MARK TWAIN ONCE reckoned the two most important days in a person’s life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Provided Twain or Cormac Costello do not take offence, that nugget of wisdom might be easily adapted to the latter’s inter-county football career, as in the day he was picked, and the day both he and Dublin found out why.
It is easy to put a date on one: In what has been a recurring narrative, he made his championship debut – 29 of his 62 championship appearances have been as a sub – coming from the bench in a Leinster quarter-final against Westmeath in 2013.
The other? Well, perhaps that day is now.
That might seem an odd observation to make about one of the most decorated winners in the history of the game, pockets weighed down with eight All-Ireland medals, a figure only matched on the current Dublin panel by Ciarán Kilkenny.
Yet we hardly think of them as two peas in a pod.
That pair, along with John Small, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, David Byrne and Niall Scully, were part of the most productive minor team that ever lost an All-Ireland final in 2011, but while their careers tracked, their roles diverged.
Kilkenny became a mainstay in a decade of unprecedented Dublin dominance, Costello’s presence serving largely to underline that behind every great team is a great bench.
Inevitably, now that the sun has set on that epoch, curiosity is centred on what continues to drive those who have seen it all, not just bought the T-shirt but the whole damn shop.
Costello preparing to be introduced as a substitute in the 2016 All-Ireland final replay. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
The likes of Scully, David Byrne, Brian Howard, Paddy Small and, of course, Con O’Callaghan are also long-standing members of the serial-winning championship club, and their desire to keep on keeping on is a reminder that counting is only fun for accountants.
With Costello, though, there is no sense of mystery as to what might be driving him, other than that he finally gets the opportunity to become the main man on a Dublin team challenging for the Sam Maguire.
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Since he joined the squad, Dublin have reached 10 All-Ireland finals, including replays, but he has started in just one, their last in 2023.
That stat should not be taken as a reductive measure of his ability, but as a reminder of the obstacles he faced in breaking into the most successful team in history and with a body that, at critical times, broke down.
If you want a sense of the former, in his first four appearances the players he replaced in chronological order were Bernard Brogan, Alan Brogan, Dean Rock and Paul Mannion.
As roster queues go, that is one which invites coming armed with a packed lunch and a hot flask.
Close your eyes and scour Costello’s highlights reel and there are two contrasting moments in time, both in All-Ireland finals, that stand out.
The 2016 replay against Mayo, coming on 14 minutes from the end, kicking three points to become the final’s top scorer from play, while delivering a one-point win.
12 months later, with time almost up, the final descends into a masterclass in the dark arts. Everyone remembers Lee Keegan hurling his GPS unit at Dean Rock as he runs up to kick the winning free, fewer might recall at the same time Costello was picking up David Clarke’s kicking tee on the 13-metre line and throwing it away, while following up to kick away the back-up tees at both goal posts.
It delayed Clarke’s kick-out, and muddled the Mayo goalkeeper’s radar sufficiently that it would eventually drift harmlessly over the sideline.
It invited the usual social media rage, but, in another way, it was hard not to be impressed with the smarts of a player who possesses a ruthless edge.
Celebrating 2017 success with Jack McCaffrey. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
He has just not had the opportunity to showcase that as would have been envisaged when he was a star underage player – he played dual county minor, getting across the line as an All-Ireland minor football winner in 2012 – and quickly made the step-up.
In some ways, if Dublin’s semi-final defeat to Donegal in 2014 was the biggest lesson Jim Gavin ever absorbed, no one arguably paid a bigger price than Costello.
That was his first championship start and five years would pass before he would do so again – albeit in 2018 he lined out against Roscommon, but that was a dead rubber Super 8 game which only served to reaffirm his reserve status.
In truth, that was not because he was the fall guy for that defeat, but circumstances were not his friend, and certainly not a troublesome hamstring which wiped out 2017.
Dessie Farrell’s accession to the Dublin hot-seat (Costello also won an All-Ireland under-21 medal under him in 2014 to go with the minor) allied to the eventual break-up of Gavin’s great side always meant that the window of opportunity would open a little wider as time went by.
That has been the case, he has, fitness permitting, been pretty much an automatic first choice over the past five seasons, but that chance has come as Dublin have gone from being the hunted to one of many hunters.
And, of course, the clock ticks ever louder for the Whitehall Colmcille’s man, who will celebrate his 32nd birthday before the summer’s end.
This feels like a time to seize his moment, but perhaps that need has always been there given that, in a very different way, his father, John, cast a huge shadow as the one-time chief executive of the Dublin board, a role in which he was acclaimed as the architect of the Blue Wave that for more than a decade washed over the whole game.
In reality, that was never an issue for his son, but chiselling out an identity as a player who can be leaned on to take a heavy load has.
Costello in full flow in the Leinster semi-final win over Louth. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
His talent is beyond question, a quality two-footed ball kicker with a nose for goal – none more exquisitely finished than his wonder strike that threatened to flip the 2022 semi-final against Kerry – all that is truly missing from his CV is a season where he was the player who led the rest from the front.
With O’Callaghan’s fitness fragile at best, that weight – even allowing for Small’s scintillating form – of expectation is now on his shoulders.
Last time out against Louth, much was rightly made of how Dublin’s manic work ethic and intensity paved the way for a victory that, in the run-up, many struggled to envisage.
But all that effort needed to be translated on the scoreboard and that is where Costello took care of business, at one stage stitching six points in a row in a personal tally of 0-10, half of which came from play.
