Dublin veteran Byrne still looking the part in new era of defending

By John Harrington

He’s still fresh-faced, but David Byrne is very much the grizzled veteran of Dublin’s new-look defence.

A panel member since 2013, the 32-year-old made his championship debut back in 2015 so he’s banked a lot more experience than the other five members of the rear-guard likely to start against Kerry on Sunday.

Sean McMahon and Lee Gannon made their championship debuts in 2022, Theo Clancy his in 2025, while Eoin Kennedy and Charlie McMorrow are both championship greenhorns.

Byrne might be an old dog in relative terms, but he’s proving he can learn a few new tricks in this post FRC rule changes era of the game.

When the eight-time All-Ireland winner cut his teeth with an all-conquering Dublin team, sweepers, patient possession football, and blanket defences were very much the order of the day.

As a corner-back your bread and butter was still marking your man tightly, but you were rarely exposed in one-on-one situations because teams habitually got 14 outfield players behind the ball as quickly as possible when out of possession.

That’s no longer possible with the three up/three back rule, and the domino effect is that the job-spec of a corner-back is quite a bit different than it was just a couple of years ago.

“It can be a weird one,” says Byrne of how much things have changed for back-three defenders.

“For a start, you don't really have a sweeper in front of you. Before you'd always have an extra man back and you'd try to figure out how you play with the sweeper as well as possible.

“You're a lot more isolated now, so you have to figure that out. Sometimes you end up in positions you wouldn't (normally) where you cross the halfway line and you're involved, you're part of the group that's attacking.

“When the ball goes dead, you need to figure out how you get all the way back into the full-back line. Whereas previously, you would have just hung around near the back. It's become a bit different alright, yeah.

“Even in a positional sense, when you play in the back three, before you could get a lot of possession around the back.

“But now you have to stand back and let everyone else do it. So it is a different game.”

It’s a game that Byrne has proven he has the tools to adapt to.

He might not have as many opportunities to make the most of his natural athleticism and skill by bringing the ball out of defence as he once did, but his one-on-one defending is a great asset for Dublin.

His decision-making around when is the right time to shadow an opponent in possession until the cavalry arrives, and when you need to really bite in the tackle is usually well-judged.

His tackle-technique is very clean too, an art he learned from playing alongside man-marker supreme, Mick Fitzsimons, for so many years.

“Yeah, I would have learned a lot from Mick Fitz and Rory O'Carroll as well,” he says.

“There were a lot of great defenders we had in the Dublin team when I was coming into the panel.

“Mick would have really been obsessive about one-v-one defending and trying to rep out as many one-v-ones in training as he can so, when it comes to matches, you're ready for it.

“You would try to study your opposition as much as possible as well. In the modern game, with the availability of all your video and stuff, I think it's a no-brainer for defenders to be doing.”

To thrive as a team in this new era of football you need to be comfortable with chaos.

That’s something that’s maybe taken Dublin a little longer to come to terms with because when they were the dominant force of the game they were the masters of patient possession.

That option just isn’t there any more to anything like the extent it was. Instead, you’re often required to make last-gasp defensive decisions, quick-thrust attacking moves, and not be mentally rattled by sudden swings in the momentum of the game.

“The new rules make it harder for teams to get control,” admits Byrne.

“Under the old rules, when you were four or five points up, you were able to think ‘things are steady here’. Whereas under the new rules, if a two pointer goes over, followed by a one, then that lead is quickly reduced.

“It is very easy for momentum shift and it is also hard to get your hands on kick outs too because the ball has to go a certain distance. To maintain momentum is tougher under the new rules.”

The fact that Dublin now find themselves in an All-Ireland semi-final suggests they are now proving they can adapt to the new reality of Gaelic football.

Not many people were suggesting they could make it to the last four when a Leinster Final defeat to Westmeath was followed by a loss to Louth in Round 1 of the All-Ireland SFC.

Despite those back to back blows, Byrne was always confident that Dublin had the quality to mount the challenge for the Sam Maguire Cup that they since have.

“I still thought we had the ability to reach this stage,” he says.

“Yes, there are no guarantees in sport, but I definitely knew we had the ability to be here if things went well. I am delighted that has turned out to be the case.

“Personally, I knew the players I am playing with are talented. I knew we were good enough if it clicked.

"Our discipline has been a lot better. That makes a big difference. I think our kick-out return has been a bit better. A couple of lads coming back from injury has given us an added lift as well.”

If Dublin were to win the Sam Maguire Cup this year then Byrne would join an elite club of players currently comprised of just three former team-mates – Stephen Cluxton, James McCarthy, and Michael Fitzsimons - that has won nine All-Ireland medals.

If they do pull it off it would surely be the least expected of all of the All-Ireland wins Byrne has been a part of, so would that also make it the most special of all?

“You probably appreciate it a bit more this year given the fact that, you know, I wouldn't say some people would have been expecting it, or that we were heavy favourites in previous years," he says.

“But there's a lot of work to be done before we get to an All-Ireland final.”