Where are Dublin?s ?Killer Bs??

John Fogarty

A few weeks after last year’s All-Ireland final, a former county manager met a Dublin footballer who had retired from the panel after many years of service without ever tasting the ultimate glory.

“You’re hurting, aren’t you?” asked the manager.

“You don’t know how much,” replied the footballer.

He had missed out. Worse still, he felt he was more deserving of a medal than some of those on the Dublin panel. He cited to the manager the players who he felt had done little in the sky blue jersey to get their Celtic Crosses.

It would be unfair to name those who he mentioned – the guy was stung and sore – but he wouldn’t have sole ownership of such a perception. As written here before, the gusto with which the Dublin players were seen to celebrate the All-Ireland triumph hasn’t gone down all that well outside of the capital.

Most of it wasn’t their fault. Dublin being Dublin, wherever Sam was a camera or two were sure to follow. Also, social media is now close to its zenith and plenty of their celebrations in the winter months were broadcast across the country.

But the sight of fringe players milking the glory for all its worth was something new.

This blog has no problem with a player profiting from their achievements but when their contribution on the field of play has been scant it looks wrong.

Sure, it’s a 20-man game these days. They were plenty of plaudits lofted towards “The Killer Bs”, the auxiliaries who sparred with the first teamers in a barrage of fierce and bruising training games especially during the All-Ireland series.

Sure, they sharpened their superiors’ teeth and put in just as much work as those that shocked Kerry last September. But they should consider what the perception of them is. Why? Because, frankly, it isn’t as flattering as they may believe.

It pays to walk easy when your jug is full but when you haven’t been seen to carry the thing it’s best to keep the head down.

In the public’s eye they have yet to earn their corn but the problem is a Dublin jersey comes with a sense of self-importance whether it’s number one or 23.

There is a celebrity status attached to pulling on one – something Pat Gilroy has undoubtedly been aware of for quite some time now.

The latest news from the Dublin camp doesn’t reflect favourably on the fringe players either. What does it say about competition in the Dublin panel when 12 of the team that started last September will do so again on Sunday?

What does it say when the 15 who are named to begin against Louth all featured in that famous win? Has the battle for places in the Dublin camp become that stagnated?

We know Gilroy long enough to realise he would have picked that team on the basis of training. The men he has chosen appear to have carried on where they left off last year.

But where are the others? Gilroy will have done his best to root out complacency in the camp. In his first year in charge took the whip to Bernard Brogan and contributed to making him into the player he has become.

But it must be a concern that so few from last year’s bench have put their hand up long enough to be considered for starting positions for Sunday.

Earlier this week, Ger Brennan displayed the type of mind-frame that will be needed if Dublin are to retain Sam Maguire this year.

After their collapse against Mayo in April, he recalled how he questioned his presence on the team: “What the hell am I at? I need to get the lead out or get out of here, because I am not doing the team, myself or Dublin any justice.”

Those who remain on the Dublin bench for the second year running should be asking themselves the same question as they are kept in reserve once more.

They might also like to look to Kerry for some direction. In 2007, Micheál Quirke, then a two-time All-Ireland winner, spoke of the inadequacy he felt as a substitute.

“I won’t be pipping up in a pub and saying I won an All-Ireland medal any time soon. I’d like to win one as a player, not as a panel member.”

Last year and another two All-Ireland medals gathered, Quirke left the panel having failed to nail a permanent spot. “My attitude was that if I am not playing, then I have no interest.”

It’s that type of selfishness that makes a player. James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick was in the same boat. He could have continued to win All-Irelands with Kilkenny, satisfied with a start here and there sprinkled with cameo roles.

He didn’t.

If it wasn’t enough for him or Quirke then it shouldn’t be for Dublin’s men in the stand.

Like eaten bread, also-ran All-Ireland winners are quickly forgotten.

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/4h41Pr8m808/post.aspx

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