THE JACKS ARE back.
Back in an All-Ireland final, at any rate. The team that were almost a permanent fixture on the big day have gone two years without their colours on a lug of Sam Maguire. And to look at Dessie Farrell, he couldn’t be happier.
Of course we joke. Dessie likes to play it down. No beaming smiles for now. But satisfied.
“Yeah, of course it is. You set your stall out at the start of the year and that’s where you hope to be,” he began.
“A lot of our players have been through it before and know what it’s about. But I think there are over 20 lads in the squad at the minute who have never been in an All-Ireland final, or they’ve been abroad in the last year or two years.
“An All-Ireland final is a very new experience for them. It’s very exciting for those lads, of course. And I’m sure the senior guys are happy to have a taste of it again.”
Dublin started the year in Division Two football and with a new selector in Pat Gilroy. Soon, all the old gang assembled. Some are a little careworn. Some have gifts that have diminished with time, but have discovered other sides to them.
Here, Stephen Cluxton almost threw a shot dropped short by Conor McManus into his own net. It would have been a seismic moment. You wondered for a second of the Parnells man’s powers were on the wane. And then the game ends and you realise he’s after keeping his seventh consecutive clean sheet.
“Obviously if you’re not conceding goals it’s huge,” deadpans Farrell.
“Particularly in tight games where the scoring isn’t that free-flowing. A goal makes a big, big difference. It gave us a bit of daylight, albeit very much at the end. It’s significant to be able to keep a clean sheet in tight games like that.”
As for Monaghan, Farrell was cautious coming into this semi-final.
“I’ve never seen an improvement in a team like it in my time being involved in management,” he generously noted.
“I know they had some poor performances earlier but the adjustments they made all the way through, very, very cohesive, everyone really comfortable with the game plan.
“They use their goalkeeper Rory Beggan really well in trying to create overloads and mismatches and you have to be so careful in how you set up against that because they can expose you at the front of your defensive line through those overloads and mismatches but if you press up and push too hard they can pick you apart in behind as well so they brought all of that and we knew that.
“We’re ultimately just very happy to get over it. We didn’t play particularly well, I think it was a nervy performance from us, a semi-final type performance if you like but ultimately showed enough composure and had a good last 10 or 15 minutes and it saw us over the line.”
The experience running through the Dublin team was the key. It’s what the old heads came back for.
“Yeah, exactly. I’m sure a lot of people, including myself, were wondering whether it was going to happen or not with ten minutes to go,” said Farrell.
“We backed ourselves if we were in that position that having those types of players on the pitch at that stage would be a huge help. It proved to be the case today. On another day it may not because those senior lads are a little bit older and you never know, every game takes on a life of its own. But today it definitely worked for us.”
What does experience bring?
“You can’t coach it. You can’t give it to young fellas. They’re brilliant and they’re full of energy. They want to be involved and they want to be part of it. But there are certain things that life experience teaches you. How to close out big games like that is one of them. We’re fortunate to have that type of experience and depth in the squad.”
