Greatness of Gavin’s Dubs buttressed by the numbers
Eleven men go in search of their sixth medal while three have started every final since 2011
THE full history and legacy of this Dublin football team has yet to be written but there can be no doubting their greatness. The numbers behind their winning streak that started under Pat Gilroy and has soared to the heavens since Jim Gavin took charge do all the talking necessary. Whatever your metric, the only question is where they rank with the all-time great teams.
Under Gavin, they have already secured one mark of greatness with three All-Ireland titles in a row. When they achieved that last year, they were just the tenth team, of 25 who had tried it in the history of football, to pull it off.
Within that run there was a recordbreaking 36-game unbeaten streak that trumped the 34-match record of a Kerry team of 80 years ago.
And that streak only ended when Dean Rock hit the post with a late free in the 2017 NFL final against the Kingdom.
That decider stands alone as the only national final Gavin has lost. In fact, should the Round Towers club man guide Dublin to success on Sunday, he’ll have won 16 of 18 major trophies he has contested since taking charge.
Within the collective of the team, there are some extraordinary individual feats. After last year’s narrow All-Ireland final success it was pointed out that 12 Dublin footballers were now the proud holder of five All-Ireland medals. In football terms, its a collection of Celtic Crosses that has never been seen outside of Kerry.
That number has since been whittled down to 11. The departure of Diarmuid Connolly to the US for the summer means the team are shorn of their most gifted player. But while he was adding a Boston SFC title to his medal haul last weekend, his former team-mates’ pursuit of history remains relentless.
Captain Stephen Cluxton leads the charge. With the exception of the injury he picked up in the clash with Longford and the subsequent game he missed against Laois this year, the Parnells man has played every minute of all five of Dublin’s successful campaigns in 2011, 13, ’15, ’16 and ’17. As well as revolutionising the position of goalkeeper, he’s already out on his own as a four-time All-Ireland-winning captain. During the spring he made his 100th league appearance for the county, while he’s already the player with the most championship appearances in the history of the GAA (97).
In Dublin GAA circles, he is a man apart.
In terms of significance across the entirety of Dublin’s run, Cluxton is closely followed by James McCarthy and Cian O’Sullivan. Like Cluxton, both men have started all five AllIreland finals and it can be safely assumed that both will be included from the start on Sunday, presuming injury allows the Kilmacud Crokes man to take his place.
McCarthy has the lineage too. His father John has three All-Ireland medals and James has added another five to that. In 2011, he lined out as a wing-back under Pat Gilroy. In last year’s final he delivered a man of the match display from midfield, kicking two crucial points as they edged out Mayo in a thriller.
Cian O’Sullivan started the 2011 final at corner-back but perhaps the evolution of his role has played the single biggest part in Dublin’s continued success.
After they were outfoxed by Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final, Gavin knew change was required as Alan Brogan recalled.
“After Donegal beat us in 2014, Jim became obsessed about playing against teams with this style of play,” the former Footballer of the Year said.
“When somebody sets up like that, that’s when problems are going be caused. It is something they’ve worked relentlessly on in training.
“I know it’s something that Jim Gavin and his management team have discussed at length over videos in meetings over the last couple of years.”
Dublin needed security and Gavin figured O’Sullivan was the man to provide it. Reinvented as a sweeper for the 2015 campaign, they haven’t lost in the championship since.
The eight other players playing for a sixth medal this weekend are defenders Mick Fitzsimons, Philly McMahon, Darren Daly, midfielder Michael Darragh Macauley and
attackers Kevin McManamon, Eoghan O’Gara, Paul Flynn and Bernard Brogan.
Fitzsimons had won an All-Ireland junior medal with Dublin when he was plucked from relative obscurity to be given the man-marking jobs on the opposition’s marquee forwards back in 2011.
Philly McMahon had to serve his time and didn’t start right through a season until 2015. Perhaps Darren Daly is the most unexpected name on the list. He can scarcely claim to have been a regular for any length of time but the Fingal Ravens man has been retained on one of the most cut-throat panels around by both Gilroy and Gavin.
Last year’s All-Ireland final was the only one since 2011 that Macauley didn’t feature in. He started in 2011 and 2013 when he was named Footballer of the Year as well as the drawn game in 2016. He came off the bench in 2015 and the 2016 replay but didn’t see action last year.
Kevin McManamon started both finals in 2016 but otherwise has featured off the bench though his contribution to the achievements of recent years has been well documented.
Paul Flynn is another who has made his mark. The winner of four successive All-Star awards from 20112014, only greats of the game like Jack O’Shea, Pat Spillane and Páidí Ó Sé have had longer stints in the end-ofseason selection than the Fingallians man.
From the same Dublin junior team
as Daly and Fitzsimons, Eoghan O’Gara missed much of 2015 with a cruciate injury but started an AllIreland final in last year’s replay for the first time having previously been used as a sub.
Bernard Brogan’s season looked like it was over when he picked up a cruciate injury earlier this year but he claimed some precious game time against Roscommon in the ‘Super 8s’ and will now look to force his way into the 26 for the All-Ireland final.
Dublin have earned their place among the great teams and are 1/6 in some places to complete four-in-arow. And if they pull that off, they’ll surely be heavy favourites for the 2019 title and an historic drive for five.
There may be yet more history to be written.