Christie backs Small to help fill Dublin's leadership void

By John Harrington

Paddy Christie is a big fan of his fellow Ballymun Kickhams clubman, Paddy Small, but he’s not sure the feeling is reciprocated.

Christie coached Small for 11 years from the age of nine but has an inkling Paddy has never quite forgiven for dropping him for an U14 Féile Final down in Cork back in the day.

“He’s proved me wrong since, that’s for definite,” chuckles Christie.

Small made his championship debut for Dublin back in 2018 when the great six-in-a-row team was arguably at its zenith and the county enjoyed times of plenty.

Back then it wasn’t easy for him to establish himself as a regular first-choice player given Dublin’s embarrassment of attacking riches, but now in more fallow times Small is one of the team’s most important players.

He’s scored 1-26 so far in the League and Championship, and developed into the sort of forward who makes things happen for himself rather than play on the fringes.

“It's good to see him taking on that leadership role,” says Christie.

“It's needed because I think with Con O'Callaghan not being available all the time and that injury cloud hanging over him and maybe just a general concern over where he is, somebody needed to step up and it’s good to see Paddy doing it.

“For Dublin to make the year good, you will need somebody like him or somebody else really stepping up. There has to be a new Con O'Callaghan. There's not enough there without somebody taking over that mantle and he's obviously the standout fella.

“Paddy Small is three quarters of the way there and maybe for him to get into the really upper echelons of things he needs to step up now.”

As good as Small has been for Dublin for the last two years especially, Christie still thinks he has further room for improvement.

“All the credentials are there, the physical power, physically strong, quite quick, able to pop a score,” says Christie.

“Being critical though, and it's hard to be critical of him because he's such a good lad and his attitude has always been excellent, but maybe sometimes I would have felt with Ballymun he was creating a lot of goal chances and we weren't sometimes getting enough of them.

“At inter-county level with the way things are you might get one as a corner forward. You might get one goal chance and for Dublin to probably win consistently now you're going to have to convert that.

“If they get three goal chances from three different players they're probably going to need to convert at least two if not three.

“He's able to get to create those chances or set them up for himself or put himself in those positions. But that's something that he probably could tighten up on and the other one is being more flexible with the right foot. That might ask a few more questions of a really tough corner back.

“It's just that little bit easier when you know he's going on to that left foot all the time wheras if he can smack over a few right footed scores I think that would be nice.

“The bigger thing for me is the psychological thing. I'd love to see him step up to that leadership mantle now and he has headed towards that. I think he's been showing bits and pieces. The Wicklow game was an obvious example and that was needed because it was looking dodgy.

“There's little things here and there, the goal finishing and the right footed stuff and that sort of thing, but it's more about stepping up.

“Leadership is ultimately playing well when the team needs somebody to do something, when you're under pressure.”

With so many bona fide greats of Dublin having retired in the last couple of years, there’s definitely a few job opportunities in the team in terms of filling the leadership void.

Small has been doing his bit in attack, but in all sectors of the team Dublin could arguably do with some strong personalities to really spread their shoulders.

“It's the nature of the way things are,” says Christie. “Let's be honest about it, the conveyor belt has slowed down if not come to a halt.

“Jim Gavin is a great guy and his management records speak for itself, but every year there was somebody coming along that he could add in.

“I think Con O'Callaghan, as far as I can recall, I don't think he played for the first couple of years. Or he got very little bits and pieces of games.

“That was because of the strength that you had. You had a full forward line of say Bernard Brogan and Paul Mannion, these guys, so you weren't going to get in there too easy. It's now dried up to an extent. To a large extent it's dried up.

“Or there are players coming through but there are question marks because they are younger and because Dublin now haven't won anything for a while. That sort of thing. So they're just not the finished articles.

“Will they become finished articles? Only time will tell. It's going to need some new leaders, the team.

“When guys come in now it's not as easy to flourish because there is the added pressure. There is not as much of the feel-good factor there anymore.

“I think anyone coming to that team in the last... between 2011 and 2023, in that 10-year, 12-year phase, I think, no disrespect, but me in a pair of runners could have jumped into that team and played corner forward and maybe got a point and looked OK.

“I think it was much easier. I think now if you're producing players, they're coming into a team that don't have the same (quality) anymore and it just is not as easy.

“It was a huge opportunity for anyone to come in to those set-ups over the years because when you got your run, you were with good players who could bring you through and there just wasn't the same pressure.”