It requires considerable energy and firepower to keep the Dublin football juggernaut on the road, and the county only needs to look towards its under-20 team for that conveyor belt of ready-made supply. At least over the last decade or so.
Ciarán Farrelly has certainly heard all that before, and would beg to differ slightly. It’s true Dublin have contested the last 10 Leinster under-20 football finals in succession, and set out to make another when they take on Westmeath in Tuesday’s opening round (Kinnegad, 7.30 pm).
It’s also true Dublin lost the last three of those finals (twice to Kildare, once to Offaly), and haven’t won an All-Ireland title in the grade since 2017, the last year it was contested as under-21.
Farrelly is starting his first season as Dublin under-20 manager, the Thomas Davis club stalwart previously involved with Tom Gray, as coach to his Dublin minor and under-20 teams, which also lost out in two All-Ireland finals in succession, in 2019 (to Cork) and 2020 (to Galway).
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While Dublin’s last All-Ireland win in 2017 produced an immediately ripe crop of players such as Con O’Callaghan, Brian Howard, Eoin Murchan and, latterly, Colm Basquel, that so-called conveyor belt has stalled a little in recent years, particularly since 2020.
Of that team, Ciarán Archer was the one most hotly tipped for future stardom, having shot the lights out for two seasons at under-20; instead he’s faded into the background, while other such as Lee Gannon and Lorcan O’Dell have made the senior breakthrough.
“That step up is tough,” says Farrelly. “Ciarán was absolutely excellent for us, no doubt about it, but he’s still playing with his club, St Maurs, still working away. Maybe there is still a possibility he could end up there again.
“But Lee Gannon was also on that team, Ross McGarry and Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne [from 2019], and players are developing at different paces.
“They are working away in the background, with development squads, still working with their own clubs more importantly. It is a hard team to break into, but it’s not through a lack of quality.”
Former Dublin midfielder Ciaran Whelan has also suggested the county’s supply has stalled a little, only for Farrelly, that’s certainly not through any lack of will or desire.
“Okay, maybe we’re not bursting at the seams with as many of these star-studded players. But what we are creating I suppose are the hard-working type of player, still producing players that have huge desire.
“Fair enough, there mightn’t be lads that are just going straight through, the way David Clifford did, going from being the best minor in the country to being the best senior maybe. But we’re still producing players that are dedicated to Dublin GAA and trying to achieve what they can.”
There is ample evidence too in Kildare’s case that under-20 success doesn’t automatically transfer to the senior stage; despite winning the last two Leinster under-20 titles, and last year’s under-20 All-Ireland, they’ve just been relegated to Division Three of the league.
“If you look at last year, Dublin were leading in injury time, Kildare won with the last kick of the match,” says Farrelly. “And Kildare ultimately went on to win an All-Ireland. So the margins are tight.
“We still have some of the lads from last year, maybe 15, from across the whole panel. And they’re working as hard as they can, to be the best they can be, and everything outside of that is just noise. We wouldn’t be paying any attention to that.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say that’s for Kildare to worry about, to put their efforts into. You’d imagine they will come through, eventually, if they keep putting the effort in.
“I do think we have all the right attributes, and there is huge desire there in the panel that we have, to go on and be the best they can be. If I look at the Dublin club scene, it’s also particularly competitive, with a variation of different championships which are there for players to roll into. So they are still getting to compete at that high level, maybe that’s where the advantage comes from.
“I’m not sure, but I think the physicality is there in most counties. It also makes it easier if you’re based in Dublin, and training in Dublin, you’re not travelling back up and down from college. But from a Dublin aspect, the players are just focused on themselves.”
