Alan Brogan tells Gavin Cummiskeywhy the best-supported team in the land can take encouragement from this year's championship
THE GAA season ended with talk of Tyrone and Kerry vying for the team-of-the-decade title. Dublin have been serious contenders since 2002 but remain third, at best, in the pecking order having failed to even make an All-Ireland final despite collecting four provincial titles in succession.
But that is old news. Their captain Alan Brogan spoke yesterday of what lies ahead. Ciarán Whelan and Jason Sherlock are expected to retire but, by and large, the core group that won the All-Ireland under-21 title in 2003 remains intact. Still, they were forced into their usual watching brief from the tail-end of August.
"I would've watched the games but I didn't go to any more games after we got beaten and I didn't watch that much football or read too much about it in the papers," said Brogan. "Obviously I'm still a GAA fan so I did watch the matches, but I did find it difficult.
"You look back on Sunday and you see the quality of Tyrone, the quality of Kerry and it kind of makes you feel maybe you are not that far away after all.
"We obviously had a bad day (in the quarter-final) but when you see where Tyrone are at you kind of get some comfort out of that."
A surprising assertion, perhaps, but once the bandwagon gets up and running again next year Dublin will be thrown right back into the mix of potential champions.
"The current Dublin team has another two or three years to run before a lot of the guys come to the latter end of their career. We haven't given up hope yet. A new manager coming in can add fresh ideas. Pillar (Paul Caffrey) had been there since I started playing for Dublin. I obviously have the utmost respect for Pillar; he did a wonderful job, turned every stone to try and win and All-Ireland.
"A new manager coming in now can hopefully build on that, add some fresh ideas. Hopefully that will make the difference."
The most pressing task is to find the right replacement for Caffrey; someone willing to carry the huge pressure that inevitably comes with the perennial expectations around a team that has now gone 13 years without the top prize.
"I've spoken with John Costello about it briefly," said Brogan. "Ultimately it comes down to the county board. I know John Costello well and he is a good football man and I trust his heart is in the right place and he knows what he is doing. I trust he will get the right man for the job. He has no hidden agenda. Other counties had problems and that's why the players went looking for a say."
