10 FACES OF THE FOOTBALL YEAR

BECAUSE it ended as anticipated, the danger is that the Gaelic football year that was 2018 could be dismissed as too predictable for its own good.

But if you looked hard enough, there were enough stories to charm and intrigue.

Fermanagh reached a first Ulster final in 10 years; Laois defied their Division 4 status to land a place in the Leinster decider; Carlow had their year of years; Monaghan reached their first semi-final in 30 years and Kildare forced Croke Park to blink in the ultimate game of Championship dare.

And even if the headline story wrote itself, the wonder of Dublin and Jim Gavin should never be taken for granted.

Here are our 10 faces that shaped the Gaelic football year that was.

1 JIM GAVIN (DUBLIN)

His greatest trick yet was to reduce the most potentially challenging of seasons into one that looked utterly routine.

Yeah, we know he has all the resources and all the advantages — the Super 8s landing another on his doorstep — but Dublin would not be as great as they are without him.

Any other manager would surely have been fazed at losing his two most celebrated attacking talents — Diarmuid Connolly and Bernard Brogan — at pretty much the same time. But Gavin knew he already had long-term replacements — Brian Howard and Paul Mannion — in place, but that did not happen by accident.

This Dublin team have evolved with just eight of the team that won Gavin’s first All-Ireland in 2013 in from the start against Tyrone in September. He has even managed to lower the team’s age profile.

Gavin is keeping the best team in the land on their toes and that is why they are on the brink of becoming the greatest the game has ever seen.

Some man for one man…

2 BRIAN FENTON (DUBLIN)

There are any number of things which are hard to believe about Fenton — like the fact that he could not make the Dublin minors, or that 12 months prior to being named Man of the Match in the 2015 All-Ireland final he watched Dublin lose the semifinal to Donegal from Hill 16, or the often quoted stat that four years into his Championship career he still has to be beaten — but here’s a simple thing to believe.

He is set to become the greatest midfielder of his generation and perhaps one day may even challenge Jack O’Shea’s status as the greatest ever.

He is the complete package, his fielding, tackling ability and link play all at the highest level, but he went a step further this year when his 1-13 represented the highest ever return from a midfielder in open play.

3 DAVID CLIFFORD (KERRY)

The sheer joy on his face as he leapt into the air to celebrate that sensational equalising goal against Monaghan was one of the summer’s enduring images.

It was understandable, too, given that no rookie has ever come into a season with such pressure, and there were times during the League when it really looked as if he was feeling it.

But then when Kerry’s need was greatest, he stood tall, racking up an incredible 4-14 in the Super 8s. At 19, the game is now at his gifted feet.

4 RORY BEGGAN (MONAGHAN)

He took the goalkeeping position into places which even the greatest of them all, Stephen Cluxton, has never explored.

He gave an indication of what was to come during a League campaign, but he came of age in the summer, not least with a stunning display against Tyrone.

The brilliance of his kicking from the tee was typified by his blitzing of Kerry in Clones. He also impressed from placed balls, finishing the summer with a staggering 0-8. His accuracy was close to being perfect, which was one of the main reasons why Monaghan travelled so deep into the summer.

5 MICKEY HARTE (TYRONE)

He may have gone into his 16th season as a back-to-back Ulster champion but there was no disguising the pressure he was under after last year’s implosion to Dublin. That pressure trebled when Tyrone trailed Meath going into the final minute of a first round qualifier, and yet from there they ended up leading Dublin by four points at the end of the opening quarter in the All-Ireland final.

In getting there, he broke another record — no serving manager had ever survived going 10 years between final appearances.

6 JACK MCCAFFREY (DUBLIN)

Unfortunately, cruciate injuries have become such a regular occurrence that we have been hoodwinked into thinking they are not as serious as they once sounded.

That is hardly the case. The toll it takes on those who have suffered one can leave its mark, although you would hardly have guessed it looking at Jack McCaffrey.

He bounced back mid-summer from the injury he sustained in the previous year’s final, and was an unstoppable force at the business end, where by our reckoning he was Man of the Match in three of Dublin’s final four games.

7 DAMIEN COMER (GALWAY)

The greatest compliment which can be paid to Comer is that the only time that Dublin looked visibly distressed just happened to be in when he was in their company.

He terrorised them in the League final and he put the frighteners on them once more in the opening quarter of the All-Ireland semifinal, as Dublin’s full-back line failed to cope with his power.

The wonder then is why he was allowed to drift out the field, which came as a relief to the champions and as a cost to Galway.

8 TURLOUGH O’BRIEN (CARLOW)

In truth, the Carlow story is a collective one — the coaching influence of Stephen Poacher was a powerful one while their game-

plan only worked on the basis that all the players bought in — but O’Brien did the front of the house job ever so well.

He dismissed those who bellyached about his team’s defensive style. After all, if there is one thing worse than being talked about it is not being talked about.

And Carlow had to endure silence from the chattering classes for years as they languished at the base, but promotion to Division 3 and their never-to-be forgotten slaying of Kildare changed all that.

9 CIAN O’NEILL (KILDARE)

He makes the list on two counts; that defeat to Carlow was the team’s 10th in a row and it looked like he was heading for the exit door, yet by the season’s end they not only made the watermark that was the Super 8s but competed there too.

More importantly, though, it was O’Neill’s powerful intervention on RTÉ’s Six One News that was a tipping point in the standoff with Croke Park, who had sought to deny them home advantage for their qualifier against Mayo.

He won the day, his team won the game and the Championship felt a whole lot better about itself.

10 STEPHEN ROCHFORD (DONEGAL)

In these days of managerial flux nothing should surprise, but the sight of Rochford travelling up the road from Mayo to join Declan Bonner’s Donegal management team certainly did.

He deserved better from Mayo, where he was forced out by the county board which facilitated the return of James Horan, but he now brings the experience that only a losing two-time All-Ireland final manager can to one of the most talented playing groups in the country.

As they say, watch this space.