LAST UPDATE | 30 Jul 2023

JAMES McCARTHY, DUBLIN’s winning captain, said he’s not sure if today will be his last time in blue, but if it marks the end of one of the game’s great careers then it is a “truly special” way to bow out. 

An emotional McCarthy, winning a ninth All-Ireland medal, said he will reflect over the coming months on whether he will return for another season with the Dubs.   

“It’s a huge honour like,” he said of wearing the blue of Dublin to RTÉ’s Damian Lawlor after the game, which Dublin won by two points. 

“Maybe it’s my last time. I’m not sure I’ll need to reflect over the next couple of months, but if it is, yeah, this was truly special. This place is special, Croke Park, you know, it’s an amazing place to play sport.”  

The Ballymun Kickhams man said the team were determined to make up for the past two seasons, when Dublin did not progress past the semi-final stage.

“We had to fight hard for that,” he said. “It was a tough two years. And it was only to do with the players, nothing to do with management. We were disappointed in the way we handled ourselves the last two years, very disappointed that we lost two semi-finals but, I don’t know, there was something different in the air this year. 

Nine-time All-Ireland winner James McCarthy said something felt different compared to the last "tough two years". pic.twitter.com/W7dMyvFYF6

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 30, 2023

“We got together, we worked hard and we went for it. We went for it in every game, that was the most important thing. When it came to the crunch, players stood up. Cian Murphy who came on today, he won a few huge kickouts, we needed everyone to get us over the line today. That was special, yeah.”  

Courage was key to the narrow victory, according to McCarthy. 

“It wasn’t pretty, like, there was a lot of spilled ball but we tackled hard and we put our bodies on the line. Just working for each other. Teamplay, double-up on guys, throwing your body on the ground. Just a bit of bravery and courage got us over the line today.”  

Meanwhile manager Dessie Farrell said it wasn’t difficult to persuade veterans such as Stephen Cluxton, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion to rejoin Dublin’s panel this year. 

Farrell said the game could not have gone much better for Dublin.  

“They showed great character today,” Farrell said of his side. “They stood up to the test when it counted. They’re all that type of men. They’ll always respond.”  

Asked about his returning, experienced players, Farrell said: “They love playing football, they love Dublin, it wasn’t difficult. Just once they were ready, and they were this season thankfully, and definitely it was a huge amount of experience on a day like this. 

“It definitely added something significant to our overall game plan today. It probably couldn’t have gone much better than we had scripted it. We knew the bench was going to be important and to get some of those senior guys in at the end was really important.”  

Farrell said disappointments such as last year’s loss to Kerry in the semi-final and relegation to Division 2 were overcome this year as a result of patience and timing.  

“This was never a sprint, it was always a marathon,” he said. “It was about timing and getting the timing right. It’s never an exact science and all you can do is trust your gut and we went with that all season long and thankfully it worked out for us.”