Dublin's redemption tale - how Ger Brennan rallied a team boosted by star availability
Micheál Clifford
THEY SAY THAT if your absence was never felt, your presence never mattered.
In Gaelic football’s summer of romance and revolution, it is Ger Brennan and Dublin who have cornered the redemption market.
For those who like to consume their sport through tear-filled lenses, coming to a cinema, or even more welcome, terrestrial television on a Saturday (week) night, the GAA presents its terms of endearment semi-final between Louth and Mayo.
An epic tale on one side of a love that for generations dared not speak its name lest it be laughed at, and on the other, a love that has become a plaything for heartless suitors.
Fast and FuriousLess than 24 hours later, and the GAA settles for the tried and tested certified box office hit, the Fast and Furious sequel of Dublin and Kerry, a yarn about the great expectations which only those born to the manor are conditioned to.
If the first semi-final is a hanky magnet to the wider public, the second, while a compelling watch, is likely to invite a bout of the kind of confused hissing that you might expect when two pantomime villains get to share a stage they seem to have hogged eternally; between them they have won (70) more than half of the championships ever played.
And, yet, in a summer script addicted to page turning twists and turns, Dublin have found a way to mask the notion of being a dominant franchise by wearing the uniform of the written off underdog, forced to undergo strife, struggle and a suspension sauced with a potent sense of injustice.
That might just leave Jack O’Connor on his own in front of the baying mob, with nothing left to do but throw out David Clifford to either charm or silence them, or quite possibly both.
That he will do so most likely in front of a sold out Croke Park in a fortnight’s time neatly captures how Dublin’s fortunes and form have been transformed in the blink of an eye.
After all, it was only a couple of weeks ago that Brennan had indicated his preference to take his show to a fringe theatre when Donegal came calling, but Parnell Park was deemed a no-go because it was not deemed to have the capacity to host the crowd, or at least the Donegal crowd.
When Dublin started out in the All-Ireland series against Louth, 16,000 turned up, less than half of which were home supporters who were there to witness some unwanted history, their team losing back-to-back championships in a season for the first time ever.
Of course, Brennan was not on the sideline to see it up close, but he most certainly took it personally.
That was the fourth championship game he had had missed – and there are still two more league games to go next season – due to the 12-week ban he was hit with as a result of the well documented clash with Galway S&C coach Cian Breatnach McGinn at half-time in their final round league clash in Salthill, where defeat sealed Dublin’s relegation.
Since he returned to the sideline, Dublin are not just winning, but they have flipped the championship on its head by taking out the good (Donegal and Galway) which is reason enough to make the great nervous as they await.
In terms of results, his impact – they also beat Cavan on the road in his first game back – is off the scale.
Is it really possible that a non-playing member, albeit a manager, can have such a seismic influence by being in the dressing room and sideline on match day?
Of course, Brennan’s suspension also extended to not having a presence in the training ground over that 12 weeks, but it stretches credibility to suggest that while his presence was not visible to the outside eye, his influence was not exerted internally, whether by proxy or not.
He will hardly have seen it as such, but, in time, his season’s low-point may well morph into his turning one as Dublin manager.
When he traded in his Leinster championship winning bib with Louth to take on his own last August, it would be fair to suggest his rush was not to beat a queue.
TransitionDessie Farrell handed over a group already in transition, one whose identity and future was a mystery, all against the backdrop of faltering underage results.
He was a manager in need of time but when Feargal Kelly issued him with that red card back in March, rather than an act of injustice, it was perceived as an indictment of how Brennan was drowning in his new job, especially given the inevitable comparison that all future Dublin managers must suffer with.
Imagine Jim Gavin doing that?
But Gavin inherited a team of All-Ireland winners backed up by a gushing production line, while Brennan has been asked to merge, the old with the new, the proven with the potential, which was a challenge all the more daunting given the ticking body clocks of Dublin’s elder statesmen.
When Lee Gannon came on against Louth in that opening round All-Ireland series defeat, he was the 60th player used this season, a number that includes eight championship debutantes.
RollercoasterThose numbers alone ensured that this was going to be a rocky first season, but it is turning out to be a rollercoaster one.
However, Brennan showed the intuition to not just make peace with the worst of circumstances, but to exploit it.
When GAA president Jarlath Burns suggested the comparison with Jim McGuinness’ escape of sanction for physically challenging Kerry’s Diarmuid O’Connor last month and Brennan’s ban was “irrational”, the Dublin manager went public with his disdain at how unfairly he felt he had been treated.
Its purpose was as much about extending the siege mentality already nurtured within the dressing room to the wider Dublin support base that had drifted away.
“Everyone is agin’ us” is as old a message as ever broadcast, but never underestimate its shelf life.
After all, Brennan has recent history when going public with what others might prefer to keep in-house.
After losing back-to-back league games at the start of the season, he questioned the appetite of his older players, yet over the past few weeks, they are the ones who have been leading the fightback from the front, not least Niall Scully who is one big game away from winning a second All-Star.
In beating Donegal and Galway, Dublin won the intensity battle hands down in both games, evidence of not just a physically athletic squad but also a highly motivated one, which is ultimately a reflection of their manager.
On top of that, after his questionable treatment of Evan Comerford, he has sought to invest faith in his goalkeeper rather than sow doubt, when at one stage the critical number one position threatened to become a job share with Hugh O’Sullivan.
In front of Comerford, a defence infected with uncertainty has morphed into an organised intense unit, one led by another of his veterans in Davy Byrne.
But to suggest that Brennan’s return has been the key is a stretch too far.
What has made the biggest difference is a physio table that is finally giving back what it had taken away.
Colm Basquel, injured all season, is back to his 2023 All-Star form having nailed 0-11 against Donegal and Galway, Con O’Callaghan has iced early summer fears that his season would be sabotaged by his hamstring and the return of Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne has weaponised Dublin’s kick-out retention ability.
That is the bottom line, but it never hurts when rallying the public that this is not a story about the revival of a sleeping giant, but rather the redemption of one man and his team.
In football’s summer of cinematic blockbusters, Dublin have their own tale to woo.
*****
- Check out the latest episode of The 42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
The 42
