HE’S KEEN TO avoid comparisons with the late, great Kevin Heffernan but if Dublin manage to win a second successive All-Ireland senior football title on Sunday, Jim Gavin will find it almost impossible.
‘Heffo’s Army’, as his charges were affectionately known, were a force of nature in the 1970s, winning All-Ireland crowns in 1974 and 1976 under his watch, before the great man unexpectedly stepped aside.
Tony Hanahoe was Dublin’s player-manager in 1977 when they retained the Sam Maguire Cup but Heffo returned in 1979 and managed to land the big one again when the ’12 Apostles’ won the 1983 decider against Galway.
In two separate spells at the helm, Heffo presided over three All-Ireland wins but by ten to five on Sunday afternoon, Gavin could have masterminded three in four years.
In the modern era, that’s a quite incredible period of dominance and Gavin has managed to steer Dublin back to another final without two key members of his 2015 defence.
Footballer of the Year Jack McCaffrey opted out after heading to Africa as part of his medical studies at UCD while Rory O’Carroll headed to New Zealand to take up employment.
One-third of an All-Ireland winning defence marked absent this year and yet the transition has been pretty much seamless.
Of course, Gavin has a rich depth of talent at his disposal but making all of the pieces fit in the Dublin jigsaw is still no easy task.
He’s tweaked and tinkered but finally settled on Jonny Cooper in the full-back position, with David Byrne slotting into that pivotal line.
In the half-back division, John Small has stepped up admirably and Dublin are still a solid unit defensively.
Gavin consistently talks about ‘process’, and sticking to it in order to get the job done. Dublin’s players rarely deviate and it consistently delivers that Gavin expects when the process is adhered to – results.
Dublin are unbeaten since March 2015 in competitive fare and under his stewardship, the Sky Blues have landed two All-Ireland titles, four Leinster championships and four Allianz League crowns.
He sharpened his own leadership skills in the military and Gavin, a safety officer with the Irish Aviation Authority, demands the highest standards from those around him.
Invariably, they deliver and ‘self-praise’ are words that simply do not exist in his vocabulary. It’s all about the players but Gavin, clearly, has something special about him.
It’s one thing having a special group of players but another entirely to get them all singing off the same hymn-sheet.
Dublin’s bench is the envy of many but it can’t be a simple job to keep each and every one of them happy. Kevin McManamon, for some time, earned the ‘supersub’ moniker but here was a player clearly itching for a chance to impress from the start.
Whenever he’s been given that chance, McManamon has repaid his manager’s faith and when Dublin beat Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final, Paddy Andrews, Paul Mannion, Eoghan O’Gara and Cormac Costello had to be content with places on the bench – four players who would walk into the vast majority of inter-county teams.
Down the home straight against the Kingdom, Gavin’s demeanour never changed. Displaying little outward emotion, he took on board the information being relayed to him through his earpiece from his backroom team and stayed cool, making the correct decisions under the most intense pressure.
There are many characteristics of great leaders but chief among them are honesty, an ability to delegate (and trust those around you), communication, confidence, commitment, maintaining a positive attitude, creativity, intuition, the ability to inspire and the correct approach to adopt at any given time.
Gavin ticks the boxes. When Dublin lost to Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final two years ago, Gavin examined that defeat and came back with a team capable of beating whatever the opposition could throw at them.
Play an open, expansive game against Dublin, and they’ll outscore you. Operate with a sweeper, and they’ll break you down. When Dublin are presented with problems, Gavin and his players find solutions.
His dealings with the media often leave them frustrated. Journalists look for the juicy quote but rarely get one.
While some Dublin managers in the past have been noted for a brash, extrovert approach, Gavin opts for the opposite. Whatever happens inside the four walls of Dublin’s training camp is all that matters. Externals are for others.
And so he marches forward with his troops for another crack at Sam. Gameplans will have been honed and ready for activation at any given time.
Strategically, he’ll have all angles covered. Mayo’s sergeant major, Stephen Rochford, is pitting his wits against a mind that thinks process, and achieves victory.
It’s a daunting task.
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