Never mind your Young Player of the Year because Brian Howard is in line for the big one too.
They laughed at the Raheny bolter for dreaming big in February. He wouldn’t play with DIT in a Sigerson Quarter final six months ago and they asked him what was the point of it all.
Brian Howard’s point was that he’d be then able to line out for Dublin in the League that weekend.
Brian Howard’s point was that he’d take his chance then and that he’d make it impossible for Jim Gavin to drop him for the next game, and then the next one again.
He knew chances are few and far between when it comes to this Dublin team. He had enough confidence in himself that he would be able to take it and that he wouldn’t take a backward step from there.
This was only the League though, they said, and come championship, surely the previously unheard of Brian Howard wouldn’t be on the wing in place of Flynn, Connolly, Paddy Andrews or somebody else come September?
It’s now September the second and Brian Howard has made his point. It’s all over now bar the talking and they’re talking about Brian Howard in Footballer of the Year terms.
That’s how far he’s come. In fairness, we should have seen this coming. Diarmuid Connolly let us all know about this train on tracks way back in November.
“Keep your eye out for one guy, he is a lad from Raheny, Brian Howard,” Connolly said eight months ago now on The Hill 16 Podcast.
We didn’t even have to keep an eye out for him because he was standing out in every game anyway. He breezed through Leinster just like Dublin did and when it came down to the business stages, Brian Howard began rolling up his sleeves.
More Donegal men bought his dummies than Tyrone men bought programmes today in their Super 8s opener in Croker and he kept that blistering pace up all the way through the group stages.
He was again lethal up in Omagh and by the time Dublin made it to the last four where they would take on Galway, the man from Raheny had already established himself as one of Jim Gavin’s most threatening forwards.
And in the final, he just did what he’d been doing all year. He dropped deep to gather possession, he breezed past Tyrone tacklers like they weren’t even there. He laid it onto the next man but he was always bringing the ball forward.
But two moments summed up his final, summed up his year.
The first came after 41 minutes on Sunday. Cluxton drilled a kickout down the right wing. It was 50:50 between Howard and his man, the big, burly Conor McAliskey.
Howard stalked his direct opponent while the ball was in flight, he made his move at the perfect time, he timed his leap to perfection. He horsed McAliskey out of the way and caught the ball. He was already turning before he’d hit the ground.
And then he was gone. With the head up of course.
And again, 30 minutes later. Tyrone were piling on the pressure late on. Richie Donnelly rained a high one in on top of arguably Tyrone’s most aerially gifted player, Colm Cavanagh.
James McCarthy was there too. Brian Howard told him to leave this one to me.
He started a couple of metres behind Cavanagh with the ball dropping down. He soared into the skies again, he ruled the skies again.
Clutch.
Cavanagh was left for dead this time. Howard met the ball at 100 miles an hour, he barely stopped to compose himself when he’d caught it.
And he was away.
And so were Dublin, that, a clutch play indeed.
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