Money

[Mickmack]

BP

any post that sheds light on the funding issue is welcome.

I found this

www.the42.ie/gaa-dublin-funding-3217517-Feb2017/

It effectively means that Dublin lose out on circa 100k that other counties get from provincial councils. Munster got less than 600k in 2016 to distribute between 6 counties one of whom is Cork which is a huge county.


Correct me if i am wrong but did not the GAA recently committ to circa 1m a year to Dublin for the the ten years. That will continue to widen the imbalance going forward. Losing out on 100k from the provincial councils is not going to do much to address the imbalance.

[kerrybhoy06]

Feb 17, 2019 10:50:39 GMT Mickmack said:

BP

any post that sheds light on the funding issue is welcome.

I found this

www.the42.ie/gaa-dublin-funding-3217517-Feb2017/

It effectively means that Dublin lose out on circa 100k that other counties get from provincial councils. Munster got less than 600k in 2016 to distribute between 6 counties one of whom is Cork which is a huge county.


Correct me if i am wrong but did not the GAA recently committ to circa 1m a year to Dublin for the the ten years. That will continue to widen the imbalance going forward. Losing out on 100k from the provincial councils is not going to do much to address the imbalance.

Works as a soundbyte tho

[Mickmack]

Gaelic Football
A County Chairman, Bertie Ahern and a grand plan - The inside story of how Gaelic football changed forever

Ewan MacKenna
30 August 2019 9:43 AM



In the end, John Bailey never got to see Dublin getting their hands on an All-Ireland for a fifth year in succession.

After a lifetime of striving to improve his home patch, he got damn close but fell short.

In July, days before his county easily picked apart Cork in the sort of game that might have posed problems not long ago, he died at the age of 74. There’s added tragedy in that as, for all the names thrown out as being a cornerstone of and key to this historic achievement, he’s the oft-forgotten architect of so much of it.

Thankfully we managed to speak before his passing, and before an important chunk of history disappeared with him. During the conversation, he recalled moments during his tenure as county board chairman that made him realise they were missing a trick.

For instance, after the legendary 1991 saga with Meath that was the biggest draw going, it earned them "just £4,000 a game in sponsorship". So he got on the blower to Arnotts. He remembered other struggles as well, like when he decided an antiquated Parnell Park needed a makeover. Meeting builders one November day, he told them he'd no cash, yet by Christmas he'd pay them. Soon after he and Minister for Finance Bertie Ahern were turning ground when word came through that Dick Spring had pulled the plug.


But most of all he smiled at a time in 2002 when the walls came tumbling down.

"The structures and coaching were a weakness," he noted. "Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach by then - he always helped us in any and all ways he could - so we went to him and said we need €2m to pay 100 coaches but I said I'd give him it back. He looked puzzled. 'How will you do that?'"

So he confidently replied to Ahern that he'd take people off the dole, pay them €45,000, the government would get 20 per cent back in tax, and 22 per cent PRSI between employer and employee. "That was it. They subsidised all these coaches."

From there he set up development squads with parts of the money too and trained players, bringing 100 kids of only 12 together in both football and hurling as they built towards the future. "It completely snowballed."

Bailey had caused Dublin to become awash with riches and, regardless of any bigger picture, considering his sole allegiance, it was a move that was both ballsy and brilliant.

Now though there’s no avoiding that bigger picture.


These were the days that changed the inter-county game we knew and loved forever.

* * *

Peter Quinn had a hunch. History shows he knew better than most, although looking back it was all in plain sight.

Dublin may have been talking of droughts and hard times, but consider the 10 championships leading up the Bailey’s financial request. Across a decade’s worth of summers they’d been to eight provincial finals, winning four, while the average loss in the other four was a hair over three points. Better again, they’d been to three All-Ireland finals and won one. In fact, in five different campaigns it took the eventual champions to put them out with the average gap in those epic contests coming out at less than a goal.

Good years aplenty. Heart-breaking days aplenty too. But despite an attempt to rewrite the past, they were never, ever far off the pace and were always one of the very best in show. Indeed that 2002 summer when Bailey made his move, his team were Leinster champions again, and eventually came within a point of that incredible Armagh generation in the semi-finals.

Did they really need the extra push having nearly climbed the ladder all alone?

Quinn argued no way.

In January 2002, the strategic review committee he’d chaired made headlines when suggesting within three years the capital should actually be split.

"At that point Dublin's strength was beginning to show," he told me. "The potential was so obvious and there was a real concern they'd take over as that size would generate huge revenue and playing personnel and those elsewhere wouldn't keep pace."

Even some noteworthy former Dublin managers they’d talked to as part of their work agreed in private, according to the Fermanagh man. Only in public they turned.

