DUBLIN SING A SWEET TUNE!
Three in a row for record-breakers
DUBLIN’S assault on Gaelic football’s record books is not going to stop here.
Yesterday’s thrilling one-point win over Mayo sealed their place as one of the greatest teams to have ever played the game as they bridged a 94-year gap to become the first team from the capital to win three All-Irelands in a row since 1923.
Dean Rock’s 75th-minute injury-time free which sealed the team’s 1-17 to 1-16 win in injury time also meant that they became the first team to complete the game’s coveted three-in-a-row since Kerry in 1986.
It is Mick O’Dwyer’s famed Kerry team which is now in their sights as Dublin will seek next year to emulate that side’s four-ina-row run completed in 1981.
And history-making captain Stephen Cluxton — who lifted the Sam Maguire Cup for a record fourth time yesterday — vowed within minutes of the final whistle yesterday that he intends to stay on and lead again next
season. The normally reticent goalkeeper, who will be 37 in December, revealed his decision to stay on when accompanying Jim Gavin at the post-match press conference. ‘I’m just holding on to my jersey. I have to chat with this man here to see if he wants me for next year. ‘Once January comes around I’m going to be battling against another goalkeeper to try and win the jersey. That’s just the way it is,’ said Cluxton. That sets the tone ahead of next year’s assault on the Championship, with the market last night pricing the champions as 11/10 favourites to win a sixth All-Ireland title in eight years. They had to dig deep yesterday when they were outplayed in the
first half and trailed by two points with just seven minutes of regular time left, but they held their nerve to see it out. In the end, they absorbed everything that Mayo could throw at them. In the fifth minute of injury time with the teams deadlocked, referee Joe McQuillan awarded Dublin a free after ruling that sub Diarmuid Connolly was fouled by Chris Barrett. But as Dean Rock ran up to take the clutch free, it appeared that a Mayo player threw a GPS receiver in a bid to distract him. Afterwards, Dublin midfielder James McCarthy admitted that he saw the object being throw in Rock’s direction. ‘I did. They were trying every trick in the book. I think it was a GPS someone threw at him. But look, it doesn’t matter now. He kicked it,’ said McCarthy. It capped a spectacular secondhalf from Rock, who finished with 0-7, 0-4 coming from open play. Rock’s nerve at the end was all the more admirable given that he missed a clutch free that would have taken April’s League final defeat to Kerry into extra-time. Afterwards team-mate Kevin McManamon admitted that the miss against Kerry had hurt Rock. ‘I don’t think I would have wanted anyone else in that position with the game on the line and a minute to go. He’s just a legend with the amount of practice he does and how cool he is under pressure and I’m delighted,’ said McManamon. ‘He took a big hit in the League final against Kerry so it’s a nice little twist that he got the winner today. He’s an absolute legend, so fair play to him.’