That was the kind of performance which suggested that Costello knows the day has come to show just why he can be the player he was born to be.
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Cormac Costello finally has the opportunity to be Dublin's main man
MARK TWAIN ONCE reckoned the two most important days in a person’s life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Provided Twain or Cormac Costello do not take offence, that nugget of wisdom might be easily adapted to the latter’s inter-county football career, as in the day he was picked, and the day both he and Dublin found out why.
It is easy to put a date on one: In what has been a recurring narrative, he made his championship debut – 29 of his 62 championship appearances have been as a sub – coming from the bench in a Leinster quarter-final against Westmeath in 2013.
The other? Well, perhaps that day is now.
That might seem an odd observation to make about one of the most decorated winners in the history of the game, pockets weighed down with eight All-Ireland medals, a figure only matched on the current Dublin panel by Ciarán Kilkenny.
Yet we hardly think of them as two peas in a pod.
That pair, along with John Small, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, David Byrne and Niall Scully, were part of the most productive minor team that ever lost an All-Ireland final in 2011, but while their careers tracked, their roles diverged.
Kilkenny became a mainstay in a decade of unprecedented Dublin dominance, Costello’s presence serving largely to underline that behind every great team is a great bench.
Inevitably, now that the sun has set on that epoch, curiosity is centred on what continues to drive those who have seen it all, not just bought the T-shirt but the whole damn shop.
The likes of Scully, David Byrne, Brian Howard, Paddy Small and, of course, Con O’Callaghan are also long-standing members of the serial-winning championship club, and their desire to keep on keeping on is a reminder that counting is only fun for accountants.
With Costello, though, there is no sense of mystery as to what might be driving him, other than that he finally gets the opportunity to become the main man on a Dublin team challenging for the Sam Maguire.
Since he joined the squad, Dublin have reached 10 All-Ireland finals, including replays, but he has started in just one, their last in 2023.
That stat should not be taken as a reductive measure of his ability, but as a reminder of the obstacles he faced in breaking into the most successful team in history and with a body that, at critical times, broke down.
If you want a sense of the former, in his first four appearances the players he replaced in chronological order were Bernard Brogan, Alan Brogan, Dean Rock and Paul Mannion.
As roster queues go, that is one which invites coming armed with a packed lunch and a hot flask.
Close your eyes and scour Costello’s highlights reel and there are two contrasting moments in time, both in All-Ireland finals, that stand out.
The 2016 replay against Mayo, coming on 14 minutes from the end, kicking three points to become the final’s top scorer from play, while delivering a one-point win.
12 months later, with time almost up, the final descends into a masterclass in the dark arts. Everyone remembers Lee Keegan hurling his GPS unit at Dean Rock as he runs up to kick the winning free, fewer might recall at the same time Costello was picking up David Clarke’s kicking tee on the 13-metre line and throwing it away, while following up to kick away the back-up tees at both goal posts.
It delayed Clarke’s kick-out, and muddled the Mayo goalkeeper’s radar sufficiently that it would eventually drift harmlessly over the sideline.
It invited the usual social media rage, but, in another way, it was hard not to be impressed with the smarts of a player who possesses a ruthless edge.
He has just not had the opportunity to showcase that as would have been envisaged when he was a star underage player – he played dual county minor, getting across the line as an All-Ireland minor football winner in 2012 – and quickly made the step-up.
In some ways, if Dublin’s semi-final defeat to Donegal in 2014 was the biggest lesson Jim Gavin ever absorbed, no one arguably paid a bigger price than Costello.
That was his first championship start and five years would pass before he would do so again – albeit in 2018 he lined out against Roscommon, but that was a dead rubber Super 8 game which only served to reaffirm his reserve status.
In truth, that was not because he was the fall guy for that defeat, but circumstances were not his friend, and certainly not a troublesome hamstring which wiped out 2017.
Dessie Farrell’s accession to the Dublin hot-seat (Costello also won an All-Ireland under-21 medal under him in 2014 to go with the minor) allied to the eventual break-up of Gavin’s great side always meant that the window of opportunity would open a little wider as time went by.
That has been the case, he has, fitness permitting, been pretty much an automatic first choice over the past five seasons, but that chance has come as Dublin have gone from being the hunted to one of many hunters.
And, of course, the clock ticks ever louder for the Whitehall Colmcille’s man, who will celebrate his 32nd birthday before the summer’s end.
This feels like a time to seize his moment, but perhaps that need has always been there given that, in a very different way, his father, John, cast a huge shadow as the one-time chief executive of the Dublin board, a role in which he was acclaimed as the architect of the Blue Wave that for more than a decade washed over the whole game.
In reality, that was never an issue for his son, but chiselling out an identity as a player who can be leaned on to take a heavy load has.
His talent is beyond question, a quality two-footed ball kicker with a nose for goal – none more exquisitely finished than his wonder strike that threatened to flip the 2022 semi-final against Kerry – all that is truly missing from his CV is a season where he was the player who led the rest from the front.
With O’Callaghan’s fitness fragile at best, that weight – even allowing for Small’s scintillating form – of expectation is now on his shoulders.
Last time out against Louth, much was rightly made of how Dublin’s manic work ethic and intensity paved the way for a victory that, in the run-up, many struggled to envisage.
But all that effort needed to be translated on the scoreboard and that is where Costello took care of business, at one stage stitching six points in a row in a personal tally of 0-10, half of which came from play.
That was the kind of performance which suggested that Costello knows the day has come to show just why he can be the player he was born to be.
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