Alan Brogan feels there's no proof that money was the reason Dublin became a force
"Most counties have access to funds to make sure that the bases are covered. I don’t think it’s going to last forever with Dublin. From that 2011/2014 team, Dublin have come back to the pack. The wheel is ever turning.'' Alan Brogan
It's 20 years since Alan Brogan took on a new job. He was 22 years old and had just finished his third Championship with Dublin. But so much experience had been crammed in a short period.
Brogan was part of the Dublin team that won a first Leinster title in seven years in 2002, and they were just pipped by eventual champions Armagh in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
He might have expected to drive on straight away but the Dubs were beaten in Leinster by Laois and Westmeath in 2003 and 2004. It was a time when Dublin were uncertain of themselves and their future, and that was behind the push to recruit dozens of new Games Promotion Officers.
READ MORE: Dubliners: 15 stories about a football team and a city over 50 dramatic years
READ MORE: Former Manchester United player reckons soccer gods spared his life after Roy Keane encounter
Brogan became St Oliver Plunkett Eoghan Ruadh's full time GPO, tasked with coaching in local schools and at underage level in the club. Bertie Ahern, as Taoiseach, played a significant role in Dublin receiving the funding needed to recruit GPOs.
In the two decades since then, the funding Dublin receive has often been questioned and criticised but Brogan never let it bug him.
"There’s very little that gets under my skin, at the end of the day. You realise, once you come out of it, it’s only a game of football, so I don’t tend to let stuff in sport really get under my skin,'' he said.
"I know what went in. Granted, there was money put into the GPOs, and I was part of that batch that came into Dublin GAA in 2004. It’s hard to say exactly what effect that it had.
"Most counties have access to funds to make sure that the bases are covered. I don’t think it’s going to last forever with Dublin. From that 2011/2014 team, Dublin have come back to the pack. The wheel is ever turning.
"At grassroots level, has there been a huge impact in terms of the money for coaching coming in and that transferring into the senior team? I think it’s difficult for anyone to say yes or no. It’s hard to get real proof of that.
"Certainly, in terms of the numbers playing GAA in Dublin, it’s had a huge impact on that and I think it’s very important that GAA is kept strong in Dublin."
There are plenty who argue that the notion of success being cyclical doesn't stack up in the case of Dublin. The argument is that, with their population and resources, they will always be competing for All-Ireland titles. But Brogan can use his own career as a counterpoint. He was in his 10th season before he played in an All-Ireland final.
One of the toughest days he endured was the 2010 Leinster defeat to Meath, when Dublin leaked five goals. Brogan was captain so defeat was particularly hard to take.
The fall-out from that game is fascinating, with the benefit of hindsight. Dublin fans had been booed in Croke Park for a second successive match.
There was talk that Pat Gilroy had lost the dressing-room, that the players were in revolt, and a local radio station reported, in the wrong, that Barry Cahill had walked off the panel after he was dropped for the opening qualifier with Tipperary. There seemed no way back for Dublin. Who knew that they were on the cusp of an unprecedented glorious era?
Look at the Dublin team of the noughties and contrast it, man for man, with that of the following decade. It's hard not to conclude that a golden generation came along.
Making the breakthrough mattered, though, and that's why Brogan believes the 2011 All-Ireland win under Gilroy in 2011 was crucial.
"There probably wasn’t a huge difference between what Pillar Caffrey and Pat Gilroy were doing. There was just that little bit more self-reflection, particularly with senior players, that helped to get that across the line, got us that extra five per cent,'' he said.
"We were a little bit naive before that breakthrough - 'here’s another year we’ll give a lash and see what happens'. The senior players, especially, could have shown a little more self-reflection as to what had gone on in previous years and what we could do to fix it.
"It’s hard to look outside 2011 for a highlight of my career. For myself, my family and what we’d all put into it, even the wider extended Brogan family.
"The 2015 win was special too, knowing that I was coming towards the end and after what I had been through with my groin.
"I missed a year, barely getting back into the panel at the end of 2013 and also then what happened at the Donegal match in 2014. So to come back out and win in 2015, that was a very special time.''
Sign up for Kieran Cunningham's weekly exclusive newsletter here - https://themixedzone.substack.com/embed
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