"Those same people came out after our suggestion and said we were a bit mad."

Foresight has never been a great GAA attribute though, as it tends to be reactionary.

So while his proposals being rejected by a special congress was hardly a great shock to anyone, the special treatment suddenly afforded to Dublin did surprise Quinn. "Given there was no split coming, of course I was taken aback by the investment handed over."

For all their victories before, this was definitely Dublin’s greatest to date.

Why?

Because it set them up for all the record-smashing victories that have come since.

* * *

While either naivety or stupidity have long pushed the idea that sport and politics don’t mix, the likes of Bertie Ahern and John Bailey saw it very differently.

Their combining of powers and positions initially started out as relatively small beer, something that would shape the landscape in Dublin alone. The former Taoiseach notes that, as the starting point of such evolution, and way before radical revolution, Parnell Park needed serious work. Far beyond aesthetics though it gave the county a centralised location and a suitable, fit-for-purpose place to work together.

"We got grants," Ahern says. "Some tried to say it was separate but it was open to anyone and obviously I advised and helped out. Nothing underhand and it allowed the whole Dublin scene into one space. Senior, junior, juvenile, clubs, the lot."

Soon however the two men got together again and the GAA was shifted from its axis.

For some time, Bailey had been wondering about how to drag Dublin from the past and, not so much into the present, but off into the future.

"So John came to me and talked about the sprawling suburbs and how we had to grow the club scene," continues Ahern.

"They needed help as the infrastructure and facilities just weren’t there to see them reach their massive potential. There was no grand scheme that could fit that bill, so we designed one to try and develop coaches and link coaches to schools, schools to clubs, clubs to communities, and communities to parishes. A bit like it was done in rural Ireland, only re-invented into a new scheme to fit Dublin. We had to get clubs to buy into that and what we did is today what you see in Cuala, Kilamcud, Ballyboden, Na Fianna."

First it needed finance to come to life. Bailey quipped to me that "John O’Donoghue was Minister for Sport. He didn't exactly receive me with open arms. A Kerry man, so he wouldn't be biased, he'd be blinkered instead."

Crucially though, there were Dubs in the Dáil. And none were better placed than Ahern.

As Seán Kelly adds, "When it came to Bailey's plan, his door was open without knocking."

However if doors in Leinster House were open, so were those in Croke Park.

* * *

Seán Kelly became president of the GAA in 2003, a year before the money finally gushed from the tap.

In that realm, one conversation has long stood out in his memory.

It was Seán McCague that was passing the baton on to him, and he pulled him aside one day with a few words of advice.

"He told me about the committee regarding Dublin’s future, and that it was going nowhere unless I was going to chair it. I said the GAA president never chairs a committee, never mind one set-up for a single county. But he kept pushing that idea and really wanted this to work out so I said I'd take a look at it and eventually agreed. In the end myself and John Bailey actually co-chaired it, or at least he had that title as being on top of the Dublin County Board, you wouldn’t exactly be pushing him aside on such a matter."

While many of Quinn’s recommendations had been thrown to the trash by that stage, one phrase from his report was not only kept but frequently used in the dialogue at those meetings. It was that of "market share" in Dublin. There was worry about threats from other sports and the idea pushed was that the GAA needed to be strong there. The game had to defend its turf and grow too.

That cost money. And everyone would pay.

It was one of the few areas they agreed on initially for elsewhere there was strife. Around how to spend it, and who to spend it on.

"Bailey and those did the ground work to be fair," says Kelly, "and a fella called Kevin O’Shaughnessy - he was well regarded and had a good business background - was recommended as someone that could lead the coaching. And under Kevin there was a very clear and definite plan drawn up and we went to government and with Bertie, well, he couldn’t have been more supportive. Central Council were positive, with a few concerned about the amount they were getting. Leinster were mostly positive. That brought about finance and it’s continued since. Looking back, special congress wrote off the split so we just continued on with the money aspect."

In the eight seasons before Dublin’s funding, they along with Westmeath, Laois, Kildare, Meath and Offaly had won provincial titles, meaning half of Leinster were doing things right and the game was booming. Little did they know the end of an era was upon them.

The stars had aligned. A blue wave was forming.

It’s hard to shirk the feeling today that such an expansion brought down the Roman Empire.

* * *

In his thought-provoking masterpiece The Zero Theorem, Terry Gillian poses the premise of how everything can amount to nothing.

The sporting answer perhaps lies here.

Fifteen years on from Bailey getting both his way and his dream, and the drive-for-five feels more akin to a stroll around the block.

Of the team that won out in the 2015 final, only six started this semi-final. That means that in the space of a mere four campaigns, already the best side out there have been able to replace 60 per cent of their players and by doing so are winning by more and more as we’ve reached a 14.8 points per game average margin. On top of that, while the under-20/21 football championship has been going since 1964, four of Dublin’s five wins have come since 2010 and they were close to doing it again in 2019.

