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This Dublin team do not tolerate distractions
JIM GAVIN’S agreement to remain in charge of the Dublin footballers until 2021 was announced on December 19 last year.
Given the expertise they have displayed in matters of organisation, commerce and brand growth, the timing of this news release should not be mistaken for sloppiness.
Any significant news that emerges six days before Christmas could be interpreted as an attempt to bury a messy story, but this was a happy announcement for Dublin football.
Gavin is the most successful manager in the history of the county, and by tea-time on Sunday he could have an unarguable case to be considered the best in the history of the sport.
Tying him to the senior footballers for another two seasons, beyond the end of his previous arrangement, which was up to the end of this year’s campaign, was vital to keeping the Dublin operation thriving.
Yet, instead of cameras and interviews and the trumpeting of such news, it crept out in the midst of the festive hum.
This was no accident, but part of a strategy that has been pursued throughout this year: Dublin are tiptoeing towards a place in history.
Any unnecessary attention is avoided. Heads are kept down. Issues are anticipated and, if possible, defused before they become a talking point.
Gavin and his players might insist that history is not on their minds this Sunday, but in another way their entire approach to 2019 has been shaped by the imminence of history.
Understanding that the year would be consumed by talk of the Drive for Five, Dublin have simply, publicly, denied its existence. They don’t think about it, they say. You may choose not to believe them but that is their line and none of them will veer away from it.
It was laughable to hear Jonny Cooper, for instance, ask in a radio interview yesterday if it was five in a row that Dublin were going for. Yes, Jonny, it is.
That is why announcing the Gavin extension in the way it was done was noteworthy.
Imagine if Dublin had started this season without a new agreement in place.
Attention would, properly, fall on the manager’s future. Whether he was going or staying would have been an inevitable question every time he appeared before a microphone or TV camera.
And that could prove a distraction — and Dublin do not tolerate distractions. So an extension to his term as manager was agreed and released in the most business-like way a championship team have ever conducted themselves.
No matter that there is a theory that Gavin could, in fact, walk away if Dublin win on Sunday. This is speculation, of course, but with a logical base: having brought his county to a level of success unprecedented in Gaelic games, Gavin may decide he has done enough and step down.
Whether he does or not, his future has not been a topic of debate this year, the most important in Dublin’s history. And that’s what counts. So it goes with Diarmuid Connolly, too.
His future was a lively source of discussion at the start of the year, but by the beginning of the Championship it had fizzled out. Gavin was rarely if ever asked about it after games, and it was only when the manager went out of his way to mention it publicly, in an in-house interview, that the story of Connolly’s return became news again.
It caused a sensation, but Connolly had no meaningful role in Dublin’s semi-final win over Mayo. The match had long been won by the time he appeared as a substitute in the 70th minute.
And it is very difficult to see him forcing his way into Sunday’s final as a significant player. Dublin played so well against Mayo that there is no reason why Gavin would change his team for Kerry.
Connolly is sumptuously gifted, and, judged on pure talent, he is Dublin’s best forward. But on all available evidence, and on the level of application and ruthlessness shown by their attack, this squad do not need him. But Gavin brought him back in, recognising, perhaps, that being able to call upon a man of his experience, passing and shooting ability, only strengthened what is already the best squad in the country by a distance. However, in recalling Connolly, Gavin also removed another possible distraction. Now, there is no talk of the Diarmuid Connolly question. There is virtually no discussion about whether he will start the final. Nobody expects it, given how Dublin dealt with Mayo. He is another squad player, a famous, mercurial one, but just another one all the same. In recalling Connolly, Gavin absorbed another potential issue and took control of it.
Another distraction was removed.
Dublin have been in the headlines this summer for their football.
They have also been the topic of many important discussions about their commercial strength, the matter of development funding and the advantage they enjoy in using Croke Park as their home ground.
But they have contributed just about nothing to that debate. There have been no other controversies, either, no disciplinary ructions or rows
with referees. Nothing has impeded their focus.
This has extended to media duties, too. The day after they beat Mayo, a Sunday, their press day for the final was announced; it was on the Monday.
And it was, according to reports, a harmless affair. More relevant was the fact that it was the first time all year Dublin had held a media event to preview a game.
This was a departure from other seasons, but don’t think for a second this was accidental, either.
Dublin have done everything within their power to keep their profile as low as possible in 2019. That is difficult for the most successful and famous team in Irish sport, but they still largely achieved it. And the context for all of this was the Drive for Five. Now there is a wider issue here about the lamentable nature of communications in Gaelic games, with teams (not just Dublin) favouring commercial plugs over more traditional press engagements. But that is not Gavin’s concern. Dublin football is his priority, and he has been outstanding in steering his team clear of distractions. They are 70 minutes away from becoming sporting immortals. Maybe even they will open up and let the world in on their story if they get there.