KILLINAN END - Country influence on Dublin greats

The involvement of players such as Brian Fenton and substitute Cian Murphy in Dublin's All-Ireland victory reflects the inevitable reality of metropolitan life. Both are examples of Dublin players with Kerry parentage. Colm Basquel’s father is from Achill Island in Mayo. That doyen of Dublin management, Jim Gavin, was known to bring the Dublin team to Cooraclare, the home parish of his father, and one of west Clare's football strongholds. Bernard Brogan Senior’s father was a Mayo man as indeed was Anton O'Toole's father. It is said that of the Dublin 1970’s team only Bobby Doyle had both parents from the county. In the capital city, which has unfortunately a magnetic drag on population, such connections, while interesting, are hardly surprising.

Dubliners would point reasonably to the fact that huge swathes of this population play other sports or no sport at all. This is a legacy issue. Dublin’s historical position as the centre of British power in Ireland weighed heavily on the county’s GAA in the early years of the association. This was the ultimate garrison town where the GAA’s ‘ban’ bit deepest.

Dublin teams relied heavily on imports from the country especially when the GAA insisted that players declared for their county of residence. It could be argued that this slowed Dublin GAA’s development of a native tradition. That probably came to pass only with the advent of suburban Dublin from the 1930s onwards. Perhaps the most significant suburb for Dublin football was Marino which gave rise to the incredibly successful St Vincent's club just down the road from Croke Park.

On the undercard of the 1942 All-Ireland Football final St Vincents played Kickhams in a Minor Football League final. In these war years the inter-county Minor championship was not played to avoid unnecessary travel during times of fuel shortages. Kickhams was an early version of what was to become Ballymun Kickhams, a club which has played such a significant role in Dublin's modern-day success. Vincent’s own day in the sun was coming but that Senior final was an irrelevance to the young club, founded just 11 years earlier.

Kerry’s four in a row attempt in 1942 came to grief in the semi-final against Galway when it could be said the Kingdom fell on their own sword. For Galway in those years a crack at the Sam Maguire came regularly and often. They had won in 1934 and ‘38, while Dublin hadn't won an All-Ireland title since 1923. Even in hindsight Galway’s legendary John ‘Tull’ Dunne recalled their confidence. “We should have beaten Dublin easily” he said. “We were a far superior team, I thought, but I suppose it looked a certainty for us after that victory over Kerry in the semi-final. With any luck at all we should have won the 1940 and 42 finals.” He was speaking in Raymond Smith's ‘The Football Immortals’. As they were to do again some 41 years later Dublin ground out a 1-10 to 1-8 win over the Connacht champions.

In the context of modern Dublin football, the team that beat Galway that day was remarkable. Dublin's next All-Ireland win would be sixteen years later. By then St Vincent's had moved from providing the curtain-raiser at Croke Park to dominating Dublin's successful teams at both Senior and Minor in 1958. In 1942, however, Dublin still relied on outside counties for half the team. The champion team which won Dublin’s only All-Ireland across a 35-year span also featured players from Kerry, Cork, Sligo, and Longford. Six panellists altogether came from Kerry. It is remarkable to think of the scenario had Kerry made it all the way to the final to defend their title.

The Kingdom’s footprint was on the Galway team as well – a county which featured many non-natives in these years, because of college and army involvement. Three of the four midfielders in the 1942 final came from that beautiful place west of Dingle. Dún Chaoin’s Dan Kavanagh wore maroon and white while facing him in the middle of the park were neighbours’ children, Mick Falvey and Joe Fitzgerald. The latter came from Ballydavid in the Kerry Gaeltacht and spent his life in Dublin having joined the Gardaí. He was 27-years-old when he led Dublin to the Sam Maguire and had managed to escape the attention of Kerry’s selectors.

Several other Dublin players had interesting backgrounds. Wing-forward Jimmy Joy was from Killorglin. Full-back Paddy Kennedy played full-forward in that year’s hurling final. Bobby Beggs, the fisherman corner-back from Skerries in north county Dublin, had already won an All-Ireland playing against Dublin for Galway in 1934, and against Kerry four years later. The other cornerback, Caleb Crone, won an All-Ireland medal with his native Cork three years later when the full-back beside him was Beara man Weeshie Murphy, father of Dr. Con Murphy. Add in the fact that wing-back Paddy Henry was a Sligo man, and a Longford native Tommy Banks was corner-forward and free-taker, it can be said that this low-profile team from Dublin wrote one of the most remarkable chapters in Gaelic football history.

P.S. Many thanks to a reader who got in touch with some commentary on Kerry football and inspired this dive into the 1942 final.