Dessie delight is tinged with a bit of relief
AS A player, Dessie Farrell spent so much of his career pushing that All-Ireland rock uphill, the 1995 triumph the one time he reached a summit in a career that had its fair share of gut-wrenching disappointments.
Now, in his first year in charge of his county, his name will forever be attached to an unprecedented six-in-a-row.
These are different days for Dublin GAA.
As it was in the Jim Gavin era, it was the management and team’s ability to figure things out on the hoof that was so critical to another All-Ireland success.
Mayo brought the battle, as they always have this past decade on the big stage, and had Dublin on the back foot for so much of the first half.
And when Dublin wing-back Robbie McDaid was black-carded just before half-time for a body collide on Kevin McLoughlin, Mayo knew that they had to make the extra man count for the first 10 minutes after the interval.
Farrell, and Dublin, had other ideas. Brian Howard came on at midfield and immediately won the throw-in, James McCarthy slotted back to wing-back and the five forwards left up the field worked so hard that it was hard at times to tell who had the extra man.
Mayo losing Patrick Durcan to a quad muscle injury at half-time didn’t help their cause but the way Dublin controlled that period, a man down, set the tone for a very different second half that said everything about their game management that is unrivalled.
By the time McDaid came back on, Mayo had only clawed a single point back and, after weathering the storm, Dublin pushed on in the final quarter, showing the class of champions.
‘We spoke about it at half-time, how important it was not to capitulate at that stage because up until half-time we were struggling with their high press,’ explained Farrell afterwards.
‘We knew they were going to go toe-to-toe, they’re very good at bringing that high-octane intense type of a game and it was very, very challenging for us.
‘It was going to be even more so in the second half, a man down, they were able to get themselves reorganised you would have thought at the half-time break to have a right good go.
‘But we banged heads on it as coaches and then turned it over to the players in terms of what we wanted them to do, or how we’d try to manage our way through that and I think getting out the other side of that probably provided us with the platform for victory then.
‘We were wondering at what point we would introduce Brian Howard.
‘I think Robbie getting the black card made that easy for us in terms of half-time in getting Brian’s experience and his ball-winning ability in there.
‘That was going to be crucial, particularly when we went a man down. We made some positional changes and got out the other side of it, thankfully.’
And he tried to describe what this latest slice of history meant. ‘Delighted is the word. Obviously there’s a bit of relief in there too, just thrilled for the players, so happy for them.
‘It’s been a long, long year and I’m so happy for them in terms of, they’ve got the result and it’s just reward in terms of how they applied themselves throughout the year and stepped up at different stages when it was needed.
‘It’s all about the players. I’m just thrilled for them. It was about facilitating them to be the best they can be. That idea of seeing that improvement.
‘We’d 10 new players to come in. some had left. We brought in some fresh faces, new blood, and that was important as well.
‘It was trying to get the dynamic right, the chemistry right, and there were challenges to all of that. Because it’s not easy to come into a dressing room that has the type of characters in that dressing room and the success they had.’
As to where Dublin go from here? Even with an anticipated early championship start in April 2021 in a revised new calendar, Farrell hinted at changes in personnel.
‘I suspect there will be a change. I’m not sure how many – I won’t be calling for anyone’s retirement or resignation or anything like that.
‘Those types of decisions will be left to the players.’