THE FIRST SUGGESTION that the end may be nigh came shortly after the final whistle.
Dublin had just made GAA history, becoming the first team to win five All-Ireland football Championships in a row thanks to a six point defeat of the old enemy Kerry in a replay on a gorgeous September evening.
It was difficult to know where to look. Bernard Brogan was playing with his twin sons out near the half-way line. Stephen Cluxton was taking his time walking across Hill 16, thanking the supporters who had been watching him stand between the posts for Dublin for 18 years.
Then there was Jim Gavin, the manager who had changed the face of Gaelic football since taking charge of the Dublin senior footballers in late 2012. Gavin, a man who had always been happy to keep a low profile, was typically hard to spot amid the mass of bodies, sharing a quiet moment with his father, Jimmy. It was a strikingly private moment from a manager who had successfully kept an air of mystery around him as his team romped through a period of dominance that may never be repeated.
It was also a moment that sparked murmurs that Gavin was planning his exit, with his father also, unusually, accompanying him in his post-match press conference.
“I’m excited about the future,” Gavin said when quizzed about his desire to remain at the helm of the most successful football team Gaelic games has ever seen, but the media had long learned to take his words with a generous helping of salt.
As recently as Friday, he told reporters he was looking forward to the start of the National League in eight weeks time. Less than 24 hours later he would confirm he was stepping down as manager.
He leaves having won six All-Ireland titles, seven Leinster Championships, and five National Football League titles, but his impact trickles far deeper than medals and awards.
It is not that long ago that the Dublin footballers were associated with being nearly men, at best. They didn’t reach a single All-Ireland final in the years between lifting the Sam Maguire in 1995 and 2011. During that period they remained box-office, but often for the wrong reasons. There was a failed player coup. The highly secretive ‘Blue Book’ was ridiculed when leaked in the late 2000s. Some of the drinking sessions were legendary. Another comprehensive defeat to Kerry in 2009 led Pat Gilroy to famously liken his side to ‘startled earwigs’.
It was under Gilroy, and to a lesser extent Pillar Caffrey before him, where the seeds of success were first sown. Gilroy led Dublin to the promised land in 2011 but they failed to back that up in 2012, with Gilroy’s subsequent departure opening the door for Gavin to step up. They needed someone to take Dublin to the next level, and while Gavin was relatively unknown outside the county he was an obvious choice for the county board.
Gavin had been earning admirers thanks to his work with the county’s U21s, winning All-Ireland titles in 2010 and 2012. With many of those players now stepping up to the senior team, such as Dean Rock, Jonny Cooper, Rory O’Carroll, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion and Ciarán Kilkenny, it made sense to put faith in a manager they loved working with. That group would eventually form the spine of Gavin’s team as they slotted in seamlessly alongside the more established senior stars.
His strong relationship with his players would lay the foundation for what was to come. We have seen time and time again how much power the dressing room can wield in GAA, yet in Gavin’s seven years as manager there were no major reports of disharmony in the Dublin squad.
Players like McCaffrey and O’Carroll won trophies and All Stars, left the panel to work abroad, and then returned without any issues. Diarmuid Connolly went to play in the United States in 2018, didn’t return until the summer of 2019, was fast-tracked back into the team ahead of younger players and still we didn’t hear a peep. At 35 years of age and with newborn twins, Bernard Brogan recovered from an Achilles injury and worked his way back into contention, only to be cut from the panel for this year’s All-Ireland final. Still, after the replay, there appeared to be no ill-feeling as Brogan and Gavin embraced while the forward’s sons played on the grass.
Those that know him well speak of a generous, considerate individual who understands the weight a small gesture can carry.
Like most great managers Gavin has a ruthless edge, and some of his decisions must have left players bitterly disappointed. But even if there were ructions or falling-outs behind the scenes, they never came to light or had any effect on the team’s performance.
Between March 2015 and April 2017, Dublin went a record 36 games unbeaten. This was his team’s golden period, and while Dublin have looked a little more human in recent seasons – with their full-back line coming under particular scrutiny – Gavin has also regenerated his team effectively.
He has brought through talents such as Con O’Callaghan, Brian Howard and Brian Fenton, to name only a few, which allowed the squad to absorb the waning powers of players like Brogan, his brother Alan and Paul Flynn.
He successfully reinvented players like James McCarthy and Ciarán Kilkenny – the prototype Gavin player – to suit the team’s needs.
He also evolved the way his team played the game. The ferocious, attacking side that won All-Irelands in the middle of the decade morphed into a more considered unit, content to play a safer possession based game. Gavin was reportedly rocked by a shock defeat to Donegal in the 2014 Championship – his only defeat in seven Championship seasons – and his team steadily became less adventurous in their approach. A selfless, hard-working player during his own days in the sky blue and navy, it was no surprise that those same characteristics became the hallmarks of his teams.
As a result they effectively became less entertaining to watch. The one-sided games that had blighted the Leinster Championship for so long started to creep further into the summer. Attendances dropped as Dublin became increasingly expected to win knock-out games. The semi-final defeat of Tyrone in 2017 desperately lacked any sort of competitive edge. Only 54,000 turned up for the semi-final win against Galway a year later.
The mammoth funding Dublin receive compared to other counties also ensured they had plenty of detractors, yet there was generally an acceptance that this was a remarkable group of players following the guidance of a remarkable leader. All that money is worth nothing if you don’t have the right people calling the shots.
Maybe it is the right time to go. Gavin has lost a number of leaders in recent years and there is just as many teetering towards the exit door. This is a squad that will look very different in two years time.
When the dust settles Gavin’s team will be remembered for the great games they won against great opponents on their way to that historic five in a row. Their battles with Mayo marked the decade. They needed two attempts to get past Stephen Rochford’s side in 2016, and played out an equally breathless decider against the same opponents 12 months later. On both occasions Dublin survived by a point. A team once famed for their hollow centre had become hardened winners who lived for the pressure on the biggest stage. In his seven years in charge, Dublin won as many All-Irelands as they had in the previous 38.
He leaves the best team in the country behind him, but nobody will be expected to match his achievements.
That is Gavin’s legacy.
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