​By John Harrington

Dublin football manager Jim Gavin says the Dubs have no plans to make the GAA’s newly opened National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown their main training base.

Unlike many counties, Dublin do not have a dedicated training base or Centre of Excellence. As recently as last year they tried to acquire the Spawell Complex on the City’s southside to address this need. And Gavin revealed that the Dublin County Board remain determined to build their own home when asked had they any plans to use the National Games Development Centre as a training hub for their county teams.

“Not presently, no,” said Gavin. “The officers of the Dublin GAA have quite clearly stated and we've seen their ambition to build their own home. They don't consider that their training home for the development of players. They're still looking for sites and hopefully that plan will come to fruition in the short-term rather than the longer term.

“We're a little bit behind other counties in that regard with the challenges the minors, the U-21s, and ourselves have for getting pitches during winter season was quite challenging. So we don't actually have a home yet, and certainly that isn't our home nor won't be our home. It wasn't built for Dublin GAA. We move around a bit between pitches and gyms. Again, Dublin don't have their own home as such for training facilities. It's been good to us, so we'll keep it that way.”

The National Games Development Centre is available for use by all GAA teams, not just those based in Dublin or nearby counties, and Gavin believes it will prove to be a great facility.

“It wasn't built for us, as in the Dublin GAA, and I know already that some senior inter-county football teams have used it for challenge games and I think that's a great initiative,” he said. “It is pretty accessible from all parts of the island. I think that's good to see. And clubs have used it already, so it's a great facility for them. That's where I'd see it being used.

“I think it's a great facility for the Gaelic Athletic Association. Particularly in the context of the National Sports Campus, that's what it is. Rugby will have a base there, the FAI have a base there, Basketball, there'll be a velodrome, equestrian games, swimming, so there's a whole host of sports there and it's a centre of excellence for the island. So the GAA need to have a presence there. And I think there's no reason why that model can't be used in all provinces, be it a base in Belfast, one in Limerick, or one in Cork. So I think it's a good template that can be used.”

Going without their own dedicated Centre of Excellence has not held the Dublin footballers back in recent years. The fact that they will try to win a fourth Allianz Football League title in a row on Sunday is proof of that. They will face off against Kerry just like they did in last year’s All-Ireland Final, but Gavin does not believe the two most traditional powers of the game are currently far ahead of every other team in the country. 

“I wouldn't concur with that,” he said. “You look at the division one games we have played in, they have all been tight in the main. And probably likewise for Kerry too so there is not that much between the teams certainly in division one and the top end in division two. Teams are very close on any given day and each team is capable of beating each other.

"There's no guarantees. That's why we take the one-game approach. We understand that. If we don't turn up on Sunday, Kerry will win. It's a simple as that. We're just trying to be the best we can be and represent our county as best we can. We understand that if we don't, and if we don't get the performance, we won't get the outcome that we want.”

Last year’s All-Ireland Final between the two teams failed to live up to expectations as Dublin ground out a 0-12 to 0-9 victory. Gavin believes the wet and windy weather that day contributed to the low-scoring and is expecting more of a spectacle on Sunday.

“If you look back six months ago, the conditions were quite challenging,” he said. “Croke Park is a fantastic surface but when it gets a heavy fall of rain it can be quite slippery for players and the natural skill set of both players was probably muted by the underfoot conditions. Ball handling was very difficult – so I don’t think you’re going to get that scoreline, I don’t envisage it. Certainly our strategy wouldn’t be to go out and play that low-scoring game. I think both sets of forwards are well capable of scoring, and I think we’ll get an open, attractive game of football.”

Dublin are unbeaten now in 21 matches stretching back to last year and go into Sunday’s Final as favourites having won every League match they played on the way there. But Gavin is expecting a stiff challenge from a Kerry team that has been inspired in recent weeks by some impressive performances from veterans like Colm Cooper, Kieran Donaghy, and Darran O’Sullivan.

“The Kerry team and that elder group that you mention look to be very fit and very purposeful and very engaged,” said Gavin, “and seem to have their championship faces on early in the season, which might be a bit of a surprise for Kerry but obviously they have a purpose about them this year, which makes Sunday’s game even more interesting for ourselves.”

Dublin are going for their fourth National League title in a row and won three All-Irelands and a three National Leagues in the five year period from 2011 to 2015. That exceeds the achievements of the legendary team of the ‘70s who won three All-Irelands and two National Leagues in a five year period from 1974 to 1978. But Gavin insists that side of the seventies will never be matched.

“I think that group, if you're trying to reference it back to the 70s, they were a unique group...they weren't just a unique team but a unique manager, they'll never be matched,” he said. “That would be my opinion it.
“A record is a record, but in terms of what they achieved at that particular time, with the games the way they were in the county of Dublin in the early 70s, it was on its knees, and what they achieved is a testament to the vision of the manager and the vision of the players and the determination of them. That's a unique group. You're not comparing like with like. We're just trying to build on their legacy if I'm honest about it.”