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Irish Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Mutual admirers Dessie Farrell and Kieran McGeeney help Dublin and Armagh get into their groove
The latest juncture of Dessie Farrell 's sporting life crossing paths with Kieran McGeeney will take place at Croke Park on Sunday, but it first started more than two decades ago in a haunt where many meaningful and complex GAA relationships begin. It started in Coppers. In the aftermath of losing the 1998 Dublin SFC final, several Na Fianna players sought sanctuary in the dark and loud and smoky clutches of Copper Face Jacks, the long-standing nightclub on Dublin's Harcourt Street. As Farrell and his team-mates were trying to numb the pain, McGeeney and his Armagh colleague Diarmaid Marsden passed by and respectful nods were exchanged. Farrell had played against McGeeney previously but, though he recognised him that night as a fellow county player, initially the Dubliner was flummoxed. READ MORE 'My memory blanked,' Farrell would confess seven years later in his enthralling autobiography, Tangled Up in Blue. 'Then McGeeney approached me and, mercifully, just as he extended his hand, his name popped into my head.' The conversation that followed was the beginning of a mutually beneficial and enduring friendship – they would go on to share a dressingroom, win three county titles as Na Fianna team-mates and on the day the Gaelic Players Association was officially launched in Belfast the pair travelled together from Dublin to the event. The exact details of that nightclub conversation in the small hours of the morning 27 years ago might forever be hazy but at some point the chat moved towards McGeeney considering a move to play his club football in the capital. He was working in Dublin with the Irish Sports Council at the time. St Vincent's had already been in touch. Farrell made his play. 'Having at least signalled our ambition by reaching the county final, I suggested, very politely, that he might consider coming up to Mobhi Road for a look and gave him my phone number,' he recalled. 'A couple of weeks later, McGeeney rang and said he and his Armagh colleague Des Mackin would be interested in talking to the club.' Farrell, Mick Galvin (current Dublin selector) and then Na Fianna manager Paul 'Pillar' Caffrey met the duo and convinced them to pull on the blue and yellow. Having only previously won two Dublin senior football titles (1969 and 1979), Na Fianna achieved a famous three in-a-row in 1999-2001. They also contested an All-Ireland club final in 2000 – a particularly compelling fixture for McGeeney and Mackin as Na Fianna's opponents that day were the pair's south Armagh neighbours, Crossmaglen Rangers. 'There's no question, I don't think that success would have happened without Dessie and Kieran,' says Karl Donnelly, who played in all four of those Dublin SFC finals between 1998 and 2001. Donnelly was also an Ireland basketball international at the time. 'Kieran set his standards by his actions more than anything in the early days, the level of intensity he would have brought to training would have been up significantly from what we would have been used to at the time. 'I'd have known it a little bit from the level I was playing at in basketball so I would have embraced that when he arrived. Personally, I really enjoyed that seriousness, preparation and the intensity he brought. 'Every training session was an opportunity for us to develop and get better. He would have brought that intensity and it deterred lads from going half-arsed in drills.' Farrell would later write that McGeeney's arrival helped him personally in achieving his goals with Na Fianna. 'For years, my clubmates had to listen to me constantly droning on about raising standards, about the importance of greater sacrifice, of greater application, of discipline,' said Farrell. 'At times I wouldn't have been the most popular for it; I never shied away from telling a lad to his face that he wasn't focused, that he was an underachiever. Now, there was someone even more zealous than me, a man who believed in realising his ambition.' John Horan, who would become president of the GAA from 2018-21, had spent years toiling away with teams in Na Fianna. He had either coached many of the players with the club or taught them in St Vincent's secondary school, Glasnevin. 'The leadership was always there with Dessie but when you got another strong leader in the room like Kieran, it certainly made a huge difference. Between the two of them, they drove it on,' recalls Horan. McGeeney's arrival was the missing link but Farrell had spent years laying down the foundations. 'Dessie was the architect of putting in all that infrastructure in terms of wanting to improve the standards,' adds Donnelly, who was a late convert to Gaelic football, having focused mostly on basketball and soccer until then. 'I would have heard stories subsequently that he was instrumental in bringing the Na Fianna seniors out of a kind of malaise of being also-rans.' Success followed success. On the back of all the club titles, in 2002 McGeeney captained Armagh to their maiden All-Ireland SFC triumph. In the semi-final they overcame Dublin, a game in which Farrell was deployed at centre forward to mark McGeeney in a deliberate ploy by the Dubs to try to curtail the Armagh captain's influence on the game. Armagh beat Dublin in a qualifier in 2003 – also a game in which both McGeeney and Farrell played – but by the time the counties next met in the championship, in 2010, both had retired. McGeeney was managing the Kildare senior footballers at that stage while in 2011 Farrell would manage the Dublin minors to an All-Ireland minor final appearance. Sunday's All-Ireland round-robin game is the first championship meeting between the counties in 15 years and only the sixth in history. On the road to this point, both men have endured difficult days on the sideline but ultimately they have each managed their county to All-Ireland titles. Farrell won the minors in 2012, the under-21s in 2014 and 2017 and claimed the senior title in 2020 and 2023, and McGeeney led the seniors to glory in 2024. Their relationship has transcended football pitches and sidelines – evolving from the dressingroom to the boardroom. Both were founding members of the GPA at the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast in September 1999. [ Paul Grimley on Armagh's Kieran McGeeney: 'His longevity is incredible ... and he's certainly not finished' Opens in new window ] Farrell was one of only two non-Ulster players present, Galway's Ja Fallon the other. On finishing work at St Brendan's Hospital in Grangegorman earlier that day, Farrell was picked up by McGeeney and they travelled together to Belfast. 