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All-Ireland MFC

Farrell delighted to put final heartbreak behind him

The Dublin minor manager expressed his joy at Dublin’s All-Ireland final win over Meath after losing to Tipperary at the same stage last year.

DUBLIN MINOR BOSS Dessie Farrell was glad to put the disappointment of 2011 behind him with yesterday’s All-Ireland final triumph over Meath.

The Dubs faced Tipperary at the same stage last year but suffered a shock collapse and conceded a goal late on as the drought since their last title win at this level, back in 1984, continued.

However, the Leinster champions proved too strong for their provincial rivals at GAA HQ yesterday afternoon – outscoring the Royals by six points during 60 minutes of football.

Farrell won the Sam Maguire with Dublin in 1995 having been beaten by Down the previous year and, after yesterday’s result, he said: ”The joy of victory is not comparable to the depression of defeat.

“They’re two very extreme emotions and thankfully today we came out the right side of them and it worked out well for us.

“It’s hard to say just now. I was thinking about that (how the win compares to one as a player) during the week. As a player you just look after yourself mainly but as a manager you have so many more concerns and there’s a huge emotional investment in it as well. In terms of satisfaction I’d have to rate this a little bit higher.

It’s a long, long time. We’re just happy that we’ve made some sort of contribution and tried to get the conveyor belt of good Dublin footballers moving in the right direction.”

Dublin led from the fifth minute onward but Fiachra Ward blasted home a Meath penalty in the 43rd minute to make it a one-point game. They managed to weather the storm, however, and added a further five points during the final quarter.

“Yeah, absolutely, we knew they were going to come,” Farrell responded when asked about Meath’s second half revival. “They’ve been doing that all year, we knew they’d stay true to the Meath football character and tradition and that’s what they did do. We prepared for that as well.

“We’d spoken about it and thankfully we were able to rally when that onslaught came from Meath late in the game and we came good again.”

Murph’s Sideline Cut: “No arguments – Donegal are our All-Ireland champions.”

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