Dublin manager Jim Gavin says he is not bothered by the negativity that surrounds Dublin’s 4th All Ireland in a row.
Thousands of Dubliners gathered in Smithfield to welcome Sam Maguire home to the capital. To the naked eye the turnout appeared lower than previous years.
Dublin’s success was greeted with derision from some quarters of the media and fans outside of the county.
‘Bore in a row’ read the headline of the Times Ireland edition on the morning after the Dubs made history by becoming the first team from the county to win 4 All Ireland titles in a row.
Others had a more respectful approach to Dublin’s achievements, the Irish Examiner labelled the success the ‘Fantastic Four’ while the Irish Independent noted that the ‘Drive for Five’ was ready to begin.
Gavin has no time for their detractors: “Not particularly interested if I’m honest, we’re just representing Dublin as best we can, I know close to home how the fans feel about this football team and that’s really what it means to me.”
Stephen Cluxton became the first man to lift the Sam Maguire trophy four years in a row and in his winning speech, reminded Dublin’s detractors that their success is not all about money and population.
“To the officers of the county board and the staff of Parnell Park, I’d like to thank you for your endless work and dedication to the team.
“Regardless of what people say about money and population and who put these things out, we (just) really go as hard as we can.”
Gavin also addressed Cluxton’s comments but denied that the criticism of perceived unfair advantages that Dublin benefit from like higher grant allocation and a bigger playing population to chose from is something that stung the players:
“I think what he’s referenced there is that Dublin GAA is about the sum of its part, I’m involved with U10s at my local club and to see the mums and dads bringing the kids up to training each week, that’s what sport is about.
“These players have been developed by the clubs and the Cumann na mBunscol structure in Dublin and we just put a bit of polish on them but again Stephen is acutely aware and he always articulates that we are the sum of our parts and that’s the club structure
James McCarthy also felt Dublin have not got the credit they deserved and the Ballymun Kickhams defender says coverage surrounding Dublin can be misinformed at times:
“It’s an easy thing to throw at you, I’d love those guys to do a bit of research and find out about our team. Last year someone was slagging us about not playing the International rules, but 6 or 7 of us would’ve love to play, but we had to go play.
“It was thrown at us that we were blanking them and wouldn’t play with them, it’s just silly like, I’d love guys to do a bit of research to find out what it takes because it annoys us and disappoints us.”
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