Does that sound competitive?

Does that sound natural?

Does that sounds cyclical?

Does that sound sustainable?

That’s up to you.

We also know as a matter of record the finance that coincided with this. According to those within the Irish Sports Council, between 2005 and 2009, a total of €5m was made available to Dublin via the taxpayer for games development projects. Meanwhile breakdowns have shown that between 2007 and 2017, in terms of GAA development funding, while Kerry received €730,881, Dublin were handed over €16,612,845. As context regarding the rest, Cork were second on that list getting €1,185,267.

This money is aimed at increasing underage participation and increasing skill-sets. What it’s meant is that while Dublin have been able to direct their uniquely giant sponsorship based on market size and population into elite areas up the ladder, others who get far less from commercial endorsements have to use them to pay both high up and low down. The rest also have to spend far more time and energy on fundraising, something we know Dublin don’t bother with much. After all, their last leaked accounts in 2016 showed €57,336 brought in in that area, a year they made a profit despite wages totaling well of over €2m.

Again these are simply the facts. People can make up their own minds. Just as Peter Quinn did back in 2002.

Speaking in 2017 I asked him if he’d changed it. "I think they are strong enough to be split," he replied. "And right now you'd have to be concerned for the game as if there's one thing that keeps us all alive and sane it's hope. Other counties are losing it."

Some debate that notion, with Ahern himself arguing that the likes of Cork and Galway, Waterford and Limerick show that size doesn’t matter.

What isn’t up for debate though is this journey began with Bailey’s vision and his work coming to fruition in 2004.

He may not have lived to see a likely five-in-a-row.

But 15 years , he not only made it possible, he made it largely inevitable.

Online Editors

[Mickmack]

The Big Interview: Pat Gilroy's love of GAA places community above county
The former Dublin dual manager on success, funding, the future of the inter-county game and splitting the Dubs in two (or even more).
SPORT • 13 Sep 2019



By Peter SweeneyRTÉ Sport Journalist
It's no overstatement to say that Pat Gilroy's life has been formed by the GAA.

He fell in love with football and hurling as a youngster at St Vincent's and went on to win All-Ireland titles with his club and his county, the latter as player and manager.

Having led Dublin to Sam Maguire in 2011, he took on the significantly less glamorous task of managing a Dublin hurling team searching for an identity in 2018, making some headway before work got in the way and forced him to move on.

He has worked in more than 40 countries around the world, currently he's splitting his time between Ireland, America, Africa and the Caribbean, and it has always been the GAA that he has turned to when building bridges.

When he moved to London for four years in 2012 and his children were struggling to settle in, it was his local club in the British capital Parnell's that helped the family put down roots. When he's in Ireland he spends his weekend and evenings happily traipsing between various matches and training sessions.

They didn't care who the opposition was, it didn't matter. Others who had been around for seven or eight years, it started to get into their heads were they ever going to beat Tyrone or Kerry



"A club is as much a community, a social service, it glues the thing together and you have to look beyond the sport," said Gilroy, speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of Saturday's replay between his beloved Dublin and Kerry.

"That's where you get to meet the people, that's where you make friends, that's huge in terms of keeping people on the straight and narrow and having a happy life.

"Ultimately, that's what the games are for - it's not for elite winning, it's for that community thing and the GAA is unique in the world for that. We love beating ourselves up and we love criticising it, but I have never seen an organisation like it.

"I have worked in 40-odd countries and I have never seen anything like it. Anywhere I have gone, the GAA fellah has sought me out and I got a call and he helped me find out who was safe to do business with. It's a phenomenal story the way it works.

"Is it perfect? No. Is anything perfect? No. But it's unique."

Image - Gilroy shakes hands with Kilkenny manager Brian Cody after their sides' 2018 thriller
Gilroy shakes hands with Kilkenny manager Brian Cody after their sides' 2018 thriller

Gilroy was brought up in St Vincent's, the north side powerhouse based in the long-standing suburb of Marino. He's just old enough to have seen the great Kevin Heffernan-led Dublin team of the 1970's reignite the GAA scene in the capital.

He took the less well-worn route for prospective inter-county players and studied in Trinity and has since gone on to make a significant mark in the world of business.

The 47-year-old won an All-Ireland as a midfielder with Dublin under manager Pat O'Neill in 1995, with current Dubs boss Jim Gavin as a team-mate, though his inter-county career wasn't a long one.

But he was still playing for Vins 13 years later in 2008 when they won the All-Ireland club title and just months later he was the surprise pick to replace Paul 'Pillar' Caffrey as Dublin manager.

