DUBLIN GAA CHIEF John Costello has hit out at criticism aimed at Jim Gavin and his All-Ireland winning squad after last September’s triumph.
Costello has released his annual report ahead of next Monday’s Dublin GAA convention and has launched a staunch defence of the squad that completed a three-in-a-row of Sam Maguire triumphs.
In particular Costello has taken aim at ‘some of the issues and inaccuracies’ that he feels arose after the victory over Mayo and the fact that manager Jim Gavin ‘was the target on several occasions’.
“In the aftermath of our brilliant three in-a-row All-Ireland SFC success this year there was commentary from some quarters – I repeat some quarters – which I can’t let go unchallenged.
“Dublin teams, especially senior football ones, are well used to the cut and thrust of media analysis and scrutiny, successful ones even more so! It was there in the 1970s, there was a tsumani of vitriol after the 12 men of Dublin defeated Galway in 1983, and the current panel and management seem to be ‘fair game’ now in some eyes.
“A quick spin through this type of ‘commentary’ post this year’s decider against Mayo goes something like this – full-time whistle sounds; Stephen Cluxton lifts Sam; split Dublin in two, actually make that four; these conceited Dubs might be liked by some but they’ll never be loved; these unpatriotic Dubs they should be forced to surrender the GPO!
“Some of the ‘rhetoric’ was in fact so puerile it was like a collaboration between Roger
Hargreaves, the author of the Mr Men series of books, and the writers of that timeless classic, The Magic Roundabout!
“There used by a perennial column written in some publication about the dangers of the ‘Cult of the Manager’ maybe some commentators should examine the ‘Cult of Me’ which seems very much in vogue with some of them.
“For example have a go at the Dubs, then sit back, get invited as a paid guest onto various radio shows etc – kerching, cha-ching, cha-ching, kerching!
“I’ll try to outline, in no particular running order, some of the issues and inaccuracies.
We’ve been down this road before with regard to the splitting of Dublin and I don’t wish to copy and paste old convention reports here. Suffice to say that sense of place and identity is one of the core principles of Gaelic games. Dublin is a united county.
“However, this theme was given a fresh lick of paint this summer when it was implied that Dublin GAA was ‘short-changing’ young players in the capital and that it would be in the greater good if Dublin were split, for their own sake, if you wish. I presume that was an attempt at engineering dissent and not really a genuine, heartfelt plea for the ‘boys on the hill’ to be thrown a Dublin jersey?
“Maybe, if the powers that be and all other counties were in agreement, Dublin could enter a senior development squad in Division 4 of the league? Yes, didn’t think so! Moving on.
“Our senior football manager, Jim Gavin, was the target on several occasions during the
summer of plenty of hostility – one paper declaring mid-summer that Jim “was losing it” and that it was time for Jim to be moved on as “Dublin now need a true leader”.
“Jim’s ‘crime’ was standing up for one of his players, Diarmuid Connolly (who knows he crossed the line against Carlow) in the face so much rage and counter-rage. Then, after the All-Ireland final, Jim was again held up to much ridicule and inaccurate reporting.
“The atmospheres in the rivals’ dressing rooms after an All-Ireland final could not be any more polar. One utter delirium, the other utter dejection.
“As Jim, rightly, does not see his first priority as Dublin manager to provide a ‘Turn Down’ service for the media, he was accused of effectively being very hostile and that his delay in getting to the media area was provocative.
“Perhaps we’ll have to get Jim to wear a GPS tracker in future, to give up to the second
information on his location. In fact, I think there was a spare one knocking around on All-Ireland final Sunday!
“The truth of the matter is different though. After celebrating and congratulating his players, management and backroom staff, the squad and members of management made time for pictures with a young Derry supporter with special needs.
“This young lad and his family had requested that he could spend some time with the Dublin players and management after the game and the team and management gladly obliged. Moving on.
“In response to ‘Mr Flip-Flop’, neither his real name nor a real Mr Men character, obviously these Dublin players will never be loved the length and breadth of the country, but they are liked, admired and respected by plenty outside the county.
“In fact, in terms of within the county, I don’t think, in my lifetime association with Dublin, that I have ever witnessed as strong a connection between our supporters and the current team and vice versa.”
Costello has also branded as ‘repetitive’ and ‘misinformed’ the schools of thought that Dublin have major advantages in terms of greater resources than other inter-county teams.
“Some of the commentary around Dublin’s perceived ‘advantages’ – such as population and finance – is both repetitive and often, quite frankly, misinformed.
“I’d like to address a number of recurring ‘beliefs’ about our current set-up at senior inter-county level.
- Myth 1: Our senior teams have meals delivered to their homes on a daily basis or ever in fact. UNTRUE.
- Myth 2: Our senior teams are given five-star, ‘all-expenses paid’ treatment. UNTRUE.
