McCarthy says Dubs have learned from 2012 as he chases the family bragging rights
IF WINNING an All-Ireland medal is the financial equivalent of winning the lotto for any Gaelic footballer, in Kerry, it can be like living on millionaire’s row.
Colm Cooper may be one of the greatest forwards the game has produced, but his four Celtic Crosses will often be measured against the elite crew of the Golden Years era under Mick O’Dwyer, who managed double that.
At the moment, the current Dublin team are also chasing history. A National League and All-Ireland double and two AllIrelands in three years also mirrors the early achievements of the Kevin Heffernan’s 1970s crew.
For the likes of wing-back James McCarthy, the motivation to drive on has a distinctly personal edge, his father John an integral part of the Dublin footballing revolution of the ’70s.
‘When I won my first AllIreland senior medal in 2011, the Da was giving me grief that I’d only got the one to his three. But now I’ve got two and I forget all about my under-21 medal. Still, I’d really like to make it 3-3 in terms of senior medals this year.’
And the DCU sports science student has every chance. Dublin are evens with the bookies to win the All-Ireland after taking Derry apart in the recent League final to set up a rare doubledouble.
The short odds are not something that McCarthy takes any heed of. ‘I laugh at it. If Seán Cavanagh’s shot for a point in injury-time in Omagh had gone over the bar, we wouldn’t have played Cork or Derry and our odds for the All-Ireland would have gone out. We’d still be slight favourites, probably, but Cork would be a lot shorter than they are now, maybe Tyrone, too, as they would have been in the semis.
‘Against Cork and Derry we just got on a run and took our scores. It worked for us against Cork this time but Mayo 2012 is a warning that it won’t always work. We do need to start games better.’
His reference to the AllIreland semi-final of two summers ago is a timely reminder that it hasn’t all been easy. That defeat and failed title defence prompted the departure of manager Pat Gilroy and is all that McCarthy needs to keep himself grounded.
‘Mayo played very well and we didn’t play at all,’ he recalls. ‘It took us 40 minutes to get going that day, and for all the talk of our comeback against Cork in the League semi-final, that Mayo match is the perfect example that you won’t get away with playing like that all of the time.
‘All that year we just sort of plodded along. Hindsight is great, but that’s what we did. I suppose we celebrated the 2011 win a little too long, that may have been a factor.
‘Mayo had hammered us in the League in Castlebar five months before that semi-final, so there was a form-line there.’
So what’s different this time around? After a patchy spring campaign, Dublin romped home to back-to-back League titles when they couldn’t make the play-offs in 2012. Still, while they stormed back from 10 down early in the second half to win the semi-final against Cork, McCarthy is well aware summer won’t allow such escape acts.
The defender points to last weekend’s All-Ireland under-21 success as one reason why no player can afford to take his foot off the pedal. ‘The thing that is driving Dublin football forward now is the hunger for places. You can’t let up. I’m 24 now, I’ve won All-Ireland medals, but Jim Gavin will drop me like a shot if I am not doing the business, it’s as simple as that.’
The introduction of the black card for cynical play this year seems to further favour a team that plays such a high-tempo, attack-minded game where the likes of McCarthy bomb forward at every opportunity. He believes it’s hardly a coincidence that no Dublin senior player picked up a black card over the entire League, though he admits it goes against a defender’s natural instincts at times.
‘It’s been drilled into us since the rule was brought in, not to haul down players or not to bodycheck. Jim and the management have been very strong on that, the players have taken note. ‘I’ve thought about it once or twice in a match, when I’ve been thinking of putting a big hit in and wondering if I might get caught with a black card if it went wrong.
‘Apart from being sent off for the rest of the match, you risk letting someone from the squad get your place for 50 minutes of a big game. If they play well in that time, you might not see a sky-blue shirt again for the rest of the summer.’
And that’s the last thing he wants. A place on the team, and a shot at equalling his father’s AllIreland record, means everything.