
“But that’s the way. Dublin have no entitlement, no more than anybody else. That era – and we understood that maybe a couple of seasons ago – that everyone looks back to, has moved on.
“It’s a different generation of players now. I’m sure there’s some of them in there who will be considering their future. It might be the last time that we see them play for Dublin.
“They’ve been brilliant warriors. They died with their boots on today. But there is another generation of players in there who have the hunger and desire to want to continue and go on to wear the Dublin jersey with pride and honour and I’m sure they will do that.”
It was in some ways an appropriate leave taking – with everyone on the field from the start and not held back for subsequent impact. Of course, when it came time to change the dynamic of the match, there weren’t the same boats available to sail to the rescue of a capsizing second half.
“Yeah, but you can become very predictable too doing that,” said Farrell, “and some of those lads were coming back from injury and we felt had more in the tank and more to offer. It worked well in the first half but we started to struggle in the second and just couldn’t find a way.”
That was the match in a nutshell. A dominant first half by Dublin needed a bigger lead, followed by a strong resumption to kill off the contest but Galway, although underperforming, would not let go and clung on to the early wreckage.
“They definitely did and hung on to our coattails,” admitted Farrell. “We’d a goal opportunity in the second half when a couple of points up that may have given us breathing space. But it was a great defensive effort from Galway that shifted momentum slightly at that time, and it was somewhat frustrating for us but they’re the narrow margins at this level and we just found it difficult today.”
For his counterpart, Pádraic Joyce, the outcome was relief and vindication for a team that has constantly battled injuries and got itself ensnared in the previous week’s preliminary quarter-final – from whose bourn just one in four travellers returned last year.
A fortnight’s break will be welcome. Injuries remain a constant malevolent companion. Captain Seán Kelly’s miserable season on that front continued as he had to be replaced after 22 minutes and top forward Shane Walsh also had to go off having played a key role in the performance.
“He’s our captain,” said Joyce of Kelly. “He’s our leader but it’s a pleasing thing for me as manager that we can just make a change, Céin D’Arcy can come in and there’s nothing affected.
“Shane’s injury doesn’t look too good, but we’ll see. It didn’t look too good last week either but the beauty now is that we have two full weeks to prepare for a semi-final.
We’ve played three games in 14 days and they were hard-hitting games against Armagh, Monaghan and Dublin, three top-quality sides. The lads’ bodies are sore, there’s no doubt about that.”
Bodies sore but spirits high.
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