DUBLIN’S ALL-IRELAND victory provides a well-needed boost for everyone in the city according to Dr. David Hickey.
“Ireland is going through a tough patch at the moment and I think Dublin winning, and I’m sure Mayo would feel the same, but for the inner city Dublin kids to have this crowd of guys doing their stuff here is fantastic.”
Having won three All-Irelands as a half forward in the 1970s, being involved as a selector in the 2011 victory and acting as the team doctor on Sunday, Hickey is in a unique position to contextualize the narrow win over Mayo.
Following Dublin’s 2011 All-Ireland success, Hickey claimed that team was better than the side he helped to three titles. He’s not as certain about the 2013 vintage, claiming that there are improvements still to be made.
“I thought in 2011 that they were better than us. That [the final] has really only enforced it. This is a team in evolution. This is not the finished product by any means. We still can’t put one-on-ones away with the keeper. We don’t slow down and that’s the thing we need to work on next year.
“Michael Darragh [Macauley] and Eoghan [O'Gara] had one-on-ones with the keeper yesterday that could have ended the game and they still didn’t take them. Against Cork, we had 10 good goal chances and didn’t convert any of them. They are going to be around for a long time competing, not necessarily winning. They’re going to be the team to beat.”
So does Hickey think the younger players in this Dublin team have the mettle to keep winning for the next decade?
“When the hunger goes out of the thing, I mean, I can’t understand people wanting to win 10 All-Irelands. The Kilkenny guys keep coming back every year because they obviously have a huge level of skill and expertise but competitive Gaelic football, the skill level is pretty standard. It’s the drive.
“No one has won back to back All-Irelands because of that. It is the drive, and the anger and the hunger to do it. I’m not saying we are going to win for 10 years but I think Dublin are in a position now to compete in the last four for the next 10 years.”
Maintaining the passion will be the key for Dublin football over the next few years, as success is so often followed by a decline in motivation and desire. Hickey’s own playing generation managed to win All-Irelands in ’74, ’76 and ’77. He says there was a simple reason they always came back for more.
“Well, there was nothing else to do in our day. Nothing. There was no drink, no women and no money so football was the only game in town.”
In a personal capacity, Hickey’s contribution to this year’s success has been very different to his role as a selector in 2011. Asked if Jim Gavin still bounces ideas off him, Hickey laughs and says, “He would and discard them!”
After being so centrally involved in the decision-making processes in 2011, Hickey acknowledges that his role this season has been less important to the outcome of the results.
“There’s no comparison. It’s a totally different job. I was doctor to the Dublin team in 1983 when we had those games with you guys [Cork]. I’ve never been a doctor to a losing Dublin team – I’ve only done it twice. I look after the injuries but I’ve no influence in the team selection.”
Looking back on Sunday’s final, Hickey doesn’t agree that it was a vicious game.
“There wasn’t a dirty blow in it, I would say. Every ball was contested as if people’s lives depended on it. Diarmuid Connolly got away a few times but a hand always got in and knocked the ball away and that happened all over the field against both sides, which I suppose for people who wanted a spectacle of flowing football wasn’t great.
“But for anyone who understands competitive, intense sport that was a classic. The atmosphere, the electricity, the commitment of both teams. In some ways, All-Ireland finals should be judged on the field and if it reaches a certain standard both teams should get gold medals.”
Many commentators have picked out Dublin’s semi-final win over Kerry as the game of the season, but Hickey says there were other wins that will live equally as long in his memory.
“The game this year that I thought was our biggest win was Cork. I thought it was a significant win. That Cork team are always a big scalp to get and we were very happy with our performance that day. Kerry obviously was special in many ways and Sunday was a war of attrition.
“We survived by the skin of our teeth and it’s great credit to the courage, commitment, guts and determination and all the values that people don’t often associate with Dublin teams.”
