Blue tide hits high mark to venerate Dublin heroes

Hordes of jubilant Dubliners turned out in Smithfield Plaza on a sunny Sunday evening to see the All-Ireland champions raise the Sam Maguire cup for a second year in a row.

The show kicked off at 4.30pm with music from Tyrone band the Logues, who after entertaining the crowd with not very Dublin classics Galway Girl and Jolene, settled into the rhythm of the evening with The Ferryman, Dublin In The Rare Old Times, and the Dublin-appropriated Dirty Old Town.

Big screens erected in the plaza showed the arrival of the team bus about an hour later, but there was no immediate sign of the stars of the night arriving on stage.

After the Logues third “sure we’ll do one more” the crowd screamed “No!” and tried to drown them out with Come on You Boys in Blue but then gamely joined in with the band’s rendition of Molly Malone.

But 15 minutes later the answer to the Logues’ tentative question, “does any one fancy listening to My Lovely Horse?” was a more resounding “No” – but still mostly good naturedly as the band explained “there’s a bit of a hold-up”. The hold up appeared to be the Dublin team dancing back stage.

The day was saved by the always crowd-pleasing Marty Morrissey, who came on stage shortly before 6pm to a rapturous reception from the audience and clear relief from the Logues, to introduce what he said was the "greatest football team ever!"

Fever pitch

Brought on stage in groups of four, to keep the excitement just below fever pitch, several of the victorious players did their own musical party pieces. Dean Rock took very little persuasion to break into KC and The Sunshine Band's Give It Up, which he said cryptically was a "little song about Sam Maguire". Kevin McManamon gave the crowd Vance Joy's Riptide, while Brian Fenton outdid the Logue's with his own Molly Malone.

Manager Jim Gavin told the crowd they were "privileged to see this group of lads play. They are phenomenal."

All the players thanked the supporters for their commitment through two All-Ireland championship campaigns. In the crowd Áine Burke (6) and her sister Cara (5) from Cabra who play for Ballymun Kickhams said they were there to support Dean Rock "because he scores all the goals".

Oisín Kenny-Eigeartaigh (5) from Drumcondra said Jonny Copper was the best player "because he's good at blocking", but added "they're all the best in Ireland". His mother Aoileann explained: "He thinks this happens all the time, he doesn't realise the rest of us were waiting nearly 20 years."

There was little sympathy for poor old Mayo. Anna Sargent (13) from Dundrum who herself played football until a cancer in her leg meant she had to stop, just smiled and said "no" when asked if she felt sad for Mayo. Her brother Andrew (9) expanded: "Why would you feel sad? The better team won."