The band came back together.
The band played one hell of a tune.
Jack O’Connor mentioned it after Kerry’s semi-final win over Derry that Paul Mannion, Stephen Cluxton, Pat Gilroy and co. didn’t all come back for the craic.
This was what they came for.
They say you should never go back but, on a day like today, they couldn’t have been more wrong. Cluxton and Mannion kicked seven points between them on a day when Pat Gilroy was crowned Maor Uisce of the year.
After Dublin’s win over Kerry, we asked Dessie Farrell the question on everyone’s lips. How did he get them all back? Did he have to coax them, or did they come to him?
In his own way, the Na Fianna man explained that the players were the ones who drove it, that they were eager to get back involved.
“Look, there was plenty of conversations in the background but ultimately the players wanted it,” said Farrell, in the bowels of the Hogan Stand.
“I never forced the agenda, I was always talking to the three lads when they moved away and it was never a case of the door being closed.
“They needed to be ready themselves and I think obviously having seen how the thing had gone in the last two years and us being beaten by the tightest of margins and understanding that that strength in depth may not have been what it once was,” he added.
Farrell admitted that the returning four were crucial, especially in ‘clutch moments’ on days like today.
“While the young fellas were great, they were still maybe a year or two potentially off the level of the development that you need in the clutch moments on the biggest days of the year.
“So I have no doubt that that there’s that level of selflessness is in them all, and the care and nurture of the group flipped the balance in our favour and meant they were much more amenable to coming back.”
Cluxton came in for special praise from both Farrell and Dublin captain James McCarthy, who said that some discussions at his wedding played a part in getting the boys back.
“We were ferociously disappointed with the last two seasons. We were hurt. They really did hurt. But life goes on. We gathered at the start of the year. We had a bit of a chat at the wedding, try and get a few boys back. And they made a difference as well.
“Yeah, like, the two kicks in the first half – he just stroked them over, amazing to be able to do that,” said McCarthy.
“Stephen is Stephen. I was actually free once or twice beside him and he wasn’t ever giving them to me, he had his mind made up and he was nailing them over, yeah.
“It took him a while to get up and a while to get back!
“He has the knee bandaged up, so he’s a bit slower,” joked McCarthy.
“He used to do all the sprints with us and stuff when I started off, but he’s kicked on a bit now. But Stephen is Stephen. He’s steely and just a tough man. The standards drives everything and just gives you a great comfort behind, that he’s driving everyone up the pitch. Yeah, he’s one of a kind.”
Dessie Farrell added that it was ‘fairytale ending.’
“He’s a happy man, just to be away and to come back again and they say there’s no such thing as fairytale endings in sport, but it was a little bit like a dream come true for sure.”
If it is the end, it couldn’t have gone any better.
The GAA Hour: Marc Ó Sé chats Dublin vs. Kerry and shares some Páidí Ó Sé classics
