One of the things in the championship that has really stood out for me this year is the excellent young players who have been on show. For all the media narrative about Kerrys great young team we have Galway and Donegal in particular giving youth their fling. Players like Cliffard, O Shea, Sean Andy, Cooke, Thompson and EBG have been really impressive in their debut years.

We often say that this run of success will come to an end and we often keep an eye on how other counties are developing and how young players they might develop will add to future threats. Much has been made of Kerry, Galway and Donegals "youth".

One thing that very rarely gets picked up on is what Jim Gavin has done in replenishing and evolving the stock in this Dublin team. Its massively unheralded a team being able to transition while keeping high standards and winning All Irelands. It very rarely gets acknowledged and picked up on.

Other counties get a bit of a pass for "being in transition" or having a "young team" developing.

Kerry gave 8 championship debuts this season. Dublin have given 7.

I dont know did anyone see Malachy Clerkins great piece in the times this week about Dublin hiding in plain sight and regenerating. Well worth a read.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/jim-gavin-s-true-genius-is-dublin-s-regeneration-game-1.3593864

To share one of the most interesting snippets:

"But above all, Dublin's greatest feat is hiding in plain sight. Year after year, Gavin has managed to keep them winning without them getting older together. The average age of the starting team that beat Tyrone in last year's semi-final was 26.26. Roll the calendar on by 12 months and the average age of the starting 15 on Saturday night was 26.2. Out went Mick Fitzsimons and Paddy Andrews; in came Eoin Murchan and Brian Howard. Everybody else got a year older but the team as a whole got younger.

Average age
Go back even further, to the starting 15 for the first All-Ireland final in this run. The average age that day against Kerry was 26.7 - and yet, here they are, on the cusp of four-in-a-row, with the average age down by half a year. From that 2015 team, they've shed Rory O'Carroll, Denis Bastick and Diarmuid Connolly and reduced the roles played by Andrews, Paul Flynn and Bernard Brogan. And become more dominant along the way.

Whatever else Gavin has achieved, putting a lie to the notion of this being a golden generation of irreplaceable players has to be near the top of the list. Sport may well have its way and Dublin may indeed not become the permanent empire the rest of the sport lives in fear of.

But the least that can be said without argument is that they're going the right way about it."

To put that into context Dublin have an average age of 26.2, Kerry - who many say will be winning All Irelands in a few years have an average age of 24.

They said we would never win All Ireland's, without the Brogans and the 2011 vintage coming to the end of the road, we have, all the time the average age of the team coming down.

With every year bringing three young players into the panel at least and this year giving 7 championship debut, we are hiding in plain sight and building constantly for the future while keeping incredibly high standards.

Is this success cyclical? Or will be around for many generations yet? Are we really building a dynasty or an empire as Clerkin suggests?

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 14/08/2018 12:46:52    2133160