When news of Pat Gilroy’s return to the Dublin fold found its way to Kilcoskan National School, it gave the principal reason to pause. As Paddy Christie gazed down the hallway, it occurred to him the potential of it all might just be what Dublin need to pass the test in 2023.
Gilroy’s addition to Dessie Farrell’s management team is something of a calculated gamble. He managed Dublin to the All-Ireland title in 2011, and subsequently had a stint as Dublin hurling boss in 2018. He has now been added to Farrell’s setup as a coach. Christie can see the challenges in making that power dynamic work, but he believes Gilroy has the characteristics to ensure it does.
“It will be weird, I’m sure,” says the former Dublin captain. “The way I describe it, if a principal of a school decided to leave the school and then came back years later as a teacher with a new principal there, I don’t know how that would work.
Pat Gilroy, for me, would be a type of fella who is in it for the best reasons of Dublin GAA
“That former principal would need to be able to control their ego because they were previously in charge and dictating most things, but then suddenly they are not. I suppose a lot of it depends on the individual, and Pat Gilroy, for me, would be a type of fella who is in it for the best reasons of Dublin GAA.
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“I don’t see him as somebody who loves hogging the limelight and wants to be in charge of everything. Even when he was manager of Dublin, he was more a facilitator. He took a lot of management stuff from business and applied to the football.
“So, could he come in as a second in command or a third in command? I’m sure he could. Not everybody could but I could see him being able to do it.”
And Christie believes Gilroy’s role could be as pivotal in Dublin’s 2023 season as the return of Paul Mannion and Jack McCaffrey.
“He’s a great fella to bring in, I know he’s very highly thought of. He’s an addition to Dessie Farrell and he’s something that they need, because while they were very close to beating Kerry this year there are signs that Kerry are coming stronger again.
“Dublin’s underage system is not as strong as it was, the players coming through aren’t as potent as they were, so if they are not going to have strong fellas coming through, the least they can do is improve the management and that’s definitely happened with Pat Gilroy.”
Christie has himself entered the realms of intercounty management. Having previously been a coach with Tipperary, he has taken charge of Longford ahead of the 2023 season.
He is also still managing DCU’s Sigerson Cup team and, inevitably, fixture clashes are already starting to emerge. The draw for the third level competitions took place on Wednesday and the upshot for Christie is that DCU are away to ATU Donegal in Convoy on the evening of Wednesday, January 11th – the same night Longford are due to travel to face Meath in the O’Byrne Cup.
There is a massive difference between how Dublin would look at the O’Byrne Cup and how Longford would look at it
Christie is hoping a compromise can be found, possibly with the Sigerson game getting switched to the Tuesday. “If not, I’ll have to see if there’s any Longford men who have helicopters, to see if they’d be interested in getting me a half at each,” he laughs.
One of the reasons Christie has remained DCU boss is to try and finish out the job they came up short in last year when losing at the semi-final stages of the Sigerson Cup. The memory of Red Óg Murphy also closely bonds the group together.
“I mentioned unfinished business,” states Christie. “There is definitely a part of that with Red Óg. In the league matches this year, we didn’t have his jersey used in the matches, and that was a small little thing just to make sure that everyone was aware he is in our thoughts.
“The next step was to push on and we wanted to win that league, which we won the previous year with him front and centre. We didn’t, so that has annoyed us a little bit. For January, we are all guns blazing. We want to do it.
“Some of it is to do with him and some of it to do with a genuinely good group of lads who get on well together and a management who want to try and get another Sigerson under the belt. But it’s definitely a factor, himself and his family, you would love to, in some way, recognise his achievements.”
And while January promises to be incredibly busy for Christie, he knows the importance of competitions like the O’Byrne Cup for Longford.
“There is a massive difference between how Dublin would look at the O’Byrne Cup and how Longford would look at it,” he says. “For Longford, it is important that they get those couple of wins under their belt, get ready for the National League.
“Let’s face it, Dublin are well set up as it is. For the likes of Longford, it is a much bigger deal and they don’t even need to be wins, just good performances that can build a spirit in the team. That would be really important.”
Paddy Christie was speaking at the draws for the Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Championships at Croke Park.
2023 Sigerson Cup draw
ROUND ONE: MTU Kerry v ATU Sligo, SETU Carlow v St Mary’s, NUI Galway v Maynooth University, MTU Cork v UCD, Queen’s University v Ulster University, ATU Donegal v DCU, ATU Galway v TU, Dublin UCC v UL.
2023 Fitzgibbon Cup draw
GROUP A: NUI Galway, MTU Cork, SETU Waterford
GROUP B: Mary I Limerick, SETU Carlow, DCU
GROUP C: Maynooth University, UCC, UCD
GROUP D: University Limerick, ATU Galway, TUS Mid-West
