GIVE US A BREAK
Don’t bring up funding if Dubs win, begs Quinn
MOSSY QUINN hopes funding talk will not be raised if Dublin create history this Sunday by becoming the first side to win the five-in-a-row, claiming it will ‘do a disservice’ to Jim Gavin’s side.
Dublin’s dominance has led to controversy over the disproportionate amount of games development funding that goes into the capital, while the All-Ireland champions also have a bumper sponsorship deal with AIG, one of their 10 commercial partners.
Former Dublin star Quinn has been commercial manager for Dublin County Board for the past five years and a driving force behind the Blues flexing their financial muscle. However, he feels if the team win on Sunday, it won’t be the time or place to discuss those issues.
‘I don’t have an issue having that conversation and I don’t think there’s a reason it shouldn’t be discussed,’ Quinn stressed yesterday.
‘But for me, if Dublin do get over the line on Sunday and it turns into a conversation [about funding] in the hours after the game I think that’s
‘There’s a lot
of strength in the small...”
IT’S an accepted truth of Irish life that no matter how good a summer we’re enjoying, it will always rain on Connacht final day. But as Declan Darcy recalls, it was a particularly wet one in Salthill this year, even by western standards.
Some 25 years have passed since he attained legendary status in his father’s native Leitrim for his role in one of the most remarkable successes in GAA history. So, when the sky opened over the west in June, it was Darcy and his fellow heroes of ’94 getting drenched in front of a Pearse Stadium that had yet to fill.
That such a tiny county could win a provincial title seems unthinkable at this remove with Dublin’s blue juggernaut changing the rules of the game.
Darcy, as Jim Gavin’s longserving lieutenant, has been integral in creating that monster but feels that what was achieved with Leitrim proves there can still be strength in small numbers.
‘It was nice to meet all the lads again. They are great memories because it defied all the logic of everything that is being spoken about now, with the funding and population of Dublin and whatever else.
‘When I think of that, when you get a group of like-minded people in a room with a bit of talent, it’s amazing what you can do. There’s a lot of strength
in the small as well, when they get it right.’
Darcy was able to draw on his experience for both Leitrim and Dublin when he sat on the recent Football Review Committee and feels that smaller counties have been somewhat let down by the GAA.
‘I won an All-Ireland B title and I was on the back of a trailer in Ballinamore and we thought we were after winning the AllIreland! It was fantastic but I think we need to listen to the needs of counties, and what they need to function.
I was in Croke Park for the Division 4 final and it was a fantastic day for Leitrim, a celebration of what the GAA is meant to be about. And that is what it should be about, creating more of that environment for weaker counties.’
During his time with Leitrim, Darcy had a stint as a ball-playing centre-back. When he returned to his native Dublin, he was renowned as a scoring forward, their most reliable attacker during a barren spell. However, he has gone back to his roots as a defence coach within Gavin’s backroom team with Jason Sherlock putting the forwards through their paces.
‘I look after the whole kickouts against us, all the defensive plays. I don’t know how I ended up in defence, everyone asks that! My demeanour maybe might help a little bit,’ Darcy smiles.
‘Ever since I have been with Jim, since the Under 21s, that’s the way we operated.
‘I suspect my role will be increased this week in terms of what we are going to face the next. It’s a mindset thing, how you think about the game.
‘It suits me and my way and how I look at players and how I see an opposition team play and function. I had played centreback for Leitrim before moving to the forwards, so I have experience of both.’
Having played in a county with such scarce resources, Darcy has an unique perspective on the on-going debate about funding and playing numbers that hang over this Dublin team and the selector concedes that it is only human nature that everyone outside the capital want to see the side beaten this weekend.
‘Like when I was looking at Man Utd when they were winning all the time, I’d love to see the f***ers beaten. It’s the same with whomever wins all the time. I think that’s just human nature. People see this team, they understand what is going on and then they try to pick holes in it,’ Darcy points out.
‘Obviously, the easy ones to go after would be population and funding and people wondering, “what can we do to stop them?” We can’t control that. But our players are all human beings, they all come from clubs and it is probably a little unfair on them to have to experience that because people just want to see them beaten.
‘You’d nearly think we’d be better off just losing a game to stop all that talk and then we can start over again,’ Darcy remarks with a chuckle.
But he knows that, if Dublin win this weekend, the debate over their size and resources will start again and few will find it a laughing matter.