I think Ger Brennan has done a grand job with Louth obviously but I suspect heâd not be a great choice for the Dublin job. I donât think heâd be ruthless enough or have the media savvy for the Dublin job and I suspect he wouldnât be remotely near the level of Jim Gavinâs intellect in terms of coaching ability and probably behind Dessie Farrell too. Mickey Harte did a huge amount of legwork with Louth in terms of making them believe they were a serious team and I suspect Ger is mostly piggybacking on that and would be found out at a higher level with much higher expectations.
I am quite intrigued about how much new Dublin hurling manager Niall OâCeallchain looks like Jim Gavin on the sideline however and Iâm beginning to harbour irrational thoughts Dublin might actually win the Leinster hurling final this year.
Well done Louth. I could sense in last yearâs quarter final that they definitely had quality, and with the right fine-tuning, would improve. Hopefully itâll kick off a revolution of GAA thatâll dwarf the soccer in the county.
Meath will rue that one, but hard to go to the well psychologically again after taking the mighty Dubs down.
Iâd rate Lyonsâ achievement with Offaly much higher. They were a complete joke when he took over and he got them to win Leinster in less than a year playing God like football against a Meath team who were the real kingpins in Leinster at the time and the reigning All-Ireland champions. Then he went and won the NFL the following year.
It went to pot after that but to win Leinster and then the NFL with a team who had had been plumbing the depths of Division 4 and not mapped in Leinster for years might actually be the most under rated managerial achievement of my lifetime.
I think you are being hard on Ger there. Whatever about last year this year Louth are his team. With the new rules everything needed to be ripped up and started again.
I think he will be Dublin manager in 2026 and will do a decent job but probably wonât win any all Irelandâs.
There are levels in management. Declan Bonner was a grand fella to win a provincial title especially coming in after an utterly toxic dressing room under Rory Gallagher but wasnât good enough at the real business end. Kevin McStay too won a provincial title in great style with Roscommon but is finding the going much tougher with his native county where the pressure and the expectations are higher. Kevin Walsh did a fine job with Sligo, he did an OK job with Galway, he got them to a certain level, but again he wasnât top level. I suspect Ger fits into that sort of category.
I think first of all Harte instilled the attitude of a serious team with Louth and then when he left to go to Derry, who were at that time seen by the whole of Ireland as a very serious team, the Louth players saw that as a stab in the back and they resolved to fucking show him. âYou think weâre not a serious enough team? Weâll fuckinâ show ya whoâs a serious team.â
As long as the next manager in wasnât a complete stiff, they were coming into a good situation with a highly motivated group who were now bearing a grudge, which is a very powerful thing. Ger strikes me as a playersâ man, he has serious All-Ireland winning pedigree in his playing career and I think in this situation heâs the right man. But that doesnât mean heâd be the right man for Dublin. Iâd actually like to see him stay with Louth and see can he maximise their potential over the next few years rather than go for the Dublin job straight away.
Whoâs yer man who used to write the sub slips for Jim Gavin and always managed to get himself front and centre of any celebrations? He was mentioned here a couple of times before
It used to absolutely iconic about an hour before games when heâd come out the tunnel under the Hogan Stand and walk around the perimeter of the pitch to the referees room under the corner of the Canal End/Cusack Stand to hand in the team sheet - it was like Dublinâs haka in their pomp.