'On the road we spoke about player welfare issues, the first proper conversation I'd ever had on the subject,' recalled Farrell in his book. 'I was taken aback by Kieran's perspective. I found the conversation illuminating.' That car trip would be the start of another journey for Farrell – he later served as chief executive of the GPA between 2003-2016. McGeeney had a stint as GPA secretary. In the days following Armagh's victory over Galway in last July's All-Ireland final, Donnelly sent McGeeney a congratulatory text. It certainly wasn't the only message McGeeney received from his old comrades in Mobhi Road. 'The friendships and the experiences and the craic that we had around that team, while all that stuff was happening on the pitch there was also the social aspect to it where connections and bonds were created that you probably cherish for life more than any of the medals,' adds Donnelly. Na Fianna have yet to add another Dublin SFC but they have come close in recent years – losing a final in 2022. 'Those teams with Dessie and Kieran, they upped standards and gave everybody involved with the club an understanding of what was required in the context of effort and commitment to become successful,' adds Horan. Given both Dublin and Armagh chalked up wins in their opening group games of this year's All-Ireland series, the jeopardy at Croke Park this Sunday is not what it might have been had results turned out otherwise. Still, it's the 2024 Sam Maguire winners against the 2023 Sam Maguire winners, Armagh against Dublin, McGeeney against Farrell. 'They are two very good leaders in the context both have gone on to manage their county to All-Ireland wins,' says Horan. 'To have had two future All-Ireland-winning managers playing on the one team, very few club teams could claim that. They were the difference.'
Irish Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Armagh minds will have been drifting towards Dubs clash says former Orchard star
Aaron Kernan reckons that Armagh minds may have been drifting towards Dublin even before they played Derry last weekend. Despite Armagh leading by 13 points at one stage on Saturday, a couple of Derry goals made for an uncomfortable finish at the Athletic Grounds, though the All-Ireland champions held out for a four-point win in the end. The nature of the round robin stage is that upcoming games are already in the diary and Armagh's second round trip to Croke Park had an allure about it as soon as the groups were finalised. It gets the juices flowing for all sorts of reasons, not least because it's a meeting of the last two All-Ireland winners but the rival managers, Kieran McGeeney and Dessie Farrell, have a shared history having played club football together in the capital for Na Fianna. Kernan said: 'It's a difficult one because you're always preparing for Championship and you sort of just know your next game. Whereas Dublin, Croke Park, big crowds, it's very hard not to let your mind drift forward a week.' The counties met in two high profile Championship games in 2002 and '03, both won by Armagh when McGeeney and Farrell were involved as players. Indeed, Stephen Cluxton played in those games and was famously sent off in the 2003 qualifier. He is expected to start on Sunday, 22 years on. Kernan's father Joe was Armagh manager at the time though he didn't come into the side until the following year and so just missed out on those clashes, with his only Championship meeting with Dublin being a relatively low key qualifier at Croke Park in 2010 which the home side won by three points. At that stage, Armagh were very much a fading force while Dublin were finding their feet under Pat Gilroy in what was a rare trip through the back door for them. 'They were in an unusual place,' Kernan recalled. 'That was the year they shipped the five goals against Meath, so they were trying to find their feet between being defensively solid and not taking away from what their strengths were in an attacking sense. 'Looking back now, or even at the time, I'm not sure that we had the genuine confidence or belief within our group that we were capable of going and beating Dublin in Croke Park. 'I think maybe if it had been a home game at that stage in the Athletic Grounds, we might have been the sort of team that could have performed an ambush. But the genuine belief wasn't there within us. 'I know it certainly wasn't the same spectacle that there was in 2002, 2003 in that qualifier game or that All-Ireland semi-final where they played Dublin in packed Croke Parks and even League games at that stage.' Indeed, the meeting of the counties in the 2003 League opener drew a whopping 54,000 to Croke Park, with Armagh winning well. Kernan added: 'They were the good times in Armagh football and good times in Ireland as a whole in terms of crowds that were turning out. 'But you'd have to think, given the Armagh support and how well they travel in numbers, and particularly Dublin, what they've given their fans, you'd hope again that if you had 50,000-plus, it would still be a brilliant spectacle. 'I think the Leinster final with 60,000 there showed that when you have a good contest and you have a crowd there, Croke Park fairly comes alive. Ultimately that's what players want, that's what you thrive on and that's what all the sacrifice is being done for. It's big days like that."
