Football

Lean times make success all the sweeter for Alan Brogan

Alan Brogan is on the cusp of winning a third Celtic Cross but remembers when All-Ireland glory seemed a distant dream for Dublin
Alan Brogan is on the cusp of winning a third Celtic Cross but remembers when All-Ireland glory seemed a distant dream for Dublin Alan Brogan is on the cusp of winning a third Celtic Cross but remembers when All-Ireland glory seemed a distant dream for Dublin

DUBLIN football fans may recall that back in 2004, powerful defender Johnny Magee took on snooker player Quinten Hann in a quite bizarre charity boxing bout.

Even more entertaining than the fight itself, which Magee controversially won, was the pre-fight press conference at the Drimnagh Boxing Club where, among other insults, man mountain Magee had a pitcher of water tossed over him.

Hann's promoter taunted the Hill 16 hero that colourful afternoon about his lack of success with Dublin, declaring that the capital county hadn't won a thing since 1995.

Dublin had, in fact, scratched a seven-year itch in 2002 by winning the Leinster title though the man still had a point. This was the capital county and they were underachieving badly and the dogs in the street knew it.

Alan Brogan was in his third season at the time with just that one Leinster medal to his credit. Now 33, Brogan stands on the cusp of his third All-Ireland title success. He is a three-time AllStar and former Footballer of the Year and isn't exactly sure if he's won 'nine or 10' Leinster medals at this stage. He has even heard passionate appeals in recent times for Dublin to be split in two, such is their apparent power.

But it wasn't always this way as they approach another final as favourites, against no less an opponent than Kerry, and doesn't Brogan just know it.

"It's amazing and I've often said it to the younger guys that I was 10 years at it before I managed to even feature in a final," said Brogan.

"I know they look like they're coming thick and fast at the moment but it hasn't always been that way, far from it. It's important now that while we're at the top that we make the most of it and obviously we're trying to put those medals in the back pocket and that's what's most important."

Dublin couldn't buy a win in a really big game throughout the 2000s, losing semi-finals to Mayo and Kerry in 2006 and 2007 and suffering a dispiriting quarter-final hiding at the hands of the Kingdom in 2009. Brogan could have been forgiven for suspecting he'd never emulate his famous father, Bernard senior, by winning an All-Ireland.

"I never really thought about it like that," maintained the creative forward. "I think we just took it one game at a time, one year at a time. But, yeah, for a long time it looked like we'd never get to an All-Ireland final.

"In 2011, when we did win it, it was probably just a sense of relief as much as anything else, that we managed to get there and win it, particularly for the older guys in the panel that had been there for so long.

"We're a few years on again now and I think there's a different mindset now. There's a new bunch of players and they're very used to this sort of success. I think it's what they expect of each other and that's where the bar has been set now, featuring in All-Ireland finals."

A player like Michael Darragh Macauley perfectly sums up the new breed that Brogan speaks of. Since his Championship debut in 2010, Macauley has featured in 33 Championship games for Dublin, losing just four times.

Many pinpoint that summer of 2010 and, specifically, the five-goal mauling from Meath as the beginning of their journey to success as it hammered home the necessity of solid defending. Others believe the seminal moment was being hammered by Kerry the previous season. Either way, this is a different Dublin team now, experienced and expectant with the talent to back it all up.

"The real strength of the squad is that everyone keeps pushing," said Brogan. "I remember in the mid-2000s when we got to an All-Ireland quarter-final or semi-final, some guys knew they weren't going to be playing and you could see their intensity levels dropping off.

"Whereas now even the guys towards the end of the panel are still maintaining those intensity levels which is very important for the 15 or 20 guys that will actually play the next day. We've definitely taken a step forward in that regard in the last few years."

Brogan is a father of two now - his second boy was born in march - and the strong sense is that he will call it quits after this final. Only an elite few have ever got to bow out as All-Ireland winners though it's an exclusive club Brogan could yet join.

"It's not a decision I've made and it'll be another few weeks before I think about that," said the St Oliver Plunkett's-Eoghan Ruadh club man, largely utilised as an impact substitute this summer.

"It's certainly not forever. I've played 14 years but it's coming to an end soon. I suppose my mind set has changed a little bit in that in the early years, even up to a couple of years ago, it was all about winning.

"Now I'm enjoying each training session, just taking each session as it comes and trying my best. That is a change of mind set for me and I think it's a change for the better."

He is adamant that beating Kerry wouldn't make the title success any more special, even with all the history between the two counties and the fact that his own mother is from the Kingdom.

More important, he says, is that Dublin have shown they're capable of beating Kerry in recent seasons after a 24-year losing streak, stretching back to, ironically, 1977 when Bernard Brogan senior scored, arguably, the match winning goal.

"I think it is important that we've changed that dynamic of losing to Kerry, obviously from the point of view of winning medals it is," said Alan. "In 2009, they beat us well, other years they beat us, so in the early stages of my career they definitely had the better of us.

"In fairness, in 2011, everyone knows that match could have went either way, they were four up with whatever left and we managed to claw our way back. I think this game will be no different, two very good footballing teams going hard at it and I don't think there'll be much in at the end of the day again."