32,230 is enough of a crowd to generate an atmosphere.
It’s well behind the 81,500 that attended the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Donegal though.
So when Dublin flipped the odds and pulled off a win baked in character and graft on Sunday, you wondered if this was the kind of win that makes a dormant Dublin public fall in love with their footballers again.
They're back. Laszlo Geczo
Laszlo Geczo
There is no doubt that this crew are a bit more, well, blue collar than the pleasure boys of a decade ago.
The team of Dermo, pretty boy Cian O’Sullivan, the Brogans, Flynner and Clucko were matinée idols, as at home on Croke Park as accompanying your Nadia Fordes at product launches on Grafton Street. All sharp haircuts, sharper shaves and performative #humbleness.
Jim Gavin’s crew didn’t so much play matches as deliver performances in front of full houses. Sometimes their excellence could feel almost mundane, but the main thing is they would win and that feeling could be reflected in the fan base for a few fleeting hours.
And, ye know, the gargle was good too.
Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
The Dubs’ latest crop is waiting to flower. There’d be a gauche element to them. They’d turn up at your house as tradesmen and deliver a solid job for a fair price.
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But they might also leave the guest en suite toilet in a terrible state of chassis.
Forget about ‘See yiz in Coppers’. This crew might more likely bump into you at The Ploughing.
They are solid lads. They earn their pay by the sweat on their brow.
For those reasons, they deserve four wheels attached to the bandwagon and to pick up a few more strays for what should be a full house in Croke Park on Sunday when they face Galway. We all love a bit of rough.
Thinking back to the game on Sunday, it was the sort of day on which you could write 10 different match reports and still feel you missed out on some critical details, so forgive us for unloading them here.
The Corduff Connection, for starters. It had been mentioned here and there but it’s surprising nonetheless how Martin McNally was able to referee this game, given he is a member of the same club – Corduff Gaels – as Jason McGee.
After all, a lot was made of David Gough officiating Dublin games given his connections and residence in the capital.
What soon disabuses people of these notions is some decisive refereeing. Gough sending off Jonny Cooper in an All-Ireland final was bold and correct, and McNally identifying McGee as one of the four players that required a black card at the start of extra-time showed his mettle.
While we are on the black cards, we caught a glimpse of the future.
Ye bowsy, Ye culchie etc: Dublin and Donegal get close. Laszlo Geczo
Laszlo Geczo
It left the two teams playing 13-a-side. Anyone who grew up playing for rural clubs that could just about scrape a 13-a-side team, competing with a 13-year-old at corner back, will remember the vast space that afforded. The first item for the next Football Review Committee has to be the evolution towards 13-a-side.
Loads of space meant loads of chance to get a kick pass away. It meant bouncing a ball in front of a forward.
There is chat this suited Dublin better, that the absence of Michael Murphy and Jason McGee harmed Donegal for kickouts. But Murphy and McGee were hardly functioning in that area, while Dublin’s black-carded duo of Theo Clancy and Niall Scully were among their stronger performers.
You could not deny Dublin’s appetite for this, just as you couldn’t hide Donegal’s lethargy.
Let’s just screech the tyres here and express mild surprise that Jim McGuinness claims there is no training going on between games.
After the league final on 29 March, Donegal had four weeks together before playing and losing to Down.
They then had four weeks to get ready for Kerry – a game they won handsomely after flying down.
Before meeting Cork, they had three weeks to get ready for a home game.
And then eight days before facing Dublin.
If fatigue is an actual issue, then taking off four players and sending them back on again is a howler of a mistake.
It is fair to say that most of the Donegal bench are not renowned players, but if you were Jamie Brennan, who has been playing for Donegal as far back as the minor team that lost the All Ireland final in 2014, you’d imagine the form for a return to train in Convoy in the depths of October might not be keen.
But here, we come here to praise Dublin and not bury Donegal. (Well, maybe a little.)
Back to Dublin.
The week before, we were in Breffni Park. And we expressed our bemusement that despite having the totemic Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne in midfield, goalkeeper Evan Comerford did not aim a kickout at him.
Not one.
Which is odd, because Ó Cofaigh Byrne is a good player – hugely effective in the All-Ireland club final when Cuala dominated Errigal Ciaran.
But if you aren’t going to use him as a kickout target, then you hardly expect him to be standing at centre three-quarters and spraying passes like Andrea Pirlo.
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All the same, there he was at the end of extra-time, wrestling past his man and executing a deft fist-pass over the bar to add the insurance score to Dublin’s tally.
These lads are manual workers. They had calloused hands. They are no stranger to buttering up a few sandwiches, firing them in the biscuit tin and securing it with a sewage band before they head out to defrost the Transit windscreen. They like pints, not Pinot Noir. And they can handle themselves in a scrap.
Michael Murphy with the last kick of the game sends it to extra-time followed by some unsavoury scenes afterwards
They bring great colour. The wit on the Hill is unparalleled. They have even managed to sneak a cow bell onto the terrace to interrupt the oppositions’ attacks. Surely this creativity requires recognition?
There might even be a case to be made that instead of splitting Dublin in two, they could actually annex parts of neighbouring counties. Let’s start with the small hamlets and crossroads of Bray, Naas and Ashbourne. For now.
This might sound outlandish, but at least it’s a totally original point: it would be great for the GAA if Greater Dublin won an All-Ireland title.
