By John Harrington

In team sport you win or lose as a collective, but managers don’t always see it see it in such black and white terms.

Their mindset is that the buck stops with them, and so they often take an out of proportion sense of responsibility when their team comes up short.

Dessie Farrell is a pragmatic man, but even he couldn’t but help succumb to self-doubt after Dublin were defeated in the 2021 and 2022 All-Ireland SFC semi-finals.

The margins were fine on both of those days and any number of factors combined to see Dublin fall short, but the temptation to hover a magnifying glass over his own individual responsibility for those defeats proved irresistible.

“It doesn’t really matter what sport it is or what level it is, when you’re not successful or you lose a big game or you’re knocked out of the competition, it always provides food for thought,” says Farrell.

“Some of that can be absolutely…it dips into the area of ‘are we good enough? Am I good enough?’ Self-confidence, self-belief, self-doubt is definitely part and parcel of the narrative in any competitor’s head.

“Our players are no different. Managers and coaches are no different as well. It’s a time for deep reflection.

“But ultimately you have to back yourself, throw your whole self into it, rise and go again. Thankfully we’ve been able to do that this season.”

Farrell has managed Dublin teams to All-Ireland victories at minor (2012), U-21 (2014 and 2017) and senior (2020), which is a remarkable achievement really.

But such are his competitive instincts that it’s the failures that tend to occupy more space in his head.

The most painful one of all? Probably the 2011 All-Ireland Minor Final when a much vaunted Dublin team that included current senior stars like Ciaran Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, John Small, Jack McCaffrey, and Cormac Costello were stunned by Tipperary.

So while the rest of Dublin partied that night after the senior team’s dramatic All-Ireland Final win over Kerry, Farrell was more in the mood for a wake.

“Yeah…it was tough for us,” he says. “Thanks for reminding me…

“That was difficult, for sure. We were at the same banquet as well. I actually remember, one of the lads who was part of the backroom team, he was an older man. He was a little bit deaf.

“There was a table for the coaches and management team. There was so much noise in the room that night, it was hard to hear the conversations over and back.

“But eventually, for some reason, there was a lull. Somebody was waiting to come up to speak and our man at the top of his voice roared, ‘nobody gives a fuck about the minors!’

“Everyone looked around and said, ‘look at those lads having a little pity party for themselves!’

“But, no, that was a different experience for those of who were part of the minors.”

Farrell has had a very steady hand on the Dublin tiller this year.

It says a lot about his own self-confidence and lack of ego that he invited another former All-Ireland winning manager, Pat Gilroy, into his backroom team in an advisory capacity.

He’s overcome the disadvantage of playing less competitive football in Division 2 and also negotiated a new championship structure all while seemingly getting his team to peak at the business end of the season.

And, of course, he pulled a most unexpected rabbit from the hat by convincing Stephen Cluxton to return to the fold.

How exactly did that conversation go?

“The background was…obviously Evan (Comerford) had taken over the mantle from Stephen,” says Farrell.

“Evan got a serious injury and a significant operation. We just knew we’d need a little bit of cover and Stephen had always said if he could help in any way that he would. When he was called upon, he was only too happy to come back.

“He wasn’t sure himself because knees were at him and this, that and the other. But he was more than willing to give it a blast. And it’s been great to have him around.

“He’s a unique character, as ye well know. But there’s so many young fellas in the dressing room now that would never have played with him or experienced him up close and personal.

“Over a pint at some stage, I might pick a few of their brains to see what they actually think. But he’s been great around the place. A breath of fresh air in many ways. He probably thought it was over for him as well.

“So he’s really enjoying his football and he’s really important to us over the last number of months and particularly as we go into the most important week of the year.”

Cluxton is one of three players in the Dublin panel along with James McCarthy and Michael Fitzsimons who has played in eight All-Ireland Finals and won all of them.

Dublin’s happy habit of delivering on the biggest day of all is remarkable really, and Farrell puts it down to a potent mixture of ability and character.

“They’re a special bunch of players,” he says. “It’s been interesting this year, because the one thing about these lads – and they’re highly decorated and have done all they’ve done in the game – but appetite is a special ingredient as well.

“While there’s a lot spoken about experience and the lads coming back and that type of thing, I think that was the most curious thing for me. The appetite and the innate hunger and desire, particularly from some of the older players.

“To their eternal credit, they’ve shown that in spades. It’s not easy to keep going year after year, going back to the well. Getting ready for pre-season, getting ready for National League games in the depth of winter.

“They managed to keep the show on the road and keep doing what they do. That can’t be easy at his (McCarthy’s) age or fellas like him. I hold the most admiration for that aspect of it.

“They’re great footballers and everything else. But the ability to continuously motivate yourself to be at your best when it matters most is remarkable.”

Farrell and his players will have all sorts of boxes they’ll want to tick in order to defeat Kerry in Sunday’s All-Ireland Final.

Surely the biggest one of all though will be to somehow curb the influence of David Clifford.

Team sport might be all about the collective, but it speaks volumes for just how special a player he is that his shadow looms over this match to the extent that it does.

Derry found out in the All-Ireland semi-final that even if you get so many aspects of your own team-performance to the level you want, it won’t necessarily be enough to win the match if Clifford gets enough ball in his hands.

Farrell knows it’s going to be a delicate balance to somehow limit a player he reckons is the best he’s ever seen, while not over-focusing on it to the detriment of Dublin’s own game-plan.

“I actually love watching him play,” says Farrell. “He’s such a special, unique talent. I tell the kids he reminds me of myself when I played…but I think they know more!”

“He’s brilliant. He’s probably the greatest I’ve ever seen.

“He can do things nobody else can. He’s a physical specimen and he has a skill set that belies that. He’s just so, so unique and he’s such a leader for them as well. He makes them tick.

“We’re under no illusions how difficult that’s going to be. It could keep you up late at night, for sure. I think the challenge for us is to accept that he’s in such a rich vein of form, he’s going to do damage. He’s going to have an impact on the game.

“We’ve just got to accept that. It’s trying to minimise the impact and try and not get over-fixated on him. Because if you do that, you turn the tap off here – it opens the floodgates somewhere else.”

“They have some other really good forwards and some backs who are also comfortable in attack, so they can hit you from all different angles. They’ve loads of threat.

“So I think it’s just about us getting a balance right. Trying to manage him but also keeping an eye on the overall plan so that we’re not overly impacted by a concentration of focus on him.”