GAELIC GAMES/All-Ireland football quarter-final, Dublin v Tyrone: Far away from the humdrum of the championship you find Dr Pat O'Neill. Ten years ago he completed the mission to ensure Sam Maguire was paraded around the capital city. No more is expected but a second opinion can't hurt. Gavin Cummiskey talks to Dr Pat O'Neill
Conceivably, the management team of O'Neill, Paddy Cullen (manager from 1990-92), Fran Ryder, Bobby Doyle and Jim Brogan could have landed five All-Ireland titles.
But in a period of remarkable Ulster raids they only won one - Down (twice), Donegal and Derry all getting out of Croke Park with the spoils. Only Tyrone didn't make it before Meath reappeared in 1996 to bring Ulster's good times to an abrupt halt.
This Saturday is Dublin's first championship meeting with Tyrone since the All-Ireland final of 1995 and the similarities between then and now are few.
Granted, Dublin are maturing into a team that can hold their own with anyone. More importantly, the management structure appears to be working.
Paul "Pillar" Caffrey, much like O'Neill, has the good sense to know his limitations and delegate accordingly, with Ski Wade, Paul Clarke, Kieran Duff and Brian Talty all brought in alongside Dave Billings on the backroom team.
A combination of specific coaches - for example, Wade looks after the backs - and respected GAA men.
The parallels become more pronounced when O'Neill talks about merely being the first among equals.
"I was the manager but it was more like a management group and I was the chairman of that group. It wasn't like I was the manager and they were my assistants. That was how we ran it.
"The current management structure seems similar in some ways. It is vital to have expertise in all departments, especially the way the game has now gone."
Cullen resigned after defeat to Donegal in the 1992 All-Ireland final and three years later, after overcoming Tyrone to finally clinch the main prize, the others departed.
"After 1995 we stepped down as the job was done," said O'Neill. "There were several factors for each individual, like the pressure of work and domestic commitments.
"The management group needed to go on together or not at all. Someone within the group probably should have kept it on but individually we decided to step down."
Nowadays O'Neill cannot help thinking what might have been.
"It's funny to think that Dublin won the worst of the three All-Ireland finals they played in."
He points to a lack of focus in 1992 against Donegal, followed by capitulation against Derry in the semi-final stage in 1993 before ludicrous club championship fixtures saw Ciarán Walsh get injured before the 1994 final against Down.
"I suppose moving Paul Curran back to mark Mickey Linden was a crucial error. We missed a penalty as well before losing by two points."
The breakthrough eventually came against Tyrone in a dour one-point victory littered with controversial moments. O'Neill was close by for the dismissal of Charlie Redmond.
"Charlie had the ball and was fouled by Fergal Lohan, who trod on him. Charlie reacted with something between attempting to head-butt him and actually doing so. I was involved and I said to (referee) Paddy Russell, 'It would be unfair if you sent him off and not the other fella', but he had already told him he was off.
"That was when the confusion began. Three or four minutes later he really did put Charlie off as it wasn't clear at the time."
Then there was the disallowed point by Tyrone player Seán McLaughlin in injury time.
"Technically the decision was correct. It was a fairly courageous decision although at the same time harsh on Tyrone. A draw would have been a fair result but imagine a replay without Charlie Redmond. Now that would have been a disgrace."
That summer belonged to a teenager named Jason Sherlock. O'Neill was aware of his prodigious talent for some time before unleashing him, holding it off for as long as humanly possible.
"We brought Ian Robertson and Jason in the year before, not to use them, but so they could get a feel for the set-up. Robertson didn't come on the next year, but he did eventually, while we all know what happened with Jason.
"We didn't use him straight away but brought him in against Laois when he scored that famous goal in his stocking. We then used him close to goal to live off the crumbs but he also chewed up all those crumbs.
"There was plenty of disappointment that he didn't win the All Star, many in the selection committee probably thought he would come again as he had just turned 19."
Sherlock does come again this Saturday but O'Neill feels this Dublin team are still some way off the required standards set by Tyrone, Armagh and Kerry in recent times.
"I think I have to go with the head before the heart this time and say Tyrone, but only minimally.
"Dublin have been digging out results, albeit with difficulty, this year. They have been producing the scores but the challenge will be to get the ball to the forwards against a quality Tyrone team; essentially they need to get ball into space quickly.
"They need to get out of these dream periods when they don't function. They seem to be playing well for 35 minutes but at this level it needs to last 70."
