GAVIN CUMMISKEYtalks to some of the Dublin players after their victory while selector Mickey Whelan deflects credit from the management

THE BEST gig after an All-Ireland final is to loiter outside the winning dressingroom. A few metres away Kerry men are darting out, heads bowed and lips sealed.

First Dublin man out is one we haven’t talked to in a long while.

The new management has made this group accessible, but on their own terms. That means Pat Gilroy’s terms. And that means press conferences in the early am.

A hugely-engaging talker, Mickey Whelan went dark on us a while back.

With two All-Ireland medals at home already and having been given the unenviable task of rebuilding the panel after the 1995 All-Ireland win, Whelan has seen it all many, many times before.

The first lusty renditions of The Rare Auld Times has just been emptied into the evening air by the Dublin players. They head for the showers as Mickey tries to slip quietly on to the team bus.

Now a selector and team coach, he was hesitant to even speak with us now. Not a chance were we going to let him slip away.

He smiles and drops his bag.

Does this compensate for the difficult years (1996-99) as Bainisteoir, Mickey?

“Listen, if I was to take that to heart I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t still be in Gaelic football. I’ve won a club All-Ireland as a player and as a manager and I’ve won an All-Ireland as a player and coach and I am happy. You have to believe in yourself and these guys believe in themselves. It’s really not about us – it’s about them.”

Did you think it was gone when Colm Gooch Cooper put them four clear on 63 minutes?

“No, no, no. I thought to be honest those fouls were all marginal. There was a little bit of playing for fouls and it’s not like Kerry. I think they got the fouls reasonably easy when they built up the lead.

“You’ve seen this team come back and once there was time to come back they were always going to give it one last shot.”

Some former players have criticised Dublin this year but Whelan sought to welcome them back into the fold last night.

“It’s a first All-Ireland for Dublin in 16 years so maybe all the guys that had won one and were running this team down will catch onto themselves. These are a super team and the best group of players that I’ve ever been around.”

Paul Flynn is a little happier than most Dubs. The past three weeks have been torture – literally – as he never fully recovered from the hamstring tear he exacerbated against Donegal.

“Man, I have spent the last three weeks in buckets of ice. My whole life for the past three weeks has been about getting my leg right.

“It was sore right from the start but I just battled through the pain. I did a fitness test yesterday and just about passed it. I owe so much to the physios for getting me to that game.

“I was going well and then I had a setback last week so I didn’t think I was going to get there.

“Pain killers are great,” he smiles a smile the length of his face.

A benefit from the injury was it provided a distraction from the enormous pressure of a man trying to prepare for his first All-Ireland final.

“It kind of worked in my favour - I didn’t get too caught up in that. I was just thinking solely about getting myself fit.”

Michael Dara Macauley tells us a lot about his own character by talking about the players who could have been out there yesterday if not for injury: “I know Collie (Moran) especially well. He would have died to be out there. We talked about that. It really was for those lads as well.

“I saw Darren Magee on the sideline as well. It will mean a lot to them as well. I know they were behind us 100 per cent of the way.”

The main hurdle for Dublin these past 16 years has been the hype. This seems like such a small word this morning.

“I was talking to Pat (Gilroy) before it and he has played in All-Ireland finals,” Macauley explained. “He said the one thing you notice is that after 10 minutes, it’s just a game of football. I think you notice that. You kind of just settle into it.”

And settle he did. They all did.