AT 5.15PM, JAMES McCarthy finally skipped over the last of the gold streamers to make his way to the changing rooms. One quick selfie with a child, and away down the tunnel with him.
A made man. A decorated man, and now along with Stephen Cluxton and Michael Fitzsimons, the record holders of nine All-Ireland senior football medals.
Still as relevant as ever. And naturally, the media wanted to hear the Dublin captain speak. After he took his seat in the press room, a pint of stout was fetched for him. It was picture perfect. As if the bar staff had been warned that this pint was for James McCarthy, so you better pour it good.
He said something to the effect of dreams coming true. It was all a bit dizzy.
Before the game, those tasked with assembling the playlist seemed to be drilling into the sub-plots of the game.
You had the lonesome, soulful moans of Sam Cooke, a tune from 59 years ago, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come.’
The lyrics are the kind that appear simple but are suffused and loaded with meaning. A Cormac McCarthy novel in a song.
‘I was born by the river,
‘In a little tent,
‘Oh, and just like the river, I’ve been running
‘Ever since,
‘It’s been a long,
‘Long time coming, but I know,
‘A change gon’ come,
‘Oh yes, it will.’
And change will come. To McCarthy. To this Dublin team. To Gaelic football. But this All-Ireland win felt like old times and familiar patterns; a team blowing up and running out of juice as the Dubs crashed wave after wave of attacks towards Hill 16 outscored Kerry 0-7 to 0-2 in the final 24 minutes of the game.
Before the semi-final, much was made of the age of the main men on the Monaghan team facing Dublin. But this Dublin side is ripe; Cluxton over 40, Michael Fitzsimons, McCarthy, John Small, Brian Fenton, Paul Mannion, Ciaran Kilkenny and Dean Rock all over 30.
By the time of next year’s final, David Byrne, Niall Scully, Jack McCaffrey and Cormac Costello will all have crossed that threshold into their 30s.
So really, this was the showdown to end it all. The stock car race that would only end when there was nothing but a frame of the car and a gear box poking out at angles.
A Kerry win here, and all the six-in-a-row stuff would have been wiped clean in the minds of Kerry football people. A Sam Maguire as palate cleanser.
The talk would have shifted to a possible Kerry three-in-a-row. Jack O’Connor would have addressed his previous inability to win back to back All-Irelands.
It could have scorched Dessie Farrell’s managerial reputation. Remember, it was just 16 short months ago that this team were condemned to division two of the National League by a Jack McCarron free-kick in Clones.
Many years ago, Mickey Harte had proclaimed it impossible to win an All-Ireland having played outside division one in the spring. When Tyrone found themselves in that position, he wriggled into some space by clarifying that they never thought of themselves as actually being a division two side. There is a distinction. Dublin have proved it.
Coming into this game, the Roscommon manager Davy Burke made a startling admission that his side could do damage to Cluxton’s kickouts by applying a tight squeeze. The reason being, according to Burke, was that he could no longer produce those big boomer kickouts that bypass the attack.
Maybe Cluxton has lost that. But coming back to intercounty elite football at the age of 41 requires a level of serious self-reflection. In nailing a ‘45’ and a free in the first half, he was justified. His 24 restarts that went exclusively to Dublin hands – though Brian Howard has to take huge credit for that – adds to an almost spotless final. His seventh All-Star will surely follow.
McCarthy? Well, it wasn’t one of his finer games and at times he rode the donkey close to the tail.
He was lucky to escape a first yellow card for his high tackle on Sean O’Shea in the 13th minute, getting a tick instead. But he had the grit required to do all the kind of stuff that might not make it to the highlights reel but is nonetheless essential.
Fitzsimons was handed the most horrible job in Gaelic football – looking after a young fella by the name of David Clifford. There is context to what happened throughout and, undoubtedly, he got some good help from others rushing to the scene of the blaze when he might stumble.
But the brackets after Clifford’s name will state (0-2, 1f). Incidentally, Derry’s Shane McGuigan finishes the season as the highest scorer in the All-Ireland championship, not something we thought might happen when Clifford was a mere four points off the Slaughtneil man’s total before the ball was thrown in.
Before the game, as the teams warmed up, the slow strains of ‘Nothing Compares To You,’ echoed out with crystal sound over the Croke Park PA. A moment to just suck the air from your chest.
And then at the final whistle, another departed icon of Irish music, with Aslan’s, ‘This Is’ kicking off a poignant celebration.
One that took a surreal twist afterwards when GAA President Larry McCarthy took on a high-wire act of asking the crowd to put their hands together for the performance of match referee David Gough. A Dublin crowd applauding a Meath man? Instead, they showered him with a chorus of boos. With the camera on him it appeared Gough could see the funny side of it.
Around the tunnels of Croke Park, Dublin players were ferrying pints from the player’s lounge back to the dressing room. For a few years there, the interactions between All-Ireland winners and the media felt scrutinised and bereft of the joy that All-Ireland winners should feel.
Ten years ago, after Jim Gavin’s first All-Ireland win, he said to the press afterwards that Meath and Carlow were already preparing for the following year and that they were already behind in their own due diligence. Looking back now, it seems an amusing piece of performance art. He had to be breaking his ass laughing at us behind it all.
Now, there is no unnecessary formality. This was the Dubs letting their hair down like never before.
And standing on the pitch in a row, was Michael Fitzsimons, Stephen Cluxton and James McCarthy posing for a picture. Cluxton mugging for the cameras?
So there you have it. 27 All-Irelands between the three of them and a combined age of 109. Add to that, Dean Rock coming on as sub and kicking the last score of the game, a free-kick into The Hill to put the game beyond Kerry’s reach.
There will be an exodus of Dublin players now. The team that fetches up for championship next year could be at least half a dozen players lighter. Being frank about it, there’s a rebuilding job to be done on Dublin. Would Dessie Farrell want that? Doubtful.
Kerry might come back and beat a Dublin team, but it will not be this long-standing one.
They got out when the going was good. Made men, by-passing witness security to retire among the palm trees.
