By John Harrington

Dublin football coach, Jason Sherlock, does not think the county’s recent domination of Gaelic Football is a numbers game.

They might have the biggest population in the country and the greatest financial resources, but he argues that didn’t necessarily help them in the past.

“I understand there is always going to be that debate about Dublin and all that but as far as I’m concerned it was the same situation when I played,” says Sherlock.

“We had the biggest population, the biggest resources but we didn’t have success.”

Instead, Sherlock believes the current golden era for Dublin football has come about thanks to a lot of planning and foresight at all levels of the game in the county.

Pat Gilroy and now Jim Gavin have managed the senior county team superbly, but they benefited from a steady supply of top-quality players coming through the county’s superbly organised underage structures.

Sherlock works as a coach with both the Dublin development squads as well as the senior team, and he believes that their tick ever box approach at all levels has laid the foundation for four All-Ireland senior titles in six years.

“You’d have to look at that as a contributory factor from my own point of view I was asked to get involved in the Dublin development squads three years ago and it was privilege to be asked and It was something I was delighted to do," he says.

“I asked others I played with to get involved and probably to a man they agreed to give their time. It was great to see that they were willing to do that.

“At U-15 we have 60-odd, U-14 we have 90-odd. We started off at U13 level with both groups and at some stages we had 400 players out.

“Again, we are trying to win the hearts and minds in terms of playing for Dublin and GAA and trying to keep the net as wide as we can and encourage as many as you can to play because we all feel representing your club and county is great thing to do and has great benefits for your sporting and non-sporting life.

“We have been in this process for three years but great credit has to go to Stephen O’Shaughnessy (Dublin football development officer) and above him (Dublin County Board secretary) John Costello for having this vision in place.”

Sherlock has been part of Jim Gavin’s senior management team with Dublin for the last two years, and believes there’s not all that much difference between coaching underage footballers and elite inter-county players.

"It's a privilege to coach talented players. My philosophy is you just try and build up a relationship with guys and see if you can help them improve.

"As a coach that would be my philosophy if I was involved with the Dublin senior team, or, as I am involved, with Dublin U14s or U15s. That's all you can do, no matter what their talent is, to try and get them to perform as best they can.

“They're the type of guys who are willing to listen to anyone if they feel they can assist them in the performance. It doesn't matter whether I played or didn't play, and that's the beauty of them. That's the way they are as people.

"So, no matter who it was, they'd be willing to give them an opportunity to see can they assist them. Where the message is coming from, I don't think with this group, is important. They have a mindset that they're willing to listen, willing to take on board the messages, and then willing to decide whether that can assist them in their performance."

When Sherlock joined the Dublin management team he had a little prior experience of coaching, but two All-Irelands in a row suggests he has made a valuable contribution.

He’s enjoyed being part of the journey, and that’s why he’s helping to promote the partnership between the GPA and Leinster GAA that is assisting former inter-county players become top-level coaches.

"It was two years ago, around this time, I just met Jim for a chat and he wanted to get me involved. I suppose that's one of the reasons why I was keen to support this initiative," says Sherlock.

“At the end of my (playing) journey, I would have gone back to college with an MBA in DCU, through GPA, and then I would have done a coaching course. It was in DCU as well.

"So in my journey, I was getting into that space anyway. For whatever reason Jim got in touch with me. That's why I want to promote (this initiative).

“There are opportunities for former players. Obviously you'd need to speak to Jim in terms of why (he chose me), because getting a guy who had no coaching experience involved was obviously a big step for him.

“But I'm glad he did it. It just shows you that any former player…sometimes you forget that you do have value to offer. So it's great to see an initiative where we're trying to promote that."