By John Harrington

Craig Dias’ commitment to the Kilmacud Crokes cause was apparent before he even kicked a ball as a senior footballer with the club.

Back in 2009 when they defeated Crossmaglen Rangers in the AIB All-Ireland Club Final, he and a group of his friends painted their bodies purple and braved the February chill by travelling topless to Croke Park.

As you can see from the photo above, an enthusiastic Dias was the ‘O’ in Crokes that St. Patricks day.

A few short weeks later he joined the Crokes senior panel himself and even travelled on the team trip they were treated to for their All-Ireland winning heroics.

What was it like for a teenager joining a dressing-room full of All-Ireland winners and big personalities like the irrepressible Magee brothers, Johnny and Darren?

“It was wonderful to be able to go into the squad and get to know the likes of Johnny McGee, Darren McGee, Brian Kavanagh, Mark Vaughan, I would have really looked up to those players," says Dias.

“Johnny and Darren were really forthcoming, they welcomed you into the team. But, at the same time, they scared the bejesus out of me and I think most people as well!

"There was times on the training ground where there could be blows between the two juggernauts so you just kind of step away but yeah, they're they've always been kind of mentors towards me, especially Johnny, he was a manager for us in 2018 and 19 as well. I have a lot of respect for both of them. Myself and Johnny still talk quite a bit as well.”

Fast-forward 13 years, and now Dias is the veteran in the Kilmacud Crokes panel, making a new generation of young Stillorgan footballers feel as comfortable as possible.

“Definitely, yeah, I’ve been getting abuse about it,” he says. “There has been a real shift in the panel since we won the 2018 Dublin championship that’s notable since Covid hit.

“You'd have the elder statesman at the time the likes of Cian O’Sullivan, David Nestor, Pat Burke, Steven Williams, my brother Carl Dias and a few others who left, they would have been quite vocal in the changing room.

“People had to step up and fill that void, and there has been leadership qualities shown, and people have been training that skill a lot. It has helped us on on the pitch to have the people who will be key players for the club going forward and they're quite young, you know, 25, 26, even 22 year olds stepping up. It's going to pay dividends going forward. There will be good things to come for Kilmacud Crokes."

Saturday’s AIB All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final against Pádraig Pearses won’t be the first time that Dias has played in a match of this magnitude.

He scored 1-2 from play for Crokes in the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final against Crossmaglen, but it’s match that still haunts him as the Dublin side ultimately lost by two points after streaking into an early 0-6 to 0-0 lead.

“I've two games that keep giving me nightmares, the Mullinalaghta game (2018 Leinster Final) and that Crossmaglen game,” says Dias.

“Both games, I feel we left it out in the pitch. The Mullinalaghta game was probably our fault and then in the Crossmaglen game there were two sendings off, one dubious.

“We were really, really in that game. We came flying out of the blocks and to lose the way we did, it still kind of keeps me awake at night.

“We have the chance to kind of go over old ground again now on Saturday so there's something in it for the likes of myself, Mark Vaughan, Rory O’Carroll, and then Ronan Ryan on the management panel as well, he still hurts from that game.”

Dias knows that making amends for previous losses can be a cathartic experience.

That’s what it felt like when Kilmacud defeated Naas in the Leinster Final to finally draw a line under that defeat in 2018 to Mullinalaghta.

“It was a sense of achievement getting over the line,” says Dias. “It's not to say we're righting wrongs we’ve just learned from the mistakes against Mullinalaghta. It was just to go out there and acknowledge the fact that we have grown and that we can close out games when we have a leading position. In 2018 we were winning the game with a couple minutes left and there were mistakes made by the team. In terms of how we were setup, we weren't looking to close it out.

"We've grown since then and we've had to because it's been a difficult campaign. In the Dublin final we were behind against St. Jude's and then the semi final against Portarlington, I think we weren't playing the best football as a team.

“And then we just corrected that at halftime. To be able to shift our strategy and our performances in a game. it's a really, really good thing to be able to do. It's been a tough campaign and to go out and win like that is brilliant.”

The absence of star forward Paul Mannion for Saturday’s semi-final is definitely a blow for Crokes, but they coped well without him in the Leinster Final win over Naas.

Dias has been around long enough to be able to read the mood music in a dressing-room, and he feels like the Dublin and Leinster champions are in great shape coming into Saturday’s match.

“Yes, yes,” he says. “There's been peaks and troughs in our performance throughout this year. Played a good 15 minutes against Na Fianna at the start that probably won us the game, then against Ballyboden, 45 minutes, we just went to town. That's one of the best performances that I've seen or been a part of in a Crokes jersey and then there was troughs after that and we're ramping up again even without Mannion and I still feel confident, the rest of the team still feel confident that we can put up those performances again.

“Like against Boden, we didn't rely heavily on Mannion, so it's getting the team performance and we are in very good position going into this game. We'll just focus on our controllables really.”