One of the richest tributaries to Dublin’s prolific All-Ireland success in recent years has been the flow of players from successful under-21 teams. Under Jim Gavin and Declan Darcy and later, Dessie Farrell, the county won four All-Irelands at the grade during the last decade. Those teams averaged four graduates to starting senior All-Ireland medallists.
In 2017, the last year of the championship before it adjusted to under-20, Dublin’s opponents were Galway, who were favourites going into the final. In Farrell’s last match in charge of an underage county team Dublin won.
Fast forward seven years and six of that side played when Galway turned the tables in last month’s All-Ireland quarter-finals. There were also six Galway survivors of that under-21 final who have become important players under Pádraic Joyce’s management. They include All-Star nominees Rob Finnerty, current captain Seán Kelly and Cillian McDaid, who was named at centre field and also nominated for Footballer of the Year in 2022 after Galway had reached the All-Ireland final.
Gerry Fahy managed the 2017 team, and says that there is a reason why underage players who have lost out in finals often make good seniors.
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“I was involved with the Galway minors in 1986, and part of my job was to go down and watch the Munster final. I remember there were two Kerry lads behind me. One was giving out that they were getting beaten by Cork.
“I’ll never forget the other fella, turning around and saying: ‘Never mind that, boy. That will keep them greedy.’ Sometimes when you don’t get over the line at underage level it can give you a bit of an edge.”
It is a lesson previously learned by Galway when the team that lost the 1994 minor final to Kerry went on to provide six players for the side that reclaimed Sam Maguire after 32 years four years later.
By contrast just two members of the 1986 minor champions, Kevin Walsh and Tomás Mannion, would be still involved when John O’Mahony returned Galway to the top table.
The 2017 under-21s hadn’t had a heap of luck in their underage careers to date.
“They had been very unfortunate as minors, getting beaten narrowly on a couple of occasions. Quite a few that year were winning a first Connacht medal after a real fight against Sligo went to extra time. You could see in them they those battling qualities and the hunger to succeed that surfaced as the season went on.”
Had he expected them to make an impact at senior?
“Sometimes circumstances dictate. Peter Cook was on that on that team and to me he’s a big loss to Galway. Work took him abroad. Cein D’Arcy was on that team and after an early call-up to the seniors he went through a couple of years when he wasn’t involved. He’s now very prominent with them, which is great to see. Sometimes you can see the potential but life gets in the way.”
McDaid was another member of the team who has come through at the highest level. In the immediate aftermath he was signed by AFL club Carlton and spent a year in Australia.
“Cillian was playing both codes at minor. He was living in Craughwell, which wouldn’t have been a stronghold for football and he ended up winning a minor hurling All-Ireland. For him to emerge from that background and get to the level he did spoke volumes for his prospects.”
Others include flying wing back Dylan McHugh, already pencilled in for an All-Star, and Kieran Molloy, who started the 2022 All-Ireland and is in the current panel.
Two who appeared destined for stardom were Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh and Michael Daly. After the match, his manager had said: “He gave as good a display as I ever saw in a Gaelic jersey anywhere in the country.”
“I rated Seán Andy extremely highly,” says Fahy. “For whatever reason he never hit those heights. I’m not sure if it was style of play. He was playing on a team that was struggling that day and yet he still put in some performance on Con O’Callaghan, who went to achieve great things in the game.”
Micheál Daly was another. The son of Val and already a regular with the seniors, he captained the team and had been named the Connacht under-21 Player of the Year.
“He has been really unfortunate with a knee injury that has curtailed his year. He came back and played a little with his club last year but nowhere near the level that he is capable of. He’s a serious athlete and would really suit the modern game.”
For those with the good fortune to still be involved there are two matches between them and senior All-Ireland success, starting with Sunday’s semi-final against Donegal.
