Paul Flynn has seen it all in his ten years as a Dublin player.
He’s been through a lot. The dark days, the best of days. He’s been the key player for most of it, but this year he was that substitute trying hard to make an impression.
And if you ask his club Fingallians about that, they’ll be encouraging Jim Gavin to keep Flynn chomping at the bit next year too.
Because For the first year in a long number of years, Flynn saw scant playing time in a Dublin jersey in 2018. He only started one game for the Dublin seniors all year. He missed the League campaign after back surgery and his role was limited to sub by the time the big summer Sundays came around.
And now September has come to pass. Sam Maguire is back in Dublin and the mad panic to get the club championship over and done with is upon us.
Fingallians are flying high and are preparing for a semi-final, Flynn’s back is sorted, he’s fresher and he’s hungrier than he’s ever been before but he sees that as no coincidence.
Look at this magnificent bastard, looking like Pac Man about to eat a ghost @Flinto23 pic.twitter.com/cZyFWzwpyF
— EamonFennell (@EamonFennell) September 16, 2018
He says himself that he’s playing some of the best football he’s ever played for his club and he knows why too.
“Every year I was going back to the club and I was wounded and I wasn’t able to give my all.
“Come the end of the season,” says Flynn, “the body just knows it’s the end of the season and it can shut down a little bit when you finish with the inter-county set-up and you’re brought into another environment – (Club.)
Those were the years when he was coming back to his club an All-Star. He’d spent a year in the trenches with Dublin and expectations were massive when he arrived back to Fingallians. He was desperate to keep that form up, but it all caught up with him, be it mentally, physically or otherwise.
This year, his body didn’t take as much punishment in a Dublin jersey. He has a point to prove for his club and he’s able to do himself justice and he’s relishing that.
“This year, I’m going back fresh and I’m able to go at it hammer and tongs,” said the GPA CEO.
That he’s done and now, against all the odds, Fingallians against all the odds are gunning for a Senior B title.
Flying Flynner @Flinto23 @Fingallians v @Tempsyngest #SFC2 QF in Skerries @DubGAAOfficial @DubMatchTracker pic.twitter.com/tkJqJbcLpq
— Kyran OBrien 📸 Photographer🙏 (@kobpix) September 29, 2018
But it gnawed away at him in years gone by. County lads are always expected to go to town for their clubs. When they don’t, the knives are out.
‘That lad doesn’t care about the club,’ the critics say.
That couldn’t be further from the truth because he was more frustrated than anybody.
“I always found that to be the case, I was frustrated, because I wasn’t giving my club what I was giving my county, performance wise but I’m just glad now at the moment, I’m playing well – we’ve a lot of young lads there, excellent young lads – and I’m just trying to show them the level it takes to make it at inter-county.”
And that’s why one of the biggest myths in club GAA is in fact, a bit of a myth. Clubs’ credentials are regularly judged on the number of county boys they have. It’s always the way, but it’s not always an accurate gauge.
“Spot on, spot on,” says Flynn.
“I know a couple of clubs in Dublin who have four or five Dublin players who are starting – and it’s easy to say, oh they’re going to win the championship, but it is hard because when you give it your all – a lot of the time, you have these chronic injuries that are ongoing.”
They manage them for as long as they can for the county – and then the body shuts down around the time the club comes around.
You need look no further than the Dublin championship for proof.
Perennial favourites Ballymun Kickhams were knocked out again at the weekend. They’ve some of the country’s best footballers in John Small, James McCarthy, Dean Rock, Evan Comerford and Paddy Small in their ranks but they were knocked out by lesser lights St Jude’s at the quarter final stages at the weekend.
The Kickahms haven’t won a Dublin SFC since 2012 – since then – St Vincent’s have won four titles and they’re favourites to do so again this year. They’re generally recognised as the best club team in Dublin even though not one of their players was on the Dublin panel this year. Diarmuid Connolly’s case is an obvious exception, but the rest of the Vinnies’ men barring say Donegal’s Nathan Mullins, are club players exclusively.
That makes some difference.