“Here’s a short story to illustrate such myths concerning our senior footballers! The hard yards every year are done in Innisfails GAA club in late winter/spring before they move to St Clare’s, DCU for Championship preparation.
“Last year, two training sessions were cut short owing to floodlight failure at Innisfails. On investigation, it turned out this was caused by a player, who had to return to the
dressing rooms following injury on the pitch, who turned on a heater which cut short the
circuit! Nothing five-star about that!
“Broadening out the debate, as I have often said the battle for young hearts and minds is
ongoing – and tougher than ever. My belief is that it is tougher in Dublin than in any other county in Ireland.
“In rural areas, the local GAA club is often the very heart beat of the parish. Playing underage for the local club is often a rite of passage for young people. This is less so
in the larger suburban areas of Dublin.
“But through the wonderful work of our clubs and schools, we can reach as many young
Dublin children as possible and introduce them to what will hopefully be a lifelong love of our national games.
“But we are not in a situation where we are turning thousands of children away from the gates of our clubs every day. Other sports in the capital are well established, well organised and often directly in competition with our games.
“Add in the many other non-sporting distractions of a large city and you have a real challenge to attract young players. It may surprise some but the penetration of the GAA in certain areas of Dublin remains relatively low. This too remains an ever present challenge.
“I make no apology to anyone for the strategic investment we continue to make in this
regard. In my opinion, the benefits of the money spent here comes back in multiples – not just to Dublin GAA but to the organisation nationally and to wider society too.
“It helps to positively shape young lives and inculcates a culture of community, worth and belonging in them.”
In relation to the recent International Rules series, Costello rejected any notion that the Dublin squad had ‘snubbed’ the trip to Australia.
“And finally, you will be glad to read that suggestions that Dublin players had ‘snubbed’ the International Rules were totally untrue. Any player who was asked out for trials with the Irish team could not commit fully for the entire term owing to club commitments, or injury, or work.
“Despite Jack McCaffrey highlighting this for one commentator, in plenty of time befor publication, it was still dressed up as a ‘Dubs snub’ story with, what read as some half-hearted disclaimer, stuck in.”
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Some rant! As a Cork man I think the notion of splitting Dublin to be absolutely ridiculous. There was no such talk when any other county were that successful. I do think however that the money generated by Dublin is tipping the balance and this could be looked at. Maybe all sponsorship money is pooled together and then divided out amongst all the counties in a more equitable manner (details to be worked out).
@John Cotter: but they do. Beyond sponsorship, which is dedicated to particular teams, GAA funds are distributed quite fairly on a club level, and they top this up with sponsorship. If I were a Cork man, I’d focus my questions on why Kerry got Munster’s centre of excellence with funds from HQ, Munster and sponsorship at the detriment of Cork, which has more clubs of both codes. Dublin’s recent dominance is a lot simpler – more focus on the county teams from clubs with a larger pool of fitter players.
@Gulliver Foyle: I don’t exactly know he’s aiming this at though, the dubs are the sweethearts of the media and everyone else just enjoys supporting anyone but the Dubs. Dublin being split in two was never a serious topic, just pub talk..
@Lad: I don’t know how you could see Dublin as the media sweethearts. Once maybe when they were all hype and not winning anything. RTE commentary in particular is littered with bias whenever they play anyone outside ulster these days.
Paul Kimmage, Colm O Rourke, Martin Cairney and Kevin Mcstay to name but a few regularly have pops at them in the print news using half truths to push their own agendas.
Paul Flynn got married in Virginia on Saturday. Word came through that the Dubs plus Sam would be in one of the local pubs for an hour and they let the local clubs know. They spent the hour signing autographs, talking to kids and posing for photos. Absolute class from them.
He hit the nail on the head. The dubs undoubtedly have a few unique advantages, but plenty of unique challenges too. There is an anti Dublin agenda among some in the media, who use it to get on the tv and radio and make money from it.
These same people sit in RTÉ complaining about how professional the game has become, yet they get paid to offer their opinions on the same game. Hypocrites.
Well done on a very honest disscription of what a winning county has to put up with.. It’s good to see and read that the powers that be, stand 100%” beside and behind the manager and staff and of course the players who put so much into their love of the game .. Also we can never forget the Dublin Supporters… Well done…
Jesus John. Ye won, how in God’s name are you so embittered 4 months after winning the thing? The statement reads like a Trump rambling that the American media rip the piss out of.
@Jack Strong: mentions their victory against the odds, attacks the press, uses long past incidents to imply a divisive precedent to keep the masses focused. Fiver says he robbed his writer for 2 nights.
@Jack Strong: county convention reports should be banned. Same oul shite every year the week before Christmas. This reads like the father ted golden cleric speech. “And now onto liars…”
John Costello one bitter man. He should get a grip and enjoy his victory.
@Pepper Brooks: Sure the Mayo Pr lad had a field day defending aidan osheas selfies after the press had a go . I’d rather have a board that defended the players and managers then ignored the shite wrote about them . Thats goes across all counties not just dublin .
