John Fogarty, GAA Correspondent
BONO’S story of Irish begrudgery is well-known.
In America, the man looks up at the mansion on the hill and says he’s going to be that guy living there.
In Ireland, the man looks up at the mansion on the hill and says he’s going to get that b******.
For years, Dublin footballers had been playboys of that mansion with nothing but squatters’ rights in the eyes of the rest of the country.
In September, they earned the deeds but some of their county board’s behaviour since has been a mite unfortunate to the point that it could be interpreted as triumphalism.
They want to expand, you see. Build extensions and fortify their environs at the expense of their lowly neighbours.
We can understand just how heady things are in Dublin at the moment. The senior footballers’ success has been buttressed by the feats of their senior hurlers as well as their various excellent under-age teams.
The 2011 season has been an unprecedented one for the capital but it appears they’ve run away with themselves.
In his convention report, Dublin secretary John Costello was hardly going to backtrack on the aims set out in the Blue Wave strategic review plan. But what was interesting was the ferocity of his defence of it.
As he wrote: “It is perhaps unsurprising that the publication of our strategic plan was met with a degree of hostility and suspicion in some quarters – there will always be a cohort that tries to belittle ambition and approaches such issues with a closed mind. Not alone is this country financially bankrupt but culturally it’s on its knees also so when a unit of the Association puts it’s chest out and shows some self-belief you can expect a stampede headed in your direction.”
Costello is correct in one regard – there is plenty of resentment out there for Dublin at the moment.
With regard to their successes this year, none of it is justifiable but they’ve brought a lot of it on themselves, namely with the Blue Wave strategic review plan.
For the majority, the document is an excellent one and as comprehensive and forensic as it needed to be to facilitate what is an essential area for the GAA.
But it was not without its drawbacks. Pointing a wagging finger at Leinster Rugby for the “subliminal exploitation of Dublin’s unique sporting hue” was embarrassing and smacked of arrogance.
Asking for provincial status in terms of funding and a seat at the top table does not reconcile with their determination not to be split.
Just how they think their teams’ competitors would countenance given them such an advantage when they already have a significant one in terms of playing numbers is astonishing.
As much as Dublin has been a cash cow for the GAA, if they want to compete as a county they have to appreciate they’re a county in every sense of the word.
As for the goals of winning Sam Maguire every three years and Liam MacCarthy every five, they aren’t all that outlandish.
Dublin is definitely a dual county now while nailing their colours to the mast is no bad thing.
It’s just in the wake of September everything reads like something out of Father Ted’s Golden Cleric speech.
Where this all leaves Pat Gilroy and his players is in a most difficult situation. Defending their All-Ireland title next year was always going to be tough but if the Blue Wave is indicative of how much expectation has risen then theirs is a gruelling task.
Gilroy has attempted to douse the flames by referring to the goal of winning Sam once every three years as unpractical. If he believed he mightn’t be in charge next year.
However, he was right to highlight Dublin won the All-Ireland final by a point this year. Of course, he was again thinking of next year and making life a little easier for himself. No harm there but in the euphoria of bridging a 16-year gap it had been lost that this All-Ireland title wasn’t as convincing as they’d have liked it to be.
A grounded man, Gilroy won’t need to be reminded of how humble a journey Dublin had to take before beating Kerry. In an interview in 2004, former Dublin defender Paddy Christie articulated just what Dublin had to endure before this year’s triumph.
“We do play good football at times, we’re a city team, we wear flashy jerseys, we can beat most teams, the majority of the country’s media is based in the county.
“It may seem like we’ve the package but there’s nothing underneath it. Until that’s put right there will be always be false dawns.
“Yet Dublin can never take any game handy because of it. I’ve never seen anyone acting the eejit in the jersey.
“And the reason is simple. You have players thinking that if they can score three points against Dublin even in a challenge game they’ll be famous for the rest of their lives.There’s no comfort zone for us. If we get beaten because we were complacent our supporters would have every right to get mad because it would be unacceptable. But when we lost to Laois last year and Westmeath this year they weren’t bad teams. They were very good ones. We’re not a phenomenal team. I don’t think anyone ever said we were.”
The thing is, plenty of people in Dublin are saying about the footballers now when it’s not justified.
The books, DVDs, CDs and TV programmes that have been produced to celebrate Dublin’s success in time for the Christmas market will only amplify that myth.
When next month comes around, Gilroy will know their pedestal has grown a lot smaller, the targets on their backs bigger (and the ironic thing is Dublin’s footballers are a genial group of lads).
If Dublin’s footballers retain their All-Ireland title next year it will be an extraordinary achievement. They were always the team to beat. Thanks to September, they’re now the team to envy. Thanks to what’s followed, they will be the team to dislike. That’s not entirely their own fault but such is the nature of the beast in the mansion.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/CWOn3dTLQtQ/post.aspx
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