In 2009 Leinster was duly retained, which was still something to cheer about a decade ago, though any sense of progress made was abruptly halted with the now infamous joint-record 17-point All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry which promoted the manager to liken his team to startled earwigs.

I'm not sure the county model the way it is would sustain another 150 years, or even my lifetime, because the population is going to become more urbanised so how do you handle that? It will need to be rethought about at some stage

"In Dublin in 2009 we had an issue at senior level, but if you look at what was happening, we had two All-Ireland club titles at that stage, Vincent's won one and Kilmacud won one in 2009, the scene was getting strong, the Under-21s were strong, the minors were strong," said Gilroy, who has categorically ruled out a future return to inter-county management.

"The only thing that wasn't happening was the senior team winning a national title. I think they were very close and I think Pillar Caffrey and Tommy Lyons were desperately unlucky, they were within a hair's breadth of getting into All-Ireland finals and an awful lot of good work would have been put into those teams. We just had a mental block about getting over the line.

"Some of the approach, we weren't maybe physical enough in our defensive game, we tended to stand off and try to prevent goals rather than turn over the ball. We would have been coaching it in 2009, but when it came to the game they didn't do what we had coached."

Image - Gilroy in action during St Vincent's 2008 All-Ireland club final win over Nemo Rangers
Gilroy in action during St Vincent's 2008 All-Ireland club final win over Nemo Rangers

In 2010 Gilroy took radical measures and adopted ultra-defensive tactics to make the Dubs harder to beat. It got them as far as an All-Ireland semi-final, where they lost to eventual champions Cork and primed them to kick on in 2011.

"There was a good, healthy supply of people and some of the players that came in had so little tradition of Gaelic football, people like Rory O'Carroll and Michael Darragh Macauley, in terms of being obsessed with it, they had family tradition, but they weren't big into watching football, so they were totally relaxed," he said.

"They didn't care who the opposition was, it didn't matter. Others who had been around for seven or eight years it started to get into their heads were they ever going to beat Tyrone or Kerry.

"Those guys and their attitude coming in helped and then you had people like Paul Casey, Tomás Quinn and David Henry who had suffered. Even though they weren't playing they were true leaders in the group."

Image - Gilroy shouting instructions from the sidelines
Gilroy shouting instructions from the sidelines

A first All-Ireland in 16 years duly followed and Gilroy stepped down following semi-final defeat to Mayo in 2012. He's far too modest to take any credit for the part he has played in Dublin's current dominance, with Gavin's side going for an All-Ireland five in a row against Kerry in Saturday's replayed final.

Money has played its part in the Dubs' success, with Croke Park spending the lion's share of it's coaching funding in the capital and the Boys in Blue commanding record-breaking sponsorship and commercial revenue.

The businessman in Gilroy believes it would be madness to turn off the funding tap to the largest urban area in the country, though he does agree that more radical thinking is required.

"Between the two canals in Dublin there is a serious population, maybe 300,000-400,000 people, and there's probably one GAA club there. Soccer and rugby are the dominant sports in Dublin 1, Dublin 2 and most of Dublin 4 and 6," he said.

"We haven't conquered this in terms of participation. And it's not trying to beat the other sports, but it's about participation and to give people the chance to play the games. Whether we like it or not, a third of the population lives in Dublin so you'd say a third of the funding should go into the development of the games.

"That doesn't mean that the senior team should be getting one third of the funding, but if we want participation in the games it makes a lot of sense to put the money that way.

"I would also say that a lot of money should go into overseas because I think the likes of London and the US, there is such a big interest there in the GAA from the Irish community, I have seen it. In time there may be an international element to the games - I think if London keep doing what they're doing they're going to be a serious force.

Image - Gilroy on Dublin's Moore Street launching a photo book of the Dubs' 2011 win
Gilroy on Dublin's Moore Street launching a photo book of the Dubs' 2011 win

"The funding should be to keep developing participation. I think it would it would be madness to step back from it. I'd be on for, where there's lack of participation, whether it's hurling or football, putting the money there.

"There's counties where there is so little hurling and I would love to see hurling in the 32 counties. Money should go into that. Where there are gaps as a GAA body that's where we should put our funding.

"If funding is doing one thing for Dublin, it's getting a lot more kids playing the game, which means you have a lot more chance of getting players through. I couldn't see an argument that makes sense for cutting that funding because all that means is less children play the games.

"I'm not sure the county model the way it is would sustain another 150 years, or even my lifetime, because the population is going to become more urbanised so how do you handle that? It will need to be rethought about at some stage. If you look at our electoral system, it's done by population, so maybe do it by every 400,000 of population."