@Jack Strong: you’re exactly why he’s ranting
@Ollie Watson: in that case, you’re the reason nobody’s “crediting” the dubs.
It’s oxymoronic that the second most successful county in football and by far the most successful team in the modern era have a serious inferiority complex and can’t be reasoned with. The fact even you call it a rant and instead try to shift blame to someone observing what’s hes saying is just sad really.
Ye won lads, try enjoy it for the love of God.
Completely correct.How Jim Gavin decides how to celebrate this extraordinary Dublins team success is his business.There are journalists like Colm Parkinson ready to take a swipe at Gavin for the slightest thing, just because Jim won’t let him interview him.
@Michael cunnane: Parkinson a journalist?
@Pauliebhoy: I would lose a bit of respect for Jim Gavin if he ever did an interview with that clown. GAA Jackass on SportsJoe is about as the height of his journalistic prowess
COYBIB…fook the begrudgers
@Chamillionaire: very mature
I suppose when you get so used to winning the actual victory gets less important than having digs at the opposition and critics (Keegan throwing the tracker, Moran winning POTY, etc.)
Dublin GAA should enjoy their period of dominance while it last and give this sort of nonsense a rest. It’s not going to last forever.
@Goose Gosling: that’s exactly what he’s saying. It’s a period of dominance that’s not going to last forever.
@Goose Gosling: agreed goose. I thought a lot of his points were valid but no need to have sly digs at Keegan and Moran.
Not a Dub and couldn’t care less who won :). But this mean spirit has nothing to do with Gaelic sport. They won fair and square. Well done
God, would love to see the rant if they lose an AIF which will happen at some stage.
Love it, well said John,Coybib
there was a chart done out a couple of years ago to where money goes at county level and Dublin( figure wise) were light years ahead of everyone else and I remember people asking at the time, why! Dublin in football at the moment from what I hear are as near professional in all facets as you will get. alot of other counties struggle to live with this
@Shane McDonnell: So exactly how much does Dublin get versus other counties? I can’t believe that an organisation that is so much dedicated to the grass roots development of it’s sport would tolerate Dublin taking the lions share of any money on the go. And if you are honestly arguing that Dublin footballers only win because of money, why have they not won an All-Ireland hurling final in decades? This is a great team, pure and simple, just like the great teams that Kerry, Cork, Donegal, Tyrone, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway etc. have produced from time to time.
@David Knight: https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.balls.ie/amp/gaa/gaa-investment-in-dublin-348120
@Shane McDonnell: Not all of that money goes into the footballers, people forget we also have a hurling team, they’re not winning anything
@joe: spot on Joe
You all hate is and its understandable, but I was aghast that on the Sunday game everyone bar Whelan wanted to split Dublin into 4, I mean. C’mon.
Which part of totally unfair does he not get!
Well done John
If you were mannerly enough not to mention my namesake Mr O’Rourke from Meath as one of the most persistent and vocal of the ‘split Dublin up’ boyos,then allow me to fill in the gap
Along with almost the entire Irish Times cohort of sports journalists and their summer guest writers – Darragh O’Se and Jim Mc Guinness,
Colm can also utilize the Sunday Indo and The Sunday Game to cultivate his
bitterness towards the Dublin team and its supporters
Things reach a new low when we have that expert in GAA affairs- Eamon Dunphy- climb onto the bandwagon in his rant against certain members of the Dublin team
Next season no doubt they will be at it again!
The best answer is to point them to the scoreboard!
Up the Dubs,
Colm
Funny speech that and correct too. That Keegan dig was pretty funny COYBIB
UP THE BLEEEDIN’ DUBS!!!!
Fair play to the Dubs but they do have it easier than every other county , all their important matches are home games , biggest sponsors plus they don’t have to take days off work and to travel to see specialists when there are injuries because they’re all in Dublin. My sources for all this were guests on off the ball on mewstalk
@Chamillionaire: yeah. send all the specialists to culchie land and watch the all Ireland’s roll in… bleedin cabbage.
What a petty speech….#classless
Ah here…..
Still in shock here that Keegan actually missed the mark with the GPS?
Definitely some tracker throwing practise needed for the Mayo lads, Keegan was only a few yards away.
Average investment per player in Dublin €274.70
Average investment per player in Mayo €22.30.
Average investment per player in Donegal €20.10
Average investment per player in Kerry €19
So in the All Ireland (for example) Dublin had:
4 x No. of Registered players + 12 x Investment per player
but they are “an exceptional crop of players”.
All you can say is that they are too good for every other county at the moment but the wheel can turn.
Well said bomber common sense will now prevail hopefully !
Reminds me of Ger Loughnans ” they’re all agin us” rant. The chairman has done this great and much admired team a great injustice and his report may prove counterproductive.