The Jacks are back. But with three games in three weeks, and King Con hamstrung, not for long.
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The Dubs set to get that lovin' feelin' back
LET’S GET RIGHT down to it.
32,230 is enough of a crowd to generate an atmosphere.
It’s well behind the 81,500 that attended the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Donegal though.
So when Dublin flipped the odds and pulled off a win baked in character and graft on Sunday, you wondered if this was the kind of win that makes a dormant Dublin public fall in love with their footballers again.
There is no doubt that this crew are a bit more, well, blue collar than the pleasure boys of a decade ago.
The team of Dermo, pretty boy Cian O’Sullivan, the Brogans, Flynner and Clucko were matinée idols, as at home on Croke Park as accompanying your Nadia Fordes at product launches on Grafton Street. All sharp haircuts, sharper shaves and performative #humbleness.
Jim Gavin’s crew didn’t so much play matches as deliver performances in front of full houses. Sometimes their excellence could feel almost mundane, but the main thing is they would win and that feeling could be reflected in the fan base for a few fleeting hours.
And, ye know, the gargle was good too.
The Dubs’ latest crop is waiting to flower. There’d be a gauche element to them. They’d turn up at your house as tradesmen and deliver a solid job for a fair price.
But they might also leave the guest en suite toilet in a terrible state of chassis.
Forget about ‘See yiz in Coppers’. This crew might more likely bump into you at The Ploughing.
They are solid lads. They earn their pay by the sweat on their brow.
For those reasons, they deserve four wheels attached to the bandwagon and to pick up a few more strays for what should be a full house in Croke Park on Sunday when they face Galway. We all love a bit of rough.
Thinking back to the game on Sunday, it was the sort of day on which you could write 10 different match reports and still feel you missed out on some critical details, so forgive us for unloading them here.
The Corduff Connection, for starters. It had been mentioned here and there but it’s surprising nonetheless how Martin McNally was able to referee this game, given he is a member of the same club – Corduff Gaels – as Jason McGee.
After all, a lot was made of David Gough officiating Dublin games given his connections and residence in the capital.
What soon disabuses people of these notions is some decisive refereeing. Gough sending off Jonny Cooper in an All-Ireland final was bold and correct, and McNally identifying McGee as one of the four players that required a black card at the start of extra-time showed his mettle.
While we are on the black cards, we caught a glimpse of the future.
It left the two teams playing 13-a-side. Anyone who grew up playing for rural clubs that could just about scrape a 13-a-side team, competing with a 13-year-old at corner back, will remember the vast space that afforded. The first item for the next Football Review Committee has to be the evolution towards 13-a-side.
Loads of space meant loads of chance to get a kick pass away. It meant bouncing a ball in front of a forward.
There is chat this suited Dublin better, that the absence of Michael Murphy and Jason McGee harmed Donegal for kickouts. But Murphy and McGee were hardly functioning in that area, while Dublin’s black-carded duo of Theo Clancy and Niall Scully were among their stronger performers.
You could not deny Dublin’s appetite for this, just as you couldn’t hide Donegal’s lethargy.
Let’s just screech the tyres here and express mild surprise that Jim McGuinness claims there is no training going on between games.
After the league final on 29 March, Donegal had four weeks together before playing and losing to Down.
They then had four weeks to get ready for Kerry – a game they won handsomely after flying down.
Before meeting Cork, they had three weeks to get ready for a home game.
And then eight days before facing Dublin.
It is fair to say that most of the Donegal bench are not renowned players, but if you were Jamie Brennan, who has been playing for Donegal as far back as the minor team that lost the All Ireland final in 2014, you’d imagine the form for a return to train in Convoy in the depths of October might not be keen.
But here, we come here to praise Dublin and not bury Donegal. (Well, maybe a little.)
Back to Dublin.
The week before, we were in Breffni Park. And we expressed our bemusement that despite having the totemic Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne in midfield, goalkeeper Evan Comerford did not aim a kickout at him.
Not one.
Which is odd, because Ó Cofaigh Byrne is a good player – hugely effective in the All-Ireland club final when Cuala dominated Errigal Ciaran.
But if you aren’t going to use him as a kickout target, then you hardly expect him to be standing at centre three-quarters and spraying passes like Andrea Pirlo.
All the same, there he was at the end of extra-time, wrestling past his man and executing a deft fist-pass over the bar to add the insurance score to Dublin’s tally.
These lads are manual workers. They had calloused hands. They are no stranger to buttering up a few sandwiches, firing them in the biscuit tin and securing it with a sewage band before they head out to defrost the Transit windscreen. They like pints, not Pinot Noir. And they can handle themselves in a scrap.
For that, they deserve the love from the capital.
They bring great colour. The wit on the Hill is unparalleled. They have even managed to sneak a cow bell onto the terrace to interrupt the oppositions’ attacks. Surely this creativity requires recognition?
There might even be a case to be made that instead of splitting Dublin in two, they could actually annex parts of neighbouring counties. Let’s start with the small hamlets and crossroads of Bray, Naas and Ashbourne. For now.
This might sound outlandish, but at least it’s a totally original point: it would be great for the GAA if Greater Dublin won an All-Ireland title.
The Jacks are back. But with three games in three weeks, and King Con hamstrung, not for long.
**
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