'It’s not about me' - new Dubs boss Niall Ó Ceallacháin on balancing act as Na Fianna run goes on
All Ireland Aib Fianna During Against The Brendan Na Pic: ó Moran/sportsfile Final Niall Club Loughrea Championship Semi Match Senior Ceallacháin Gaa Hurling Manager
Little over a week separated the appointments of Niall Ó Ceallacháin and Robbie Brennan. The former took the Dublin hurling reins on September 10, the latter replaced Colm O’Rourke as Royals boss eight days later.
Neither Ó Ceallacháin nor Brennan was exactly a free agent when the respective statements announcing their appointment landed into inboxes. Both were already busy heading up club teams in the capital intent on defending their county crown.
Form and recent seasons strongly suggested that Ó Ceallacháin would be the first of the pair to exit the club scene and shift focus exclusively onto inter-county matters. His spell of double jobbing would be the shorter. Brennan’s Kilmacud, after all, were going for four-in-a-row on the county and provincial fronts.
Kilmacud never made it out of Dublin. Ó Ceallacháin, meanwhile, still isn’t in a position to shift exclusive focus over to the inter-county scene. And won't be for another five weeks. The double jobbing has gone on far longer than anyone expected.
Na Fianna’s All-Ireland Club final is in the calendar for January 19. His first competitive fixture in charge of the Dublin hurlers throws-in six days later.
“It’s not about me. It’s about the support teams,” Ó Ceallacháin replied when asked about his unique balancing act.
“The coaches here have put in an incredible amount of work in order to have the lads where they need to be. And the same with Dublin. The set-up and backroom teams around both the Na Fianna team here and the inter-county team, it’s busy but it’s not about me. There’s a lot of people who are sticking a hell of a lot of work in.”
Ó Ceallacháin again stressed the collective when allowing himself a brief pause to reflect on Na Fianna’s achievement of reaching the All-Ireland Club final 14 months after winning their first county. Only the third Dublin side to win a Leinster club and only the second Dublin side to reach the concluding afternoon.
“It means everything. The club is who we are. It’s our identity, it’s built around our families, it’s playing with everybody that we grew up with, it’s working with everyone that we grew up with. All of the coaches, all of the parents who have supported all those lads in that dressing-room to be where they are now looking forward to an All-Ireland Club final in five weeks’ time.
“I would just be so proud of the players but really proud of all the people who put so much work into them as well. It means everything. There’s not so many things pure left in life but this is definitely one of them.”
Their 0-17 to 0-16 win over Loughrea was neither pure nor pretty.
“Semi-finals are for winning. I was really proud of that second half. The levels of aggression in and out of possession were really good. The first half we weren’t where we needed to be.
“Loughrea were off for five weeks and sometimes it can be hard to hit the pace of it, but they were absolutely at the pace of it, and we weren’t at the pace of it. We struggled for almost all that first half but we clung in there, so tremendous amount of work for us to do in the next few weeks to get some things right.”
Both of Sunday’s semi-finals were decided by the minimum. Both were won and lost in second-half injury-time. This All-Ireland series has been as close as it has been novel. History for Na Fianna in five weeks’ time would mean extending the 20-year wait for a Cork club to again clasp their hands onto Tommy Moore.
“Not surprised (at how tight Sars-Slaughtneil was), there’s very little between the four teams. I think we’ve played Sars once over the years but I’m sure there’s nothing they don’t know about us and we’ll have a look at them in the next week or two as well.”