The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Can someone be a modern day Seamus Darby?
IT probably won’t have escaped too many people in this county that RTÉ broadcast a fascinating, if painful, documentary over the Christmas period that won’t have delivered much festive cheer to persons of a certain age. The cleverly titled Players of the Faithful was a timely reflection on Offaly’s 1982 All-Ireland football title victory, the third and last by the titular Faithful county. The ecstasy that victory brought to the players and GAA supporters in the Midlands county was, of course, counter-pointed by the agony it visited on the Kerry team and its supporters as – you hardly need reminding – it denied the Kingdom a record-making and as-yet-never-achieved fifth consecutive All-Ireland SFC title.
The timing of the documentary – 36 and a bit years on from that seismic September day – didn’t exactly chime with a neat anniversary, say its 40th, but it was no less, er, enjoyable for that. On the other hand the timing of it was perfect, given that it came on the cusp of a year in which another county is setting out to achieve the impossible, or at least the so far unconquered five-in-a-row mountain. Of course, Players of the Faithful was all about Offaly and what GAA historian and Offaly native, Paul Rouse, described as the most famous one-in-a-row in the history of the GAA, but without the ying there could be no yang.
Without a loser Offaly couldn’t have been the game’s most famous winner.
Down the years since 1982 the story of that September Sunday in Croke Park has always been, in the national consciousness at least, more about Kerry losing, or being denied the five-in-a-row, than it has been about Offaly winning the All-Ireland title that year. Sure, the most famous image from that rain-soaked day remains Seamus Darby’s late lobbed goal and spring-loaded celebration jump, but even those of a neutral persuasion cannot but recall almost as vividly Mikey Sheehy’s penalty miss, or Charlie Nelligan diving up and back in vain as Darby’s shot flew over him, or the stunned and haunted look on the faces of the Kerry players – and Dwyer – as the faithful from the Faithful poured onto the pitch to shoulder their heroes to the Hogan Stand.
Having won every All-Ireland final since 2015, the Dublin footballers set out this year in search of the hitherto elusive five-in-a-row. Thus far they have carried themselves with the air of men who could keep on winning Championship matches forever more. But then so did Kerry as they turned the corner from 1981 into the new year. Their winning margins in the All-Ireland finals from 1978 to 1981 were 17, 11, 3 and 7 points respectively; somewhat more comfortable margins than what Dublin have come through by on All-Ireland Final day. There was little, if anything, to suggest Micko’s men would be toppled in 1982, but as Rouse reminded us in the Players of the Faithful film, all empires eventually fall. And usually the crumble is unexpected and sudden.
It must be hard for younger readers to comprehend how Offaly – a county long mired in Gaelic football’s basement – could be the county to have ended Kerry’s reign in 1982, but at the time they were the obvious heirs to the throne, if only for that one year. Five Leinster final appearances (four titles) in-a-row between 1969 and 1973 confirmed their credentials as a proper football county, and after Dublin put six Leinsters together after that it was Offaly, in 1980, who finally ended the Dubs’ monopoly on the province.
The Faithful pushed Kerry to a 4-15 to 4-10 win in the 1980 All-Ireland semi-final and weren’t disgraced in the 1981 final when losing to a Kerry team in their absolute pomp when they lost 1-12 to 0-8. By 1982 they were ready.
It would, perhaps, be too simplistic to draw a parallel between that Offaly team and the present Tyrone team, who lost the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final to Dublin (12 points) before going down to them in last year’s final by six points, but the Ulster county could be as well placed as any to end Dublin’s long unbeaten run in Championship football. Others must fancy themselves too. There’s Kerry, of course, who will always consider themselves capable of winning All-Irelands, and who, despite a poor couple of seasons just gone by, will rightly feel they have the raw talent to challenge Dublin if they can get the other moving parts right.
Then there’s Mayo, also under new management this year, who have come closer to any county over the last five or six years to beating Dublin in an All-Ireland Final, and who can never be discounted until they are counted out.
Others, too, will start the year with some design or other on winning the All-Ireland title – Galway, Donegal, Monaghan – and in the big picture Dublin will be just another team to beat along the way.
From Dublin’s perspective, though, at what stage will the pressure of making history begin to bear down on them? Jim Gavin might bring a pilot’s grace under fire to the managerial post, and many of their players operate on and off the field with a steely insouciance that makes the Dublin team equally infuriating and a joy to watch, but pressure can be a terrible thing.
The closer the Dublin players get to the All-Ireland final this year, or the closer they get to the final whistle in the All-Ireland final this year, they wouldn’t be flesh and blood if they didn’t allow themselves moments to dream of completing the five-in-a-row, moments when the concentration can slip and someone on the opposition can do a Darby on it and write themselves into history.
By Sunday evening, September 1 (if not sooner) there is going to be a huge story writ large across the Dublin sky. Either Dublin will have achieved what was thought unattainable or another team is going to be remembered as the David who killed Goliath, another player known as the Seamus Darby of the 21st century.
In 2055 someone will be making a documentary about Dublin’s drive for five in 2019, replete with a catchy title.
Wouldn’t When David [you know who] killed Gavin’s Goliath have a nice ring to it?