He also sees the future inter-county game moving to narrow, specific windows, in the manner that soccer fits international fixtures into its calendar, allowing all players to devote most of their time to their clubs.

Gilroy says he never had any interest in taking over as GAA Director General at the time Liam Mulvihill's successor was being sought a decade ago. He was heavily linked to the job, one he insists he still has no interest in, and this speculation caused him problems with his employers at the time.

Gilroy's current business is building biomass power plants in developing countries - they are environmentally sustainable and offer opportunities for the people living locally. One of his projects is on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and is still struggling to get back on its feet.

Image - Gilroy at his unveiling as Dublin football manager in late 2008
Gilroy at his unveiling as Dublin football manager in late 2008

He has an outlook that has been shaped by a lifetime immersed in the GAA.

"You're given certain skills in this life and you're able to do certain things. I couldn't do statistics like Ray Boyne could do statistics or I couldn't do video work like Chris Farrell does video work, but I can be okay at organising groups of people to do stuff," he said.

"I just think the GAA has such a far-reaching capability that we do a lot for our community, we give back a lot, we get a lot from the community as well. Being involved in the GAA it helps you in your life because maybe you can get to know people a lot easier and a lot quicker.

"Giving back is one of the most enjoyable things you can do and it's the most rewarding thing you can do and when I can I will certainly help out people in whatever way I can."

Follow Dublin vs Kerry (6pm) in the All-Ireland SFC final replay via our live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the News Now app, watch live on RTÉ2's The Saturday Game or listen to radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

[Deleted]

Interesting article and the first Dub to admit that splitting Dublin is inevitable

[kerrygold]

The Croke Park factor is just as big as the funding now for the chasing pack/packs, especially for the Leinster teams.

[Mickmack]

Sept 15, 2019 7:27:37 GMT @kingdomexile said:

Interesting article and the first Dub to admit that splitting Dublin is inevitable

It is interesting to see how the idea of splitting Dublin is slowly gaining traction. I have been convinced for a long time that this is the long term goal.

I believe that it is inevitable.

[kerrygold]

Croke Park would be in right trouble without Kerry. Can't really see any of the other counties living/staying with Dublin over the next decade. Another decade of Dublin dominance would neuter the game.

[Ballyfireside]

It won't be split, Dublin will say that of they are to be split then Kerry will dominate and so they should be split. Then will the same go for hurling counties - where do you cut? And then would teams be split for hurling, womens, etc? Underage?

Counties have to put systems in place to get the get the best of what they have but then look at Tipp hurlers who have a US sponsor so have a backroom of 21 and can carry a panel of 40 - how can others compete with that?

Apart from the fact that splitting counties won't happen, I'd say the lawyers would stop it some way anyway.

The only solution I see is a grading system where we have say 3 AI Championships with teams graded by when they get knocked out, ie 1st 10 in Group 3, etc. A bit like the league only that any team can win in a given year. If the backdor favours top teams then maybe it should go? Dublin's reign isn't then only issue.

[Mickmack]

I am told that Davy Fitz is being sounded out by Galway. Davy has met them.

However the players want Micheal Donoghue back. The reason Micheal left was lack of money ....not for himself....for team preparation etc.

[Ballyfireside]

Sept 15, 2019 14:22:27 GMT Mickmack said:

I am told that Davy Fitz is being sounded out by Galway. Davy has met them.

However the players want Micheal Donoghue back. The reason Micheal left was lack of money ....not for himself....for team preparation etc.

Maybe prompted by Tipp sponsorship, Babs Keasting is my source, he spoke on TG4 at Listowel Races.

[Mickmack]

Sept 15, 2019 14:33:59 GMT Ballyfireside said:

Sept 15, 2019 14:22:27 GMT Mickmack said:

I am told that Davy Fitz is being sounded out by Galway. Davy has met them.

However the players want Micheal Donoghue back. The reason Micheal left was lack of money ....not for himself....for team preparation etc.

Maybe prompted by Tipp sponsorship, Babs Keasting is my source, he spoke on TG4 at Listowel Races.

www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/corporate-advisers-teneo-to-sponsor-tipperary-gaa-1.3696636


Declan Kelly, brother of the Labour TD is the Tipp man in Teneo

[Mickmack]

Irish Times Logo

Kevin McStay: Great worry is that Dublin are unbeatable



Like many people, I watched Stephen Cluxton’s victory lap in Croke Park and felt that maybe he was saying goodbye. He has done it all and been around for a long, long time: 18 years in which Dublin have completely transformed their approach to elite Gaelic football. The result has been the emergence of this brilliant, brilliant team, of five All-Irelands in a row and a nagging fear that they have cracked the code of amateurism. Even as we applauded them on Saturday evening, the questions were there. Where are we now? When will this end? And: why should it end?

