Dublin selector Mike Galvin has revealed that Michael Fitzsimons put himself forward as the man to mark Kerry star David Clifford in last Sunday’s All-Ireland final.
Fitzsimons’s man-marking job on the Fossa man was widely lauded as being pivotal to the Dubs regaining the Sam Maguire Cup, with the 34-year-old full-back named as many pundits’ man of the match.
Galvin, an All-Ireland winner with the Dubs as a player in 1995, revealed that Fitzsimons, who secured a record ninth All-Ireland medal alongside team-mates James McCarthy and Stephen Cluxton, asked to be the man handed what looked like an impossible task.
"He wanted Clifford from day one," said Galvin.
"And that could have backfired. It's a brave thing to do, to put up your hand and say you want to mark probably the best we've ever seen.
"Yeah, I think that's just Mick's level of detail. The week beforehand, his head was stuck in the laptop watching Clifford's movement.
“Then he'd go out on the pitch and he's pulling guys over to him and replicating it at the end of training saying, 'This is what Clifford does, I want you to do it for me'.
"So for the last two or three weeks, the homework was done. Sometimes it can backfire on you but the detail was there. The devil was in the detail and Mick was ready to go. Touch wood, he got the performance."
