O’Donovan Rossa from Cork against the great Eire Og team representing Carlow is the first All Ireland Club SFC Final this corner can remember. If the memory box serves me correctly, the hurling final that day was between Galway side Sarsfields and Dunloy Cuchulainns from Antrim.
That football final in particular is now recalled with a great deal of poignance given that Bobby Miller – manager of the Leinster Club Champions and the Cork club’s classy corner forward Mick McCarthy both gone to the pitch in the sky long before their time.
The year after that, myself and da put in a marvellous winter following the exploits of Seneschalstown in the Leinster Club Championship. Moreover, back then, it was standard practice for us to go to all the Leinster Club games regardless of who was representing Meath therein. Though it will be admitted that – outside of Dunboyne’s few forays into the province – the greatest memories remain from following the exploits of Seneschalstown and Dunshaughlin on their respective odysseys.
Even though it’s known full well that there was an element locally that took a very dim view of the latter in particular. But then, some of the same people can’t see the length of their noses in front of them, never mind outside of Dunboyne.
It’s that exact issue that leads to one day every year being spent dreaming of living somewhere different. Anywhere different. That being the day of the All Ireland Club Finals.
For a place the size of Dunboyne, and a club with the membership ours has, getting out of the county should be the absolute minimum ambition. Not celebrated as if it were a conquest of Everest. That is not in any way to devalue such an achievement, merely that the hope would be the aim would be higher.
After all, the likes of. Kilcoo, Crossmaglen, Nemo Rangers, Kilmacud Crokes, Corofin, Dr Crokes, Ballyhale Shamrocks, St Vincent’s, Na Piarsaigh, Portumna and Ballygunner don’t have some magic dust that other clubs don’t.
Yet they are able to maintain elongated periods of sustained excellence at domestic and – in most cases – provincial level. One absolutely stretched every sinu to avoid reaching the following conclusion, but, gut instinct is that it must be down to ambition. Specifically, what is being striven for.
You can have all the facilities on the planet, it may all look sparkling but if it doesn’t translate into on-field success, is it worth the concrete used to build it? Now, at this point it must of course be acknowledged that Dunboyne’s ladies have put county titles back to back, and emerged from Leinster, but there’s no reason why the lads can’t do likewise.
The thing about the club championship is, however, you don’t have to be big operations like some of those mentioned above to make a go of them. Look no further than the likes of Dunshaughlin – whose team at the time was comprised of three or four families – or Rathnew or Caltra or St Columba’s or Kilcoo or St Thomas’s, who can compete with and in some cases usurp the bigger, more vaunted clubs.
There are many ways in which clubs can demonstrate ambition and act upon it. The appointment of management teams is interwoven into that. Witness James O’Connor replacing Henry Shefflin in Ballyhale, Gareth O’Neill and Tony McEntee taking the reins in Crossmaglen or Brian Mullins stepping in for Pat Gilroy at St Vincent’s.
Likewise, Robbie Brennan had worked in tandem with Johnny Magee before graduating to the hotseat himself. Then you have those who go for the big name within their own ranks – a la Billy Morgan or Joe Kernan – or go for the big-name appointment from outside for that matter.
St Brigid’s of Roscommon reaped the benefit of that policy when attaining the Andy Merrigan Cup under the direction of former Mayo star and RTE pundit Kevin McStay. For teams up north – and indeed in the west – there’s another man to whom teams, both club and county, have been turning to for decades.
A man who began coaching teams in his early 30s, cut his teeth in the bigtime as right-hand man to the late Eamonn Coleman when Derry won their only All Ireland, so far, in 1993.
Since then, however, Mickey Moran has become one of the influential and respected managers and/or coaches in Gaelic football in his own right. Though I’ve never met the Maghera man, yet, it’s obvious that he infuses his teams with endless self belief and an amalgam of the old and the new in terms of how they play the game.
The one thing Mickey has often been short of with his teams is a bit of luck. Losing All Ireland finals with both Mayo and Slaughtneil from his native county. The wily old campaigner got compensation in spades last Saturday and the GAA populus at large would doff their caps to him having done so.
However, where there’s elation in one corner, utter despair envelopes another. To that end, it wasn’t only his charges and the Stillorgan club at large who felt Robbie Brennan’s pain at full time. Indeed, the man who claimed the spoils has occupied that corner.
Which is why, before going anywhere near his own players, Mickey went straight for Robbie and Crokes midfielder Craig Dias. Incidentally, how the latter has never got a proper go with Dublin is beyond me, but that’s another story.
Somebody could’ve done with throwing their arms around this corner as well. Robbie Brennan is one of our own. A Meath man, a Dunboyne man. His dad Pat is a Wolfe Tones man, captaining the Kilberry club during a golden era for the purple and gold in the mid ’70s.
I met Robbie the first night he arrived in Dunboyne. When he got the same initiation as any new person joining our club did at the time – he was brought down to Brady’s and introduced to yours truly in ‘The Office’. It wasn’t planned, it just happened. As the best things in life often do. He certainly didn’t take long to make himself at home.Training in Tom’s Field and getting to meet the man himself before he was called to the football field above.
Very quickly it became obvious that he was around Dunboyne for the long haul. Eventually, he married Liz Gallagher, sister of Denis and David. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know of the bond there has always been between myself and not just David but the entire Gallagher clan. Robbie has very much become part of that and may it be a bond that lasts for eternity.
Once a littany of injuries brought a premature end to the classy forward’s playing career, a step into management was also on the cards. Having served his time with St Peter’s, Dunboyne as a selector, he then took over as our manager in his own right before those with whom he spent the early part of his playing career with came calling.
His stock in managerial circles is rising exponentially and deservedly so. I would love nothing more than to see him back on the sideline with the black and amber but it could be the case that there are bigger fish to be fried and more luck to him if that’s the case. Still, if a soul can’t feel a little envious and dream, turn out the lights and close the door on your way out.
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