RTÉ News
22-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Seán Currie: Niall Ó Ceallacháin has 'added that couple of percent'
Seán Currie has hailed the impact that Niall Ó Ceallacháin has made in his first year as Dublin hurling manager, highlighting the small improvements made by the former Na Fianna coach. Last January, Ó Ceallacháin guided the Glasnevin club to a maiden All-Ireland title, with Currie part of the team that were too strong for Cork's Sarsfields in the Croke Park decider. A week later and the 42-year-old coach was now overseeing his first game in charge of Dublin in a league campaign where they just missed out on promotion to Division 1B. And then on to the championship. With one round to go in Leinster, Ó Ceallacháin's men know that victory over Galway at Parnell Park on Sunday will see them through to a successive final against Kilkenny. Last weekend, it was the Cats who prevailed in their regulation clash at UPMC Nowlan Park, with the Dubs' second-half rally falling short. A goal by Billy Ryan at the death would eventually see the hosts scrape home. WATCH KILKENNY v DUBLIN HIGHLIGHTS For Currie, who scored 2-06 on Noreside, it's now about about taking that next step in the province. At a recent Dublin GAA media event with sponsors Staycity Aparthotels, the sharpshooter was in no doubt that the 12-year wait for a title can be ended. "Yes, 100%, that's why we are here," he said. "We have no interest in coming second or third, we definitely have that belief we can go further than we did last year. We were disappointed with the performance in the final last year so we are focussed on making an amends for that and improving as we go on. "We have definitely underperformed. I think where we want to be is competing for Leinster championships, competing for All-Ireland championships and I guess the reality is we haven't been doing that over the last few years. When you look at the group of players we have, I definitely think we are capable of going to that next level and that's our aim now to achieve that." The 26-year-old also believes the club scene in the capital is feeding into a stronger collective at county level. "It probably does give us a boost in how strong the Dublin club championship is," he added. "Every team in the club championship fancies themselves to win it. There are five or six teams in Dublin that could compete with any club in the country. So I think the strength of the championship is definitely feeding into the inter-county plan." And while Currie accepts that it's those on the pitch that have the do their stuff, the arrival of his follow clubman as county boss has added something to the mix. "It really comes down to the players, there is no point getting bogged down by the manager. I'd say 95-99% of our performance is down to us as players, there is only that small extra couple of percent that managers add. I think Niall has probably added that couple of percent this year, small tactical tweaks maybe make a small difference but it really comes down to the players. The players enjoy playing for him. Expanding more on Ó Ceallacháin's managerial acumen, Currie remarked: "The players enjoy playing for him. He is a really good manager. Obviously I had him for five years with Na Fianna. He definitely took the club to the next level from where we were, he brought us on year on year. "What you can tell from that is that every year we just got better, even from the start to the end of the year we would have made those small improvements that make a big difference. It's the same coming into the Dublin set-up, trying to make those small improvements to lift the level as we go on."
