LAST UPDATE | 25 Jul 2023

LIKE A WHOLE lot of things during the Covid Pandemic, the experience of winning an All-Ireland had a peculiar feeling.

Not quite sterile, but less than immersive. Like watching everything happen through a screen, or bathing with your socks on.  

And that’s exactly what it looked like to the world when Dublin won the 2020 All-Ireland. Just as it was for the hurling final, the loudest noises in the stadium were from the substitute’s bench, Michael Darragh Macauley’s voice booming and carrying around the stadium, bouncing back off the Cusack Stand.

Dublin got off to an incredible start with Dean Rock’s goal worked from the throw-in becoming the fastest goal in an All-Ireland final. Mayo couldn’t really answer back sufficiently.

The Sam Maguire Cup wasn’t even handed over to Dublin’s custody.

Afterwards, some Dublin players spoke to the media, the good-natured taunts of their team mates that they were ‘sell-outs’ carrying in the December air.

And when it was all done and digested, the new Dublin manager Dessie Farrell didn’t get a scrap of credit. It was characterised as him keeping the wheels between the ditches as they squeezed another All-Ireland out of Jim Gavin’s structures and players.

Speak to Dessie Farrell now as he enters his second All-Ireland final and understandably, he places great value on that triumph of 2020. He doesn’t feel like he ‘missed out’ on anything.

“Not really. Because ultimately, all of this – all the stuff that goes on with it, it’s great and it’s lovely and all of that. But the business at hand is the business at hand. You’re in a competition and you want to win it. That’s what focuses the mind and that’s where everyone gets the ultimate joy and satisfaction from,” he explains.

“Being able to enjoy it is important and that was somewhat muted afterwards. But for me, anyway…I haven’t had that conversation with players…but for me anyway, it didn’t really impact it.

“That was the challenge. We set our stall out at the start of the year to do something and we did it and that gives you the sense of satisfaction.”

Funny thing. Dublin’s record against Kerry in recent times has been pretty formidable bar last year’s semi-final defeat. But the last time they lost an All-Ireland final, Farrell was in the corner, contributing a point in their 1994 defeat to Down.

“Yeah…thanks for reminding me,” he half-jokes to the media.

It sparks a thought though. What is it about the various manifestations of the Dublin teams since 2011 who have been in eight All-Ireland finals and haven’t lost one?  

“They’re a special bunch of players. It’s been interesting this year, because the one thing about these lads – and they’re highly decorated and have done all they’ve done in the game – but appetite is a special ingredient as well,” he explains.

“While there’s a lot spoken about experience and the lads coming back and that type of thing, I think that was the most curious thing for me. The appetite and the innate hunger and desire, particularly from some of the older players.

“To their eternal credit, they’ve shown that in spades. It’s not easy to keep going year after year, going back to the well. Getting ready for pre-season, getting ready for National League games in the depth of winter.

“They managed to keep the show on the road and keep doing what they do. That can’t be easy at his (James McCarthy’s) age or fellas like him. I hold the most admiration for that aspect of it.

“They’re great footballers and everything else. But the ability to continuously motivate yourself to be at your best when it matters most is remarkable.”

Experience, Oscar Wilde said, is the name men give to their mistakes. Farrell’s managerial experience is littered with moments where he and his teams failed to reach the huge expectations.

When the dam bust in 2011, Farrell had been in charge of the minor team that made it to the curtain-raiser. While Pat Gilroy’s seniors beat Kerry, the minors were supposed to have a more straightforward affair against Tipperary.

It didn’t work out like that and Tipp won. Naturally, the inevitable criticism followed.

“That was difficult, for sure. We were at the same banquet as well. I actually reminder, one of the lads who was part of the backroom team, he was an older man. He was a little bit deaf,” he sayd.

“There was a table for the coaches and management team. There was so much noise in the room that night, it was hard to hear the conversations over and back.

“But eventually, for some reason, there was a lull. Somebody was waiting to come up to speak and our man at the top of his voice roared, ‘nobody gives a fuck about the minors!’

“Everyone looked around and said, ‘look at those lads having a little pity party for themselves!’

“But no, that was a different experience for those of who were part of the minors.”

Staying with 2011, and the man to win it for Dublin with that vital free kick was a veteran at that stage. To see Stephen Cluxton’s return to Dublin duty has been to bear witness to one of the greatest GAA stories, though Cluxton would hardly help out in the telling.

Seven consecutive clean sheets later and nobody is disputing the move. All the same, Farrell tells how it came about.

“Evan (Comerford) had taken over the mantle from Stephen. Evan got a serious injury and a significant operation. We just knew we’d need a little bit of cover and Stephen had always said if he could help in any way that he would. When he was called upon, he was only too happy to come back.

“He wasn’t sure himself because knees were at him and this, that and the other. But he was more than willing to give it a blast. And it’s been great to have him around.

“He’s a unique character, as ye’ well know. But there’s some many young fellas in the dressing room now that would never have played with him or experienced him up close and personal.

“Over a pint at some stage, I might pick a few of their brains to see what they actually think. But he’s been great around the place. A breath of fresh air in many ways. He probably thought it was over for him as well. So he’s really enjoying his football and he’s really important to us over the last number of months and particularly as we go into the most important week of the year.”

Once upon a time, Cluxton was asked in a post-match press conference of the movement of the Kerry forwards caused him concern. He replied saying that he wasn’t marking any of them. 

For a man who doesn’t speak often, it was starkly curmudgeonly. But he will certainly be concerned about the Kerry forwards this Sunday, and one David Clifford in particular.

“He’s brilliant. He’s probably the greatest I’ve ever seen,” says Farrell. 

“I actually love watching him play. He’s such a special, unique talent. I tell the kids he reminds me of myself when I played…but I think they know more!”

Reaching for a comparison, he gives up.

“It’s difficult because he can do things nobody else can. He’s a physical specimen and he has a skill set that belies that. He’s just so so unique and he’s such a leader for them as well. He makes them tick.

“We’re under no illusions how difficult that’s going to be. It could keep you up late at night, for sure. I think the challenge for us is to accept that he’s in such a rich vein of form, he’s going to do damage. He’s going to have an impact on the game.

“We’ve just got to accept that. It’s trying to minimise the impact and try and not get over-fixated on him. Because if you do that, you turn the tap off here – it opens the floodgates somewhere else.

“They have some other really good forwards and some backs who are also comfortable in attack, so they can hit you from all different angles. They’ve loads of threat. So I think it’s just about us getting a balance right. Trying to manage him but also keeping an eye on the overall plan so that we’re not overly impacted by a concentration of focus on him.”