The Ballymun footballer turned Mayo coach plotting the downfall of 6 Dublin clubmates
‘We’d be joking sometimes that he only comes up to training to see the Dublin lads.’ By Kevin O Brien Saturday 19 Dec 2020, 12:00 PM Dec 19th 2020, 12:00 PM 46,767 Views 6 Comments
James Burke hugs James McCarthy after the 2012 Dublin SFC final (left) and in his current role as Mayo coach (right).
Image: Inpho
James Burke hugs James McCarthy after the 2012 Dublin SFC final (left) and in his current role as Mayo coach (right).
Image: Inpho
BALLYMUN KICKHAMS HAVE seven players involved in today’s All-Ireland football final.
Six of them – James McCarthy, Dean Rock, Philly McMahon, John Small, Paddy Small, and Evan Comerford – will be wearing blue. The seventh is James Burke, who works as coach with Mayo under James Horan.
Here are the Dublin-Mayo player ratings from the 2020 All-Ireland football final.
Dublin ratings.
1. Stephen Cluxton (Parnells) 7
What more can you say about the Parnells goalkeeper? Been a constant in goal for Dublin since 2001. Under pressure early on from his long kickouts so opted to clip it right early. Uncharacteristic error kicking the ball behind his 20m line in the first half. Did recover at half-time with Brian Howard’s introduction a big help. Fenton also showed well as Dublin got back on top after the break.
2. Michael Fitzsimons (Cuala) 8
A player seemingly improving each year, Fitzsimons got on good ball early on. Gave Lee Keegan a massive hit, albeit a frontal charge, but another vote into how the Cuala man has grown his game over the last couple of seasons.
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5 talking points after Dublin outlasted Mayo to continue their dominance of the All-Ireland SFC. Kevin O Brien By Kevin O Brien Saturday 19 Dec 2020, 8:55 PM Dec 19th 2020, 8:55 PM 10,199 Views 18 Comments
The Dublin team celebrate with the Sam Maguire.
Image: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Image: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
1. Impact of Dublin’s bench
IN THE 50TH minutes, Mayo had hauled themselves back to level terms after a Cillian O’Connor free. Shortly after, Dessie Farrell sprang Paul Mannion off the bench, joining fellow substitute Brian Howard on the field and the pair of former All-Stars played a decisive role in Dublin’s dominant final quarter.
On the evening of May 19, 2012, Dean Rock was engrossed in the Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich when his phone lit up with a call from Pat Gilroy.
Dublin were due to play Louth in a couple of weeks in the opening round of the Leinster SFC, the first game of their All-Ireland SFC defence.
The optimist in Rock assumed the manager was giving advance notice of his championship debut, sufficient time to get his head around the occasion. Turns out, he was being dropped from the squad. It just transpired that, for whatever reason, I wasn t deemed good enough at the time, Rock shrugs now.
Criticism of his free-taking project, self-doubts and being dropped by Pat Gilroy in 2012
Dean Rock was in a reflective mood as the All-Ireland final looms. By Kevin O Brien Friday 18 Dec 2020, 4:07 PM Dec 18th 2020, 4:07 PM 6,523 Views 14 Comments
Dean Rock prepares to take a free against Cavan.
Image: Bryan Keane/INPHO
Image: Bryan Keane/INPHO
THE YEAR HE turned 30 hasn’t worked out so badly for Dean Rock.
A free run with Ballymun Kickhams during the summer led to Brendan Hackett’s side reigning supreme in Dublin for the first time since 2012.
Shortly after that he sealed his place as the county’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing legendary figure Jimmy Keaveney in a league game against Meath to cement his legacy as one of their greatest ever forwards.