Looking back on the championship and another All-Ireland win, Dublin's most physical forward Eoghan O'Gara was asked whether 2016 was the most gruelling title of the four won this decade.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. It certainly felt like a long year with the latter games and the final and the replay. Guys were mentally tired and fatigued and we just had to keep going that bit longer. It was certainly a tough year.”
For the player himself there was added frustration, as he was making the difficult journey back from a cruciate injury, which had wrecked his involvement in the 2015 All-Ireland victory. He has fond memories of making his return to action with the team in the opening championship engagement with Laois last June but the comeback wasn’t as seamless a process as he had hoped.
“I had a plan and a diary in my head and it didn’t pan out the way I had pencilled in. Maybe in hindsight I was slightly ahead of myself on the comeback trail and frustration crept in and I wasn’t getting game time.”
Vital component
In the end O’Gara, a vital component in the 2011 and ’13 title wins, had to be content with last-10-minutes’ appearances in three of the four All-Ireland matches and wasn’t called on in the final replay.
“In hindsight I probably wasn’t ready, you’re being told that you’re not ready. You feel that you’re ready and maybe looking back it is a long time out, a big gap but I’m looking forward to the coming year injury free and get a good run at things.”
Dublin went undefeated all year in league and championship and in 2017 have the opportunity to record what would be the county’s first three-in-a-row since the 1920s. With such an historic prize on offer, can Jim Gavin’s team afford to expend as much energy on going for a fifth league title in the spring?
“Again, that’s not something we really talk about. I know it’s a cliché but we don’t look too far ahead of yourselves – it’s what keeps you steady and focused as a team on each goal. We are never looking too far ahead at retaining a league title or retaining the All-Ireland, that’s not what we talk about.
“We talk about our next opponent, study them and do the homework. Three in a row and all this talk, its counter-productive.”
