Dublin's apprentices now looking like young masters

By John Harrington

Dublin have had to make do this year without six players that started last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Galway – Brian Fenton, James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Michael Fitzsimons, John Small, and Paul Mannion.

That’s a huge talent drain in the space of a year and yet Dessie Farrell’s team have coped remarkably well.

They’ve won four of the six Allianz Football League matches they have played and there’s a good chance they’ll reach the final if they beat Tyrone on Sunday.

That’s a testament to the performances of young players like Greg McEneaney, Theo Clancy, Luke Breathnach, Killian McGinnis, and Conor Tyrrell.

For Skerries Harps clubman, McEneaney, it hasn’t come as a surprise that the younger generation have looked the part, because they served an apprenticeship learning from some of the greatest players the game has ever produced.

“A couple of lads have been on the peripherals for a couple of years now,” says McEneaney. “I've been here three years, Theo Clancy, Luke Breathnach, they were there last year.

“So, it kind of feels like we've served an apprenticeship nearly. We've learned from the best.

“Obviously those guys, Brian Fenton, James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, Mick Fitz, they're generational and there probably won't ever be players like them again.

“It's just about adapting and using what we have. Obviously we've learned from them too, we've learned so much from them over the last few years.

"Watching what they're doing and how they're going about their training, how they go about their extras, what they're doing on video (analysis) and just watching them and watching them.

“I suppose we're all hoping to replicating that ourselves this year and just put our own twist on it.”

McEneaney joined the panel as an 18-year-old in 2023. Surely it must have been daunting to walk into the Dublin dressing-room and sit down beside players he’d idolised as a young boy?

“Yeah, I probably was shitting myself a little bit,” he says. “I just remember Fento (Brian Fenton) was brilliant. He always made everyone feel really, really welcome.

“He's a very, very sound lad. He came up to me straight away and introduced himself. He knew who I was which was surreal again because he's one of my heroes so I was just like, 'Oh my God, Brian Fenton knows who I am!’

“Then after a week it's kind of like, ok, he's Brian, and I'm trying to get a position on this team so you're trying to challenge him and threaten against him and do the best you can.

“All the other lads as well were very welcoming and are always very helpful to anyone who comes in.

“Even this year we've had lots of new faces but it hasn't really changed the morale in the group or anything. It's still the same group. It doesn't matter who you are, you always have a voice. Everyone was very welcoming and everyone continues to be very welcoming.

“Your voice is always heard in our camp no matter what age you are, how new you are, how old you are, how long you've been there.

“That's the really good thing about our team, young, old, it doesn't matter, you always have a voice and you can always challenge authority if it needs to be challenged and challenge players no matter who they are.”

The extent to which McEneaney is part of a new generation is well summed up by the fact that his team-mate Stephen Cluxton has played for Dublin for more years than McEneaney has been alive.

What has it been like for him to play alongside someone who has given such service to the point that he’s a bona fide legend of the game?

“At first it was probably a bit weird but after a month or so he's just one of your team-mates and you're relishing the opportunity that you have as in he's probably one of the best of all time,” says McEneaney.

“Definitely the best in his position of all time in my opinion anyways. So being able to take his cues and being able to learn from him and see how he even goes about his every-day life, how he prepares his body, how he looks after himself, how he prepares mentally.

“You see him mess up a kick and it doesn't faze him. Him being able to do that and seeing how he's able to do that and learning from him and asking him questions he's nearly like a second Dessie, if you will.

“It's surreal for about two weeks and then he's just Stephen and you're going to him and asking a few questions and he's brilliant that way. He loves when you ask him questions and he'll always engage with you in that way. It's brilliant to have him in the dressing-room.”

Some lessons you have to learn the hard way and that was the case for the younger guns when they played Armagh in Round 5 of the Allianz League on March 1 and trailed by 12 points at half-time.

“It was probably the worst half of football we’ve had all season,” says McEneaney. “Armagh were up for it and we weren't, as simple as that. We were flat from the beginning.

“The de-brief from Dessie, he kind of just put it behind us. He said, that half is done. Yes, it was terrible, but that half is done. We need to go out in the second half now and at least do ourselves proud and our county proud and go at it as if it’s nil all.

“In fairness to us, we did claw it back a little bit. I think we were four or five points down at one stage.

“It wasn’t a massive screaming shouting kind of thing. He was obviously very disappointed, and we all were but no, it was just go out and reset and go after what we are good at. That was kind of what it was.”

Clearly Dublin’s young players learned from the experience because they reacted in hugely positive fashion by beating Galway last weekend.

“The last day was very pleasing,” says McEneaney. “Galway were top of the League and they had some of their forwards absolutely shooting the lights out. It was very pleasing going up against the best in the League and coming away with a result.

“We definitely played very well. We let them back into it in the second half a little bit and the first half even though we were up on the scoreboard it was actually closer in the game we felt.

“It was very pleasing there to get a few points on the board and get a win and performance, most important.”

Every day is a learning day for McEneaney's generation, which is why he’s determined they do everything in their power to beat Tyrone this weekend and reach a League Final in Croke Park.

“100 percent we want (to get to) a League Final,” he says. “At the end of the day we want to win everything we're in. Putting that aside as well, it's another game against the best opposition in Division 1 at the minute.

“If we get to the final it will be us against the best, or the second best, in the division. We want to be challenging ourselves against the best and with the young squad we have it will be good to get experience because coming down the tracks we're going to need that experience.

“Most likely it will be a close game. So having that experience of the end of these sorts of games, being able to close out games or, coming on the other end of that, losing games, you know, losing big games in the end, that experience will go far for us in the Championship.”