PAT GILROY’S RETURN to the fold with Dublin is a fascinating one, as the Sky Blues plan for 2023.
Dessie Farrell has elected to bring the 2011 All-Ireland winning manager into his backroom team, as the Dubs look to take back the Sam Maguire Cup following successive All-Ireland semi-final defeats.
Gilroy, who was noted as a delegator and a shrewd operator during his four years at the helm between 2009 and 2012, as well as in his one-year spell as the county’s hurling boss, will now operate under Farrell.
“It’s an interesting one,” says former Dublin footballer Paddy Christie.
“You’d wonder if you had a principal of a school, and then he left and came back as a teacher, how would they react to the new principal being in charge? I suppose some people might struggle with that.
“I don’t imagine Pat Gilroy will have that problem, because he’s shown himself to be a very good leader. One thing about good leaders, genuinely good leaders can take criticism and they can take direction from other people. It’s not all about you if you’re in charge. If you’re a principal of a school or a manager of a college team or a county team, you’re working with other people. And your job is to coordinate things, get everyone on the same hymn sheet.
“But you can certainly take guidance from people. You can communicate with people, take criticism sometimes, take guidance. So for me, I think that’s a massive addition for Dublin.
“I think that’s a big coup for Dessie Farrell. And it’s probably needed, because while they were very close to beating Kerry, I’d say he just needed something different, a new voice. There probably isn’t that injection of new players the last couple of years. So if you’re not having that, at least have a new angle of management.”
It remains to be seen what Gilroy’s exact role will be, with Lee Gannon unable to confirm last month when the news broke.
“I don’t know what Pat was like as a manager,” says Christie.
“But from things that I’ve heard him say or people in Vincent’s talking about him, he seems to be an organiser or a delegator, he’s quite thorough in his approach with things and he brings a lot of business management style stuff into football.
“I’m not sure how much of a tactician he is. He was on the Dublin panel when I came in, near the end of [his career]. I wouldn’t have ever really got to know him. But I’m sure he knows his stuff. But I’d say it’s more to do with the overall off-the-pitch stuff.
“Even his connections and his networking that he’d have there. He’d have an awful lot of contacts around the place. He was heavily involved in organising that DCU base where Dublin train, in St Clare’s and I think he put a lot of that in place and did a really good job. Things that he’s involved with, he seems to do very well.”