Overall, it was a strange evening. An All-Ireland final on a Sunday at half-past three is a national occasion. It is a ceremony that dominates the day. A replay is different. Saturday night at six o’clock: the world is getting ready to go out on the town. There was no minor match, no crowd gathering in the stadium and the overall sense of the evening was: this very important game needs a resolution. But the sense of occasion was absent. So I have a strong, strong sense that the All-Irelands should go back to September and that any replay should be on a Sunday.

The scale of Dublin’s achievement deserved a bigger occasion. In the end, they did what we all expected them to do last January. They retained their All-Ireland champion status and the Sam Maguire. But they didn’t do it simply. Go back to the evening they beat Mayo in 2017 by a point. I was of the view then that the five-in-a-row was all but inevitable. My view is that Kerry should have won the drawn match but were very much second best on Saturday night. And Dublin have now won the last two All-Irelands by six points.


Those are big margins given that we are trying to convince ourselves that the gap is closing. The five-in-a-row started and ended with beating Kerry. So I would caution those who feel this is the conclusion or end of something. Remember 1982? Kerry distraught and all of that. Yet they dusted themselves down and completed another three-in-a-row from 1984 to 1986 before they broke up. I don’t have the sense that Dublin are in any way sated by this. Brian Howard and that generation are only setting out on their careers.

So where is Gaelic football now, as the 2019 inter-county season closes? Well, I think it is fair to say that at the elite level, the standard has never been higher. What was served up to us over these two finals was breathtaking. Look at the scoring alone: five guys got four points or more from play in an All-Ireland final. Seventeen scores from play in the first half one the second game. Ten from 13 for Dublin in that half. Ten for 12 from Kerry. A total of 1-17 out of 1-18 from play for Dublin over the course of the game. No wide for Dublin in that first half. These are outrageous returns given the pressure of the occasion. And we saw the re-emergence of the full-forward line as the real danger and excitement source. We have gone through an era where the likes of Conor McManus were blotted out by double-team markers but now, the inside forward is making a huge impact again. And it is fun to see.

But the big problem is that there are only three or four county teams operating at that level. Right now, there are four tiers in Gaelic football. Dublin and Kerry are on one plane. Then Tyrone and Donegal, and maybe Mayo but maybe not. And maybe Galway and maybe not. Then you have the Division Two teams. And then the rest. I feel that the gap is growing. I remember Ciarán Whelan arguing that the massive GAA investment in Dublin has not influenced the current senior team. He felt that the roll-out and dividend of players from that huge GAA investment is just now beginning to emerge. It’s an appalling vista for the rest of Ireland if this is the case.

The only county who can feel in any way secure is Kerry, who have those five minor titles in a row to build upon. But even Kerry will have nagging fears through this winter. Yes, their young team took Dublin to the brink. They did well. But they missed a golden chance to win. Had Mayo lost in those circumstances, the accusation of choking would be levelled at them. Kerry rightly deserve not be called chokers. But they will regret that drawn game for many years. And we don’t know but it could prove their best chance to beat Dublin. You don’t want to get into a habit of becoming close to winning All-Irelands.

Things become difficult if you lose two finals. They have now joined the ranks of teams who have lost to Dublin. So the pressure will be on this winter. Will David Moran and Tommy Walsh be around in three years time? And if not, will Kerry be able to replace them? And if Dublin keep winning All-Irelands for the next two years and you keep falling short, then the whole thing can become overwhelming.

Why have Dublin proven impossible to beat for five years?

‘I remember Dean Rock playing for Ballymun when he was young. And he was very good but you couldn’t see him growing into the player he became.’ File photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho



Go down to the pub and have a quiz. Dublin are the best team I have seen in my lifetime. But then go pick the best 15 out of the Kerry team of the Mick O’Dwyer era and this Dublin side and Kerry may end up with more players. They may have had better individual talents. That is where the Dublin secret lies. The type of player they are producing is so rounded. Like Howard or Niall Scully. I remember Dean Rock playing for Ballymun when he was young. And he was very good but you couldn’t see him growing into the player he became.


These Dublin players are getting the very best people in there to help them become better: athletically, physically and fundamentally, not to mention psychologically. My sense is that Jim Gavin and the people around him are interested in: team, team, team. They have been brilliant at channelling the individual ego into the collective energy. It is about honesty of effort for them. It is not outrageous talent that gets Dublin through games. It is this deep internal trust and conviction in their process. They adjust and repeat.


