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Bernard Brogan of Dublin celebrates scoring the first goal of the game. INPHO/Donall Farmer
Goals Goals Goals

'It doesn't matter who scores, all that matters is that you're a point ahead at the end of the game' - Bernard Brogan

It’s about medals, not individual honours for the Dublin star.

BERNARD BROGAN MAY have bagged two All-Ireland final goals yesterday but he was keen to ensure that his team-mates got just as much credit as he did.

“It’s not about individual stuff. It’s nice to get a score on the scoreboard but it doesn’t matter who scores on the day, all that matters is that you’re a point ahead at the end of the game.

“Obviously it’s nice to get a goal in the All-Ireland final but it’s about winning medals and that’s the second one there, I’ve one more to go to catch my dad, that’s the next one.

“If you’re in the right position, you might get some scores. That’s part and parcel, on any other day someone else would do it but I’m delighted to do my bit for my team.”

That said, the second Dublin goal in particular was something Dublin had worked on in training:

“Thank God it was Denis [Bastick]  in that position, but we said it that the last day we could have got a couple of them against Kerry.

“That’s one of the things we focused on in training over the last few weeks, let it to someone inside, just give it in, because at the end of the day if we win the All-Ireland we’d all have a piece of it.”

St Oliver Plunkett’s forward also spoke at length about kicking on from this win and building a dynasty in the capital.

“Any day you win an All-Ireland is a special day. But there’s a whole new group of lads in there and you just saw how much it meant to them after the final whistle, it’s a special day and hopefully we’ve another couple left in us, please God.

“There are very young lads there – like myself and a few others,” he jokes.

“Ah no, the age profile is very young and the lads who came in and made a difference all year, the Ciaran Kilkennys, the Jack McCaffreys, the Paul Mannions, these lads have been brilliant all year.

“And they’re still very young, people don’t think about that when they’re looking at them, and the pressure they’re under.

“They’re 19 and 20 years of age and have 10 years of football ahead of them, so please God there will be many more All-Irelands.”

It was a tough, physical, encounter but, like many of his colleagues, Brogan thought it was a better game because of that.

“In fairness both teams went toe-to-toe and hit each other very hard, and it was very tense.

“There was nothing given easy and you had to work hard for scores, but that’s what you expect.

“You’ve seen the amount of bruises, black eyes and torn hamstrings, lads were rolling off the field. It was a tough game but that’s what you’re going to get.”

As for Jim Gavin, the 29-year old was full of praise:

“What we tried to do was try and stick to the game plan for the whole game. The game is 80 minutes and just never stray from what we are meant to do, which is working hard and working for each other.

“You saw that today, when it came down to the end, we were still working hard. In fairness to Mayo they came at us and were working hard as well. We just kept pushing and kept pushing and just pulled away in the end and held on.

“It was all about knowing our game plan and sticking to it. Simple as that.”

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