STARED DOWN BY a baying Hill, James O’Donoghue needed ice in his veins to send Stephen Cluxton the wrong way and convert his penalty for Kerry’s third goal.
In all probability, O’Donoghue was only the second coolest person in the frantic start to last month’s semi-final humdinger.
Dublin manager Jim Gavin, you sense, was as calm as ever.
The end of that story is well known at this stage. Blitzed in the opening minutes and trailing by five points early on, the Dubs never panicked and gradually reeled in their arch rivals before blowing them away in a barnstorming finish.
The prize? A place in Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Mayo and the chance for Gavin to bring Sam back home again in his first season as senior manager.
If Dublin are nerveless under pressure, it is because they are made in their manager’s mould. Any question, no matter how tricky, can be dealt with by a deep breath and a considered response.
It doesn’t always make for explosive headlines or back-page splashes but if you consider that dull, Gavin would proudly wear it as a badge of honour.
Besides his team more than make up for it by dialling up the excitement and drama where it matters: on the pitch.
“There’s an expectation there in Dublin right from the underage to the senior level,” Gavin says as he considers the pressure of his first season.
So far, so unflappable.
Every time a Dublin team takes to the field, they’re expected to win.I’ve grown up with that expectation and I’m used to it.There’s an expectation for the players to perform and for Dublin to play to a certain philosophy. With the U21s we had success with our three years when we were with the players and the other three years we didn’t but we always held true to those philosophies.
Did he expect to be sitting here in the week of an All-Ireland final?
“There’s an expectation for every Dublin manager to win a game and that’s the philosophy that we’ve taken. We’ve gone from game to game. We’ve never looked beyond any game we play.
“Our sights were firmly fixed on Kerry and in the dressing-room after we set our sights on Mayo. Whether that brings us success, we don’t know but that’s the approach we’ll take.”
Again, unflappable.
The semi-final against Kerry, capped by Dublin’s blistering 2-2 in the final five minutes, was instantly inducted into the football hall of fame, no questions asked. Dublin’s All-Ireland credentials were finally subjected to a rigorous test and they came out on the other side with issues to address, sure, but with an ominous message for their opponents: pressure alone won’t be enough to make this side wilt.
“From the very first O’Byrne Cup game, we’ve given the players this framework to play in,” Gavin says on their ‘you score three, we’ll score four’ style and its dangers.
“Obviously there’s a tactical element to your defence and to your attack. But we’ve always told the players to play with freedom and express themselves.
Games ebb and flow, whether you’re up at half-time or not doesn’t mean much to us. The game lasts 70 minutes. We’ve been quite consistent in that.
Sunday will be no different.
“Whether we need to be on the pitch an hour beforehand or five minutes beforehand, that’s what we do. We’re given a timetable well in advance from Croke Park. We set out our stall as we’ve always done. We prepare as diligently as we can.”
