Conroy won an All-Ireland and two other Leinster titles
Under Brian Mullins Vincent’s lost to a Wicklow team
This year they were a shambles - and it’s not that long since they were a serious force
The quality of management has clearly declined significantly since Conroy left, there’s no way that team should have fallen so far so fast
He was an excellent manager for Vincent’s, I don’t know if he would be the right choice for Dublin but his record deserves respect, and that Vincent’s team was not blessed with a huge amount of top county players bar Connolly and Brennan
Hence my original point… They have serious mileage on clock and not enough coming through… They scored 4 points from play last year v judes and 4 points in total against them this year… I also don’t think it’s too hard see parallels in vincents fade and connolly’s. .I don’t get the top county players reference… How many top county players do boden have now or had when they won all ireland ?
I’d say they had a few more lads who have played county - Durcan, McAuley, McDaid, Nelson, the Basquels, Keaney, Declan O’Mahony, Kerin played for Dublin in the O’Byrne Cup as well
Vincent’s had Connolly, Brennan and late Mossy Quinn, but they were mainly just good solid club players who made the most of themselves under Conroy
Ballymun had and still have a load of top county players and have consistently underachieved
You can make some allowance for certain Vincent’s players aging but the performances they’ve put in in the last two years were derisory, especially when you see a very limited Thomas Davis team reaching the final
So he would have been a top county player but when he got the chance to play county he didn’t nail down a starting place … That makes no sense…
Furthermore other players, who weren’t top IC players got more game time in champo ahead of him… I do think he’s a great club player though.
If you’re going to include McDaid, Nelson, Kerin and O’Mahony on one side, well then you can’t ignore Quinn, Egan, Gill, Varley, Mullins and Burke on the other side.
Conroy’s club management record is decent but I don’t think he would be a good choice at all. Dessie or Gilroy and if neither are available we are in bother. This is a poisoned chalice to top all poisoned chalices. Huge expectations and an ageing team.
I think Gilroy was the only person who wouldn’t have been coming in under huge pressure because of the credibility he built up previously.
Conroy will be under huge pressure if he gets it but that would have been the case for Dessie or anybody else as well, and whoever it is, there’s a chance that the whole show could come off the road.
The thing that works against Dessie for me, and it’s sort of why I have doubts about Stephen Kenny with Eire as well, is simply down to the dourness of his personality and voice. He’d put you to sleep listening to him.
If Conroy gets it, I’d imagine it’s Gilroy that has swung the job for him. He’s old to be starting at inter-county level, he must be mid to late 50s at least, and you’d worry he mightn’t be quite up to speed with the demands of inter-county level. Dessie would probably be more up to speed in that regard. Conroy has a more engaging personality though and I’d rather be listening to him than Dessie. And he’d have Gilroy and Mickey Whelan to lean on to help him out.
I’d imagine if Conroy gets it, it’ll mean Dermo stays on the panel for next year.
Gavin has always had a quiet authority about him, a business like manner and a steeliness and a ruthlessness, but a gentlemanly nature at the same time
Dessie always sounds like somebody low on seratonin, he sounds like a less excitable Katie Taylor
Apples and oranges… Gilroy was brought in to bring dublin back to basics and weed out the lads who were just happy to be there… He did his job and instilled that desire and workrate… Gavin took them to another level completely… Can’t see anyone out there doing a similar job to be honest…
