JAMES McCARTHY has admitted that Dublin’s third All-Ireland title success in five seasons was the sweetest yet having been labelled ‘bottlers and cowards’ after losing to Donegal.
Dublin’s bid for back-to-back All-Ireland wins last year was dashed by a semi-final defeat to Donegal and defender McCarthy was upset with the criticism that followed. The team as a whole bounced back superbly throughout 2015 with a third National League success on-the-trot, a fifth consecutive Leinster win and now the All-Ireland.
“This is the sweetest one we’ve had,” said McCarthy.
“There were a lot of people with knives out for us last year and gave us a bit of stick but I think we gave them the answers this year. We’re just delighted to win it again.”
In an interview with RTE, McCarthy continued: “There was a lot of things being said to us, being called ‘bottlers and cowards’."
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“It’s a bit funny, lads in the dressing-room with two All-Ireland medals being called bottlers and cowards but I think that’s the answer for them anyway.”
There was a similar cutting edge to the post match comments of Michael Darragh Macauley who only appeared as a substitute, despite being Footballer of the Year in 2013.
“It was my most frustrating year on a Gaelic football pitch,” said Macauley.
“But you have to take the highs with the lows. With the injuries I had at the start of the year, I seemed to be chasing my tail a bit and I felt I got there towards the end but maybe it was just a little bit too late.
“I would have liked to have had a bigger part to play but that’s the way it goes.”
Macauley will be expected to return in 2016 hungry for a regular starting spot. Dublin will also welcome back Eoghan O’Gara from injury while Cormac Costello is recognised as one of the country’s top attacking talents but only featured sparingly.
Throw in the likely return of Paul Mannion, an All-Ireland winning forward in 2013, and the champions have the potential to become even stronger.
“None of us are auld lads yet,” smiled Macauley.
“Apart from Ally Brogan! No, we still have a bit more fight in the auld dog. Hopefully we can add to the silverware.”
In a tweet after yesterday’s game, former Dublin star Ciaran Whelan suggested this is “probably the best team ever in the capital”, a glowing tribute that McCarthy appeared to endorse by retweeting it.
Officially, Dublin are now level with the team of the 1970s that also won three All-Irelands in a similar time frame under Kevin Heffernan.
“My dad has three medals and I’m delighted to be able to match him,” said Bernard Brogan, who revealed how much Dublin learnt from losing to Donegal last year. We studied that game a lot. The second Mayo game this year we learnt a lot from too.
“In the first game, we were over excited and over exuberant, jumping around and indisciplined and frees being moved forward for fouling lads. The second day we were a lot more cool when under the pressure.
“The job was to be done and we did that and we took a lot of lessons from that into the final, to be emotionally in tune.”
