John Fogarty
DRIVING through central north Dublin last night, you’d have hardly noticed the capital were in an All-Ireland senior football final.
But for the one or two house decked in blue and navy and the odd bus shelter sporting ads from the city council in support of the team, there was nothing extravagant to suggest this was a week any different to any other.
Have no doubt, Dublin is on a frantic ticket hunt and that onerous pursuit appears to be taking up much of supporters’ time.
But there is a more conscientious approach being taken by Dublin’s followers this year. Much of it has to do with the opposition and the Indian sign Kerry have had over them since 1977.
But the expectation about the game is just as strong in the Kingdom. Kieran Donaghy acknowledged that this week when he said he has never known hype or a buzz like it.
Even Michael Quirke, who left the Kerry panel before the semi-final against Mayo, indulged in a bit of it on Twitter last Monday.
He wrote: “New Lyons Tea Ad variation... Over a half time cuppa, Gooch says to Gilroy ‘put on more Dubs’. Gilroy says ‘there are no more!!’"
However, four days to go and the fear that the hype would gobble Dublin up doesn’t yet seem to have materialised.
As Pat Gilroy has pointed out in Dublin’s last two media days, people in the county are more considerate about giving the players their space than in previous years.
But the manager himself has done an excellent job himself in controlling matters surrounding the team.
Staging a media day 16 days out from the All-Ireland final might have seemed a little drastic but this was unchartered territory for each and every one of his players.
He wanted to cocoon them as best he could without smothering them. The injured vice-captain Paul Griffin was offered up by Gilroy meaning one less starter had to endure an interview. Talk about taking one for the team.
All media was done and dusted that day. Along with Tomás Ó Sé, Bernard Brogan was set to appear at the launch of the All-Stars the following Wednesday but the plug was pulled on that as were the players’ visits to hospitals.
The last of them was made as a group on the afternoon of that media day last Friday week when they popped into Temple Street to say hello to some of the patients.
As Gilroy explained: “A lot of people were making a lot of requests to do things and they’re very willing guys and they go to hospitals and see sick children but that’s not a place to be the day before you play a match."
Cutting off Dublin as a team from the rest of the world has been necessary but then Gilroy has been doing it with his management team for the last three years.
It’s been the St Vincents man’s voice and his voice alone that we’ve heard at the 8am press conferences and post-match interviews.
Mickey Whelan did do a bit with radio after the semi-final win over Donegal but it was just a morsel.
Gilroy’s club-mate is a brilliant but eccentric coach. He has stories and there are plenty about him such as the fabled one about him once stripping down to his briefs to make a point to his St Vincents players at half-time.
Dr Dave Hickey, a hero of the Hill in the Seventies, is also a fascinating character but he’s hardly given an interview after coming in as Gilroy’s assistant in late 2009.
As for Gilroy’s other selector Paddy O’Donoghue, we haven’t heard a whisper from the Kilmacud Crokes man.
Compare that to Kerry’s press day last Saturday where Ger O’Keeffe, Diarmuid Murphy and Alan O’Sullivan all made themselves available for interview, Donie Buckley the only absentee.
A lot of that comes down to how au fait Kerry are with the build-up to the final and how comfortable they are with it.
Obviously, Dublin are going to make mistakes in their preparations, this being their first final in 16 years.
They are things Gilroy won’t be able to legislate for as well such as nerves and anxieties. But it’s a case of so far, so good. This Dublin team, although it still features Stephen Cluxton, Alan Brogan and Barry Cahill, is far removed from the 2002 one.
Where the faces of Tommy Lyons’ team were known to one and all that crazy summer when the hype went into overdrive, that is not the case now.
The Brogans are household names but there are umpteen players on Gilroy’s team who can walk down O’Connell Street without being recognised. Denis Bastick acknowledged that fact at the media day.
It’s considerably different in Kerry where naturally in a smaller place and having been so successful they are familiar to one and all.
“No question about it, sure everywhere you go you are known,” admitted Jack O’Connor. “But look, it’s not a big deal, people are sensitive enough most of the time, they leave you alone, they realise that you need a bit of privacy.
“But I agree that it’s easier to be anonymous in Dublin.”
Gilroy has done more than his fair share in quelling the hype, though. Where Lyons’ team was about super individual performers, the class of 2011 adopt the system and the ethos that they are cogs in the machine.
Amazingly, he’s got the low-key build-up he wanted. It might be the greatest trick he has ever pulled.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/PFLdGMVBxug/post.aspx
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