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The agony and ecstasy of All-Ireland Final build-up

GAA.ie columnist Denis Bastick.

GAA.ie columnist Denis Bastick.

By Denis Bastick

It's the week before the All-Ireland final and the Dublin players will have noticed a change to the routine of the previous few weeks.

There was always something special about going back to training after an All-Ireland semi-final victory, and with the ending of the summer and the cooling of the temperatures, it meant putting the jackets on and leaving our usual base in St Clare’s and going to the top pitch in DCU where we could turn on the floodlights.

Heading to that top pitch was a big moment. It meant you were there – into the All-Ireland with only one game left to focus on after all the work put into that season.

Because of the shorter season in 2018 there won’t have been a need for that top pitch. But the jackets are back on, it’s cooler in the evenings and when lads sense that in the air it means only one thing – All-Ireland final D Day is on the horizon.

For Dublin this build up is a copy and paste job, they have been in this position so often before that it is a well-rehearsed plan.

For Tyrone, only Colm Cavanagh is a playing survivor from 2008 and this is where Mickey Harte and his lieutenants Gavin Devlin and Stephen O’Neill will be using their All-Ireland final experience to impact on a young and inexperienced team coming to grips with this big stage.

It’s 10 years since Tyrone were here and it will feel brand new to them.

Back when Tyrone were regularly in finals Harte and the Tyrone team really mastered the art of being ready to perform on the big day and they certainly did that in 2003, 2005 and 2008 when they won every time.

Cuthbert Donnelly, Mickey Harte, and Brian McGuigan celbrate Tyrone's 2008 All-Ireland SFC Final victory over Kerry.

Cuthbert Donnelly, Mickey Harte, and Brian McGuigan celbrate Tyrone's 2008 All-Ireland SFC Final victory over Kerry.

One of the things they did was they learned off the words to Amhrán na bhFiann and made a big thing out of singing the anthem together as a way of keeping focus and not letting the mind wander in the final crucial minutes before the ball is thrown in.

In 2011 our Dublin team found itself in an All-Ireland Final for the first time in 16 years and the city was in party mode. But that brought distractions and potential pitfalls.

Obviously the All-Ireland is a different game - but aside significance it is different because of the extra duties before the match.

Dressing room time is shorter, warm up time can be shorter and the big thing is after hitting the pitch and warming up you are then involved in pre-match ceremonies like meeting the President and the parade and you’ve to be careful after getting a pre-match sweat up that guys don’t suddenly go cold.

In 2011 with Pat Gilroy we rehearsed the pre match build up in fine detail – we had a mock pre-match parade the week before the 2011 final and we even lined up to meet the then Predsident of Ireland Mary McAleese who was played by our psychologist Caroline Currid - a woman who is back in the limelight after her success with the Limerick hurlers last week.

Dublin captain Bryan Cullen introduces President of Ireland, Marcy McAleese, to his team-mates before the 2011 All-Ireland SFC Final. 

Dublin captain Bryan Cullen introduces President of Ireland, Marcy McAleese, to his team-mates before the 2011 All-Ireland SFC Final. 

Jim Gavin is similarly well-drilled on the fine points of the build-up and the Dublin players will know what to expect and won’t be thrown easily.

It’s around about now that the final A v B match is taking place which is a hugely significant moment.

I’ve seen it from both extremes – a starter in the 2011 and 2015 finals, an impact sub in 2013 and drawn 2016 final and on the bench in 2017 – I’ve experienced the mindset of the A and the B player.

Things will be heightened by the fact that during his tenure Jim Gavin has been capable of making left field changes to his first team right up until match day.

Players know this, especially on the B team, and will be doing everything to ask questions and put themselves in the frame.

We’ve had internal matches where guys have been sent off.

We’ve had incidences of guys going off to get treated by the doctor because of incidents in matches.

Before the drawn 2016 final the Dublin B team bossed the A team and generally the B team have an edge, have more of a point to prove and are not minding themselves like the A team might be.

If you are a B team player you have nothing to lose and there’s the reality it’s the last time they play football for Dublin that year – potentially even beyond that, so they don’t hold back.

I’ve been involved in A v B matches that were reigned in because the intensity was too much, I’ve seen matches stopped because they were getting dangerous.

Without a shadow of a doubt, and without being disrespectful, I’ve played in A v B matches at Dublin training that were tougher and more intense than Championship matches against other counties. Some of the scores have been incredible.

Dublin manager Jim Gavin will have some hard calls to make when he sits down to pick his match-day panel and starting XV for the All-Ireland Final. 

Dublin manager Jim Gavin will have some hard calls to make when he sits down to pick his match-day panel and starting XV for the All-Ireland Final. 

Jim Gavin and Mickey Harte will not be looking forward to the hard conversations they have to have in the coming days. Some guys will be gutted not to be starting. More guys will be devastated not to make the 26.

The Tyrone players will have been busy making sure the ticket frenzy does not get too close to them. Again it’s an experience the Dubs have on them.

It’s not just requests for match tickets that can be a nightmare if you let it, but equally as bad is the request for post-match banquet tickets from friends and family. Where are you going after? What are you doing and when? Are there tickets and wrist bands?

I gave all my tickets to my wife Jody and she made sure nothing ever got through to me.

Some players will be able to enjoy this and relish it – the guys who know they are definitely starting. For others it will be a nervous and anxious time. And for some players it’s a panic because they are nursing a knock that has them in danger of missing out.

Physio, rubs, cryotherapy, daily dips in the sea – there will be players doing all of these things in the next few days in the desperate hope that they can stay involved.

In the early days you wanted the time before matches to fly by. The waiting around was a torture.

This time last year was different for me. I knew it was my last time to be involved. I lapped up every bit of every session, lingered around longer at the end, even took an age to eat my meal afterwards.

Time couldn’t go slow enough. I knew my time in the sky blue shirt was over and a huge chapter in my life was at an end.

There was going to be a point where I’d go into my locker in the Dublin dressing room at St Clare’s and clean away all my stuff and it would be left empty. It would be like a nail in a coffin.

Denis Bastick and his son Aidan celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup after Dublin's 2017 All-Ireland SFC Final victory over Mayo. 

Denis Bastick and his son Aidan celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup after Dublin's 2017 All-Ireland SFC Final victory over Mayo. 

Some guys won’t have the chance I had to know it was my time to go – that decision could be made for them by management. It’s a big deal and can weigh on the mind.

I’d a good corner in that dressing room. The lockers are allocated alphabetically so I was around good characters Paddy Andrews, Bernard Brogan and Stephen Cluxton.

It was always funny at the start of a season watching new guys coming into the squad when they landed in for the first time to the dressing room and I suspect every dressing room is the same. They were left stunned and not knowing where to go to sit. We’ve all been there – like a rite of passage. Your instinct tells you to go for the first gap you see and sit down and put the head down. But you don’t know it’s done by alphabet until James McCarthy or Eoghan O’Gara come in and you realise you are in their seat and you are not long about moving.

The dressing room is a special place. The players have a special bond.

In fact one of the important things you do in a week like this is spend as much time with them as you can. Meet for lunch, meet for a cup of tea or coffee. You are in this bubble and all sharing this experience. You can sit and talk about everything and nothing and there is safety in those numbers rather than trying to maybe eat lunch on your own where well-meaning members of the public can bring you back to football and match talk all the time.

There’s a bond with the players I was involved with that will be there for the rest of my life.

We went through so much together.

You think about that this week and you know that all the hurt and pain and sacrifice will be worth it – if you win.