Their strength and conditioning is superior to everybody else’s including Kerry. Is this fair? Peter Canavan made an important point on this. Bryan Cullen came from Leinster Rugby because Dublin identified him as key to what they wanted to do. I don’t know the fine print of it but I am guessing that meant a pretty big five-figure sum – at least. The flip side is Peter Donnelly with Tyrone. Ulster Rugby see him with Tyrone and they like the kind of athlete he is turning out. So they make him an offer that Peter feels he can’t refuse. You might say: how hard can it be to get a good strength and conditioning guy? Well, fine. But any programme must be overseen. What gets measured gets done.

Maybe Dublin can now leave their guys to supervise their own strength programme. But in the early stages, there has to be regular monitoring of everything; how they lift weights, their nutrition, their rest. The physical difference between Dublin’s players and their opponents has become more pronounced with every passing year of this five-in-a-row era.

Mayo, for instance, like most other counties do not have a full-time strength coach. The guys who work with other county teams are no doubt excellent and dedicated. But they have other clients and other concerns. It is not exclusive. The difference is further complicated by geography. Dublin is a compact city. Their chief opponents are big sprawling counties: it is hard for a strength coach to physically spend time with all of the players, week in week out.

Dublin therefore know they are athletically better conditioned than the other teams. That gives you an enormous weapon in any ball sport. So on Saturday night, Dublin went after the likes of David Clifford and Moran and they took them on tours of the park. They tested their aerobic capacity. They want to empty them of gas. It is no coincidence that Kerry stopped scoring in the last 15 minutes of both finals. It is Dublin’s movement off the ball that staggers me. They have a near sadistic appetite for punishing running. And they tackle hard so you will be sore and sucking for oxygen when you get up. Again and again. Look at the domination of the All-Blacks. It is built on physical supremacy. It is built on pace and power. That is what Dublin are about now.

If you look at Bernard Brogan as the prototype Dublin forward at the beginning of this era: Bernard relied on an under-rated ball-winning ability but mostly on guile and skill. Con O’Callaghan has skill but it is his physical attributes that jump out. He is the prototype of the Dublin forward of tomorrow.


Canavan has said we have to accept that this is the new reality. He is right. But the bigger picture is that the other counties just can’t match it. There are things the GAA could do. At central level, they could pay everybody’s mileage. They could pay everybody’s accommodation and food and pay each county to employ a strength and conditioning coach.


But even that may not change the outcome. I can’t see Dublin losing a knock-out All-Ireland match any time soon. Now, they are likely to lose seven or eight players from yesterday’s programme. One of those might well be Cluxton. What if Gavin goes also? Who are the three most important people in Dublin GAA now? I would argue: John Costello, Gavin and Cluxton. Two out of three may leave. They have set the standard. That is their legacy to Dublin GAA: not the history scroll. They have corporate knowledge of how to perpetuate this culture of success.

So take Dublin under-14 teams and look at who is in charge. They have experienced former players and coaches of quality. They aren’t hamstrung by the need to produce titles. But they do want to bring players through. And they have the resources. So they have a huge pick of players coming through and the best of those are funnelled through to the academies and the cream of that group ends up playing for Dublin.


The difficulty for the GAA is that even if they are worried now, they can’t articulate it. Dublin must be given their due regards. They have been brilliant, wonderful champions and it is important not to diminish their achievement. However, their rise leaves deeper lying questions for HQ.

If Dublin win six, then the thing moves from historic to overwhelming. In public, Dublin talk about humility and community and family. And they mean it. Their public persona is that it is a huge privilege to wear that jersey. And it is. But when they get down to business, it is a hugely professional structure driven by people whose specialise in excellence.

So for the rest of the GAA family, the sight of six-in-a-row will be a bridge too far. They will begin to insist on intervention. Nobody within the official GAA has stepped out yet and said: we acknowledge that this is a problem. The tier-two system is just a band-aid to the issue. Most county boards are stretched financially. They don’t have established annual income streams. A lot of the energy of officialdom is to try and churn out enough money just to keep their teams on the road.

This is not about making Dublin a lesser team. The process is in place now and can’t be reversed. They took the hard lessons of the early 2000s when they were glamorous and took hammerings from Kerry and Tyrone. And, with the help of the GAA, they have flipped all of that. The result has been startling. The great delight has been that we are seeing the game we love being played at a brilliant level. The great worry is that they have literally become unbeatable at it.

[john4]

RTE Prime Time, tonight, 9.30pm, should be interesting;

www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2019/0917/1076503-do-the-boys-in-blue-have-an-unfair-advantage-in-the-gaa/

[Deleted]

I think Ewan MacKenna will be contributing to this

[Mickmack]

The money Mayo and Kerry for example spent on the road this year is huge while Dublin had one spin up to Omagh.

Dublin can pump all the money saved into coachng.

[kerrybhoy06]

Sept 17, 2019 20:04:51 GMT Mickmack said:

The money Mayo and Kerry for example spent on the road this year is huge while Dublin had one spin up to Omagh.

