10 things that put Dublin way ahead of pack
STEPHEN CLUXTON’S record-breaking appearance feat is only one facet of a Dublin team that continues to blaze its own trail. Here are 10 ways that this current generation stand apart:
1 CLUXTON’S 89th CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCE
Let’s start with the team captain and player who has redefined the goalkeeping position for the modern game. For a couple of hours, Tyrone’s Sean Cavanagh will join Cluxton and Kerry brothers Marc and Tomás Ó Sé on 88 Championship appearances, top of the all-time list. Until the ball is thrown in on the second All-Ireland quarter-final and the Dublin captain goes out on his own.
No player on the squad — or in Dublin history — can match his 13 Leinster medals, not to mention the four National Leagues, four All-Irelands and five All Stars.
There’s still time for a first Footballer of the Year award.
2 SEVEN IN A ROW IN LEINSTER
The dearth of quality in Leinster has been much commented upon and does somewhat of a disservice to Dublin’s winning run — again, another record in terms of seven consecutive titles.
For all the talk of Dublin’s financial back-up and playing population, the extent of the county’s stranglehold wasn’t that obvious in June 2010 when Pat Gilroy’s team shipped five goals in a freakish Leinster semi-final against Meath. The manner in which Dublin have dominated since has been stark, forcing the Leinster Council to bring them out of Croke Park and even consider a roundrobin element to try and bring other counties up a level.
3 FOUR CONSECUTIVE NATIONAL LEAGUES
Heffo’s Army couldn’t even manage back-to-back League titles, never mind put a four-ina-row together. Championship consistency is one thing but, in this respect, four consecutive Division 1 titles sets this Dublin team apart from even Mick O’Dwyer’s truly great Kerry team. But for Dean Rock’s late free dropping agonisingly back off an upright, a record fifth title in a row arguably beckoned.
4 THE 36-GAME STREAK
Winning outside the comfort zone of Croke Park is what separates this Dublin team from its predecessors. The unbeaten streak in League and Championship had historians delving into the distant past of Gaelic football. When Roscommon were vanquished in round six of the National League, Dublin surpassed a record that held for over 80 years, dating back to the Kerry team of the late 1920s and early ’30s.
5 FRONT DOOR ALL-IRELANDS
With four All-Irelands since the turn of the decade, the two teams of the modern era that Dublin have been measured alongside are the heavyweight pair who dominated the previous decade. Kerry collected five All-Irelands between 2000 and 2009 and Tyrone three but if there is one difference, it’s that none of Dublin’s has come via the back door. There is no need for any sort of an asterisk to be attached to any of Dublin’s four titles in 2011, 2013, 2015-16.
6 BACK-ROOM TEAM — 23 AND COUNTING
The photograph after last year’s All-Ireland captured the full extent of Dublin’s support personnel. There were 23 in the picture, showing how the bar has been raised off the field as much as on it.
7 BIG DAY NERVE
For so long, Dublin’s nerve when it came to the crunch was questioned. After all the near misses in All-Ireland terms of the early 1990s, that pattern didn’t change with the turn of the millennium. Just go back to the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final when a fancied Dublin team were humiliated by Kerry by 17 points, 1-24 to 1-7. Or 2010 when a second half collapse saw Cork storm back to squeeze through the final.
An ability to win tight All-Ireland finals to
10 HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH KERRY
defines this Dublin team. The finals of 2011, 2013 and 2016 were all won by a single point — the 2015 decider by a single score (three points). That’s quality under pressure.
8 THAT WINNING FEELING: BRIAN FENTON’S RUN
After making his senior starting debut in the 2015 Division 1 group game against Monaghan, Brian Fenton (below) went a whopping 31 matches in League or Championship without losing a game. Surely a record?
9 JIM GAVIN’S MIDAS TOUCH
Since taking over as manager for the 2013 season, Jim Gavin’s Dublin team has competed for 14 major titles between National League, Leinster and All-Ireland honours. A remarkable 12 have been annexed. The ones that got away? The 2014 All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal and the 2017 National League final against Kerry. Until Stephen Cluxton’s iconic winning free in the 2011 All-Ireland final, Dublin hadn’t beaten Kerry in championship since the 1977 semi-final, the supposed greatest game of all time. It’s not a rivalry when the same team keeps winning. How the balance of power has shifted? Last September’s All-Ireland semi-final represented a record fourth successive Championship victory over the old enemy.