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dublin hurler Seán Currie: ‘We have no interest in coming second or third'
It has already been quite the year for Seán Currie but the club All-Ireland winner hopes there will be even more hurling silverware brought back to the capital before the end of the 2025 season. Currie was a key player for Na Fianna last January when they made history by winning the All-Ireland club senior hurling title for the first time. Niall Ó Ceallacháin was the Na Fianna manager during that incredible journey and six days later he was back in Croke Park wearing the Dublin bainisteoir's bib at the outset of his new role with the capital's hurlers. Five months on and while Dublin missed out on promotion in the league, they are now just one win away from booking a place in this year's Leinster final. They face Galway on Sunday in what is effectively a playoff to meet Kilkenny in the provincial decider. READ MORE Ó Ceallacháin is joined in the Dublin dressingroom by several of Na Fianna's All-Ireland winning players – including brothers Seán Currie (25) and older brother Colin (27), Conor McHugh, AJ Murphy and Dónal Burke. 'It was definitely the best moment of my career winning that All-Ireland,' recalls Seán Currie. He is Dublin's top scorer in this year's championship and in all four of their games so far Currie has been the team's leading marksman. He has registered a tally of 3-38 and is the second-highest scorer in the Leinster SHC after Lee Chin. Currie's average of just under 12 points per game has been a key factor in Dublin's push for a Leinster final spot. Sean Currie of Na Fianna celebrates scoring a goal against Kilcormac-Killoughey in Croke Park in November 2024. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Dublin lost last year's provincial final badly to Kilkenny, ending up 16 points adrift of the Cats at the final whistle. Dublin's most recent Leinster triumph was in 2013. Before that you have to go back to 1961, but Currie insists the current crop believe they can lift the Bob O'Keeffe Cup. 'Yes, 100 per cent, that's why we are here,' adds Currie. 'We have no interest in coming second or third, we definitely have that belief we can go further than we did last year. 'We were disappointed with the performance when we did get to the final last year so we are focused on making amends for that and improving as we go on.' [ Billy Ryan goal saves Kilkenny from Dublin second-half resurgence Opens in new window ] But there is no getting away from a perception Dublin have failed to deliver on their potential for much of the last decade. 'Definitely we have underperformed. I think where we want to be is competing for Leinster championships, competing for All-Ireland championships and I guess the reality is we haven't been doing that over the last few years,' says Currie. 'But when you look at the group of players we have, I definitely think we are capable of going to that next level and that's our aim.' Ó Ceallacháin is Dublin's first home-grown manager since Pat Gilroy, who had a one-year stint in 2018. In between there have been two Galway men at the helm: Mattie Kenny from 2019-22 and Micheál Donoghue from 2023-24. Dublin's Chris Crummey attempts to block a shot from Luke Hogan of Kilkenny at Nowlan Park last Sunday. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho However, Currie feels it is up to the hurlers on the field more than the coaches on the sideline to drive the team forward. 'It really comes down to the players, 95 to 99 per cent of our performance comes down to players; there is only that small extra couple of per cent that managers add. 'But do I think Niall has probably added that couple of per cent this year, small tactical tweaks that make a difference. The players enjoy playing for him. 'He is a really good manager – obviously, I had him for five years with Na Fianna. He definitely took Na Fianna to the next level from where we were, he brought us on year on year.' Last week's loss to Kilkenny was Dublin's first in this year's championship – following wins over Offaly, Wexford and Antrim. No matter how Sunday's game in Parnell Park goes, Dublin are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages of the All-Ireland but a Leinster final is the target right now. 'We probably weren't playing at the right level in the early stages of the league,' says Currie. 'But we have continued to make a lot of improvements as the year has gone on.' Sunday will tell if those improvements have been enough.
Irish Times
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dublin camogie instructs referees to allow games go ahead even if players refuse to wear skorts
Dublin camogie has instructed its referees to allow games to go ahead even if players refuse to wear skorts, despite the sport's rules stating that games should be abandoned when it happens. On Tuesday night, a full round of senior league games took place across the county with several teams lining out in shorts in solidarity with their county players after last weekend's protest. In a circular sent to the county's referees earlier this week, Dublin camogie chairman Karl O'Brien made it clear that games were not to be abandoned on the basis of shorts being worn instead of skorts. It led to teams from Na Fianna, St Jude's, Castleknock, Ballyboden and several others lining out for their games on Tuesday wearing shorts. Referees were told to note the issue and put it in their report but to play the games regardless. 'Following on from the shorts/skorts protest at the weekend, we are aware that some clubs may support our county players in wearing shorts for club games this week. If you arrive for a game where a team or both wear shorts, I ask that you inform them that under rule, they are due to wear skorts but if they are going to wear shorts in the game that you are going to allow the game to proceed but will report accordingly to the County Board for them to deal with it. 'Our players want to play games and as a county board we are in the business of promoting camogie. But if games don't happen we aren't showcasing our wonderful sport.' READ MORE The move comes in the wake of the Dublin players protesting alongside their Kilkenny counterparts ahead of last weekend's Leinster championship match. Both teams turned up on the pitch wearing shorts, only to be told by the referee that he would have to abandon the match if they didn't change into skorts. The controversy has dragged on into the middle of this week, with no imminent sign of it ending. The news comes as the Camogie Association is said to be considering a compromise move, whereby a proposal will be allowed to go to the 2026 Congress to change the rules on playing attire. As it stands, no new rule changes are allowed until 2027, but according to a report on Tuesday night's Prime Time on RTÉ, it has been suggested that delegates may get to vote on a new proposal next spring. Even if that is the case, it would still mean that camogie players would have at least another 10 months of having to play in skorts or risk being sent off as individuals, or having their matches called off if they decide as a team not to wear the mandated attire. This weekend's Munster final between Cork and Waterford is set to become the next major flashpoint, with both teams indicating that they will turn up in shorts. The president and chief executive of the Camogie Association have both been approached for comment.
