Dubs can survive a test of character, says Flynn

If character is forged in the foundry of adversity, then Paul Flynn is confident that the All-Ireland semi-final win over Donegal was the kind of victory that has Dublin perfcetly prepared for Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Kerry.

Flynn, one of Pat Gilroy’s key foot soldiers at wing-forward, has been on the panel for five seasons, and has experienced his fair share of semi-finals heartache, but the two-point win over Donegal, in which Dublin scored the last five points of the game, answered a lot of the questions that have been asked about the Dubs’ ability to close out tight games, the Fingallians clubman feels.

“It was a great sense of achievement,” Flynn says. “It was a different sense of feeling than when we won against Tyrone. To be able to show the character that we showed and the resilience and to eventually break them down when people thought the game was gone against us, it was a great feeling at the end to taste success.

“You learn different things about yourself in every game. That game showed us the character we have. When the game was in the melting pot, we can dig out a result.

“In the All-Ireland final things could be like that and we know we have experienced it before. We can win those games.”

Dublin’s sense of achievement was amplified by the fact that they finally broke through Donegal's defensive barriers with 14 men, following Diarmuid Connolly’s dismissal in the 58th minute.

It was, says Flynn, the moment that crystalised his belief that he would finally get to play in an All-Ireland final.

“The sending off of Diarmuid Connolly rose a lot of the lads,” he adds. “The minute he got sent off I got this surge of power inside me. I said, ‘Let’s get this thing going, we can’t sit around now’.

“I remember looking over at Denis Bastick and he was doing the same thing, trying to rev up the troops. It was game on and the kick-start we needed, and it showed in the dying minutes.”

The nagging questions about Dublin’s character had lingered since late April when they threw away a five-point lead with 16 minutes to go in the Allianz Football League final against Cork.

The 25-year-old chalks that experience down as a lesson learned.

“That league final we learned we cannot slip up when we have those leads. The day against Cork seems like a long time ago now and it might well have been a bit of experience because we had a lot of lads that were inexperienced on the field and tired legs as well.

“It was great to develop on from that when you have a game against Donegal and to show that we can win these ugly games as well.

“That was one of those games where it wasn’t easy on the eye but it was very difficult to play in and defeat was staring in front of us and we were able to up our game and get over the line.”

Dublin-Kerry finals can, at times, turn into a nostalgia-fest, given the storied rivalry between the counties.

However, Flynn was born a year after the last Dublin-Kerry All-Ireland final, in 1985, and says that history has little relevance to this Dublin team, which is trying to create its own history by keeping Sam Maguire in the capital for the first time in 16 years.

Kerry have been on a very different journey since Dublin last tasted All-Ireland success, playing in nine finals and winning six All-Ireland titles in that period.

“People talk about this history but I haven’t got to taste much of it,” Flynn adds. “We haven’t been at the level where Kerry are at.

“They have been up there competing in All-Ireland finals. We haven’t been in any of them so there is no history at the moment.

“There have been no big battles. I know there is from the 1970s but we haven’t been up to their level. It is nice to be there.”