Dublin can pump all the money saved into coachng.

And altitude training- which is an advantage that no other team can come near availing of

[Annascaultilidie]

Sept 17, 2019 20:04:51 GMT Mickmack said:

The money Mayo and Kerry for example spent on the road this year is huge while Dublin had one spin up to Omagh.

Dublin can pump all the money saved into coachng.

They don't have to fundraise neither to the extent that Kerry and Mayo do.

[Deleted]

The obvious answer here is to pool the commercial income and divide across the counties.

Other sports can do it and things like TV deals are already effectively pooled commercial income so this is just one step further.

[Mickmack]

Ewan McKenna didnt have horns or anything like that on Prime Time tonight.

The lad from Na Fianna was struggling.

Anyway, the debate has started.

Dublin John wont upset the apple cart.
The next President will be a President for all the people hopefully.

[Annascaultilidie]

Sept 17, 2019 20:25:50 GMT @kingdomexile said:

The obvious answer here is to pool the commercial income and divide across the counties.

Other sports can do it and things like TV deals are already effectively pooled commercial income so this is just one step further.

Correct.

I understand this is done in the American NFL.

I would support such a proposal.

[john4]

Sept 17, 2019 21:15:36 GMT Mickmack said:

Ewan McKenna didnt have horns or anything like that on Prime Time tonight.

The lad from Na Fianna was struggling.

Anyway, the debate has started.

Dublin John wont upset the apple cart.
The next President will be a President for all the people hopefully.

The Ná Fíanna chairman was the wrong person entirely to bring on to speak on this subject. It's a high level official from Croke Park that should have been there to answer questions. Ná Fíanna are only delighted to take what they're given.

[Deleted]

McStay spoke well I thought

Greater access to the best of nutritional advice, sports science and s&c for all counties is required. This has to be funded from somewhere. Time for a collective approach.

While Dublin are the focus of this debate, we should acknowledge that Kerry have financial advantages over others that could be reduced also.

[Deleted]

The lad from nafianna was gas. It appears Dublin’s success is down to having better volunteers than everyone else.

[Mickmack]

Kevin McStay has done the State some service
No doubt he will be villified

[john4]

A big part of Dublin's story in recent years has been that their senior teams success has made the game hugely popular with kids.

If Kerry won the All Ireland a few years together, or Kilkenny in the hurling there wouldn't really be a large increase in the numbers of kids joining their club cause there's a good chance they'd be playing with the club anyway regardless. Same with Kilkenny, every young fella has a hurley anyway.

All these Dublin clubs with huge numbers of young lads playing will each get a GDO, or more than one, costing more and more money, the whole thing will snowball out of control.

[onlykerry]

Unless the issue is sorted we will end up with counties having to amalgamate and the championship becoming a version of the Kerry County Championship with 4/5 traditional counties (clubs) and several groupings of counties (like a divisional side). And all sides will end up being professional ....

I would hate to see it happen but money will drive it this way.

[kerrygold]

Dublin must be right on the amateur professional line right now. Hard to see how the game could be brought to another level in the amateur context.

It would be wrong to split Dublin, it would be wrong to take away the funding from the kids growing up in Dublin city.

Far better to find a way of replicating what is happening in Dublin in all other counties around the country.

Dublin should have their own stadium, that is the only change I would like to see happening combined with enhanced funding around the country.

The first half of this years replayed final and the Dublin v Mayo finals in '16 & '17 offer a tantalising glimpse of what the game could be like in some sort of semi-professional environment. I could live with that.......

[danbreen]

I'm not on here that often and haven't read all the comments. Looking at the Title of this Post "Money", it's not all about the money for me. Dublin inter-county senior team have not played in Parnell Park since 2010. I stand corrected but Dublin are unbeaten for 36 games on the trot with 30/31 being played in Croke Park. This is a huge advantage over every other county and previous Dublin teams. I did the Croke Park tour this year and highly recommend it and the tour guide was excellent who stated one stage that the home of Dublin GAA is Parnell Park, of course I smiled at him. It takes time for players to settle into Croke Park, with Dublin it is seamless for all their players. Congratulations to Dublin and enjoy the 5 in a row and the last 9 years, Beidh an Ríocht ar ais aríst.

[Mickmack]

Sept 18, 2019 20:05:05 GMT kerrygold said:

it would be wrong to take away the funding from the kids growing up in Dublin city.

Far better to find a way of replicating what is happening in Dublin in all other counties around the country.

Dublin should have their own stadium, that is the only change I would like to see happening combined with enhanced funding around the country.

If the pot is 3m and Dublin continue to get over half, its hard to see how the same funding can be replicated around the country