Time and Dublin football waits for no man. Before the dawn of the 2018 championship, the notion of them winning a fourth successive All-Ireland final without Diarmuid Connolly, without dare say needing Bernard Brogan, Paul Flynn, Paddy Andrews and even Eoghan O’Gara, may have sounded a little absurd.
But long before the dawn of the 2019 championship, that doesn’t mean one or all of them won’t be needed again, especially with that teasing prospect of a record fifth successive title. At age 31, Connolly is still some way off his sell-by date and after his American summer sojourn would certainly be welcomed back with open arms.
“We have the highest regard for Diarmuid, and we back him 110 per cent,” says Dublin selector Declan Darcy. “He’s due back in two weeks, if he’s playing to form, he’s happy, he wants to be part of the group and we feel he can fit into the group then absolutely. There are no issues from our end towards Diarmuid. Again, it’s an amateur sport. There are no having to do things, it’s all about choices. He decided this year that he needed to take a little bit of time away, and he should have been allowed that, and we allowed him to do that.
“Jack McCaffrey left us, Rory O’Carroll left us, the same rules would apply to those players as Diarmuid. If he comes back, we have an awful lot of loyalty towards him, we have fought hard battles with Diarmuid.
“And I think when they go away the first thing they’ll say is they miss being in the group and when they come back they’re energised by it. It’s good for them I suppose and healthy in their own life cycle to do what they do and then come back. They shouldn’t be within the group wanting to travel and wanting to play, if they want to travel they should be allowed travel, do what they have to do and then come back and play football. Again, it’s very hard for them because it is a special group, to leave is a big decision.”
Loyal lieutenant
Darcy is saying this as Jim Gavin’s most loyal lieutenant: they soldiered together for five years on the Dublin team (Darcy joining the panel in 1998, having played the previous 10 years for Leitrim, while Gavin was already well established, part of Dublin’s 1995 All-Ireland winning team).
When Gavin was later offered the Dublin under-21 job in 2008, his sole condition was that Darcy came on board as well; no surprise then that Darcy was again his first choice as selector when Gavin was offered the top job in 2013. Sunday’s triumph over Tyrone was their fifth senior All-Ireland together, and Darcy is already marking it down as one of their most satisfying.
“We kind of felt that we hadn’t really delivered what we would have felt was a performance fitting for the group. You can never legislate on an All-Ireland final day what’s going to happen, but that was our challenge. It was a little bit up and down but we certainly got a lot of things right in fairness. Ultimately you’re trying to get the players in a position that they can do whatever they can to get across the line.”
Brogan’s heroic return from a cruciate ligament injury fell just short of making the match day selection, but Darcy sees no reason why he can’t be back next year either. “You just never know when the players will say ‘I’ve just had enough’. At the minute those younger players are certainly bringing a great energy and great drive, because we have a completely different set of players within the group.
“It is very tough for them (Brogan, etc) not to be involved but at the same time their value within the group is not to be underestimated. It will be a decision for the players and in terms of motivation that will be a personal decision for them but what is underestimated is the camaraderie within the group. We don’t do sentiment. That does not wash with us. But I think it would be very difficult for anyone to step away, especially in the context of what they are likely to be chasing next year.”
