The greatest cliché in sport is taking each game as it comes. On the roller-coaster ride that took St Vincent’s back to the All-Ireland club football final that wasn’t just the cliché but the truth.
Now, with a third All-Ireland title in hand, comes the question of who will take over for their next game. Manager Tommy Conroy more or less left that unanswered after Monday’s win over Castlebar Mitchels, although it’s unlikely his old club will let him walk away easily.
Conroy took over as manager in 2012, having previously worked under Mickey Whelan when the latter guided St Vincent’s to their last All-Ireland success, in 2008. Conroy’s association with the club goes all the way back to the 1985 final, when they very narrowly lost out to Kerry champions Castleisland Desmonds.
As a player with Dublin he also lost two All-Ireland finals to Kerry, and while victory in the 1983 final over Galway will always carry some consolation, managing St Vincent’s to an All-Ireland title neatly bookends everything.
"Well I'd like to go off and work on my golf handicap now," said Conroy, presumably only half-joking. "But this has put to bed a lot of ghosts for me, genuinely. Like, as a club and county player, losing All-Irelands to Kerry. Then to have been involved back in 2008, under Mickey Whelan, was great. And to head it up now, to steer these players to win an All-Ireland, is just fantastic.
Two years
"I won't say it's a weight off me, but it's done. That's why I feel I can go off now and enjoy it. I said two years. And the two years are up. So what happens now I don't know. I haven't even thought about it. But I would be quite happy to pass this on for somebody else to take up."
The two years may be up but now he is presented with the opportunity to build yet again on the St Vincent’s legacy.
“I don’t think these guys really realise what they have achieved with the club. They are up there now, with all the greats, in St Vincent’s. They are living in nobody’s shadows now. What was asked of these players was incredible. This has been going on for over a year, really, to win this All-Ireland title, and that is an incredible commitment for a club team.”
The question of how soon Ger Brennan and Diarmuid Connolly resume duties with Jim Gavin’s Dublin team is also unanswered for now.
“I’ll answer that in a couple of weeks,” said Brennan. “I’ve thought nothing about Dublin. All the focus has been on winning this All-Ireland club title with St Vincent’s.”
It’s unlikely either player will be back with Dublin for the penultimate round of the league on Sunday week against Mayo in Croke Park. Monday’s club final was the latest instalment of that Dublin-Mayo rivalry over the past few years, which included an All-Ireland semi-final, league semi-final, and All-Ireland final. The current score is 3-1 in Dublin’s favour, which suggests Mayo will be quite happy neither Brennan nor Connolly are ready just yet to return.
