'Hostility and hatred? I don’t really know if that’s still there' - Brian Howard on motivation
FIRST OFF, THEY love playing outside Croke Park.
Don’t be swayed by the decisions of others. If it were up to Brian Howard for one, Dublin would be clambering onto a team bus to strike out for the Shires far more than they do in the name of championship football.
Yes, he knows it brings the unknown and the playing field is levelled. But there’s other factors at play too. He’s not blind to the greatest marketing tool in the GAA – when young supporters come on the field to meet heroes, local and national.
“It’s a different environment when you go down to the country,” says the Raheny man.
“You can actually be with the fans of the team. When do you get the opportunity to be on the pitch in your full Dublin gear with the gumshield pretty much in your mouth and having kids and parents asking for photos and signing autographs?”
After the last away day in Dr Hyde Park, there was a carnival atmosphere after Dublin escaped with a draw against Mayo – since eliminated – with the final play of the game. Afterwards, there were touching pictures of Dublin midfielder Brian Fenton with children clad in Mayo kit.
It didn’t feel like that ten minutes prior to the picture, insists Howard.
“When you go out there, it’s a hostile environment in terms of, it’s not your natural habitat really,” he says.
“Like Breffni Park (where he won Man of the Match against Cavan a few weeks back), it’s hostile because the fans are right on the pitch.
“Down in Dr Hyde Park, it was like you were Croke Park or Parnell Park, that noise really does get you over the line when you are going down the stretch and Jack (McCaffrey) gets the ball, or Con O’Callaghan gets the ball, there’s a bit of a cheer, it really does get you over the line when you think you are out on your feet.”
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As for the equaliser, Howard insists the move wasn’t a set-play. They were too exhausted to think like that.
“It’s the 72nd minute, it’s very tough to be thinking straight. Your decision making is a bit off. It wasn’t a set play. Stephen (Cluxton) obviously one of the all-time greats, his execution of the kick, Ciaran being the man he is, able to get up…
“It was just completely off the cuff. You have principles in place that you’d like this to happen but if we tried to do that ten more times in a game, it probably wouldn’t come off.”
They won’t have to worry about away days now. While Peter Canavan flew a kite that the All Ireland quarter-finals should be taken out of Croke Park, it’s home turf for the Dubs from here on in. Galway up next on Saturday evening.
In the meantime: A Theory. You might not test it out too widely. But dominant teams are rarely widely admired in any sport. This group of Dublin players buck that trend.
Sure, the advantages they enjoy are plain to see and only a fool would deny or minimise them. However, by sheer force of personality, charisma and sportsmanship, this Dublin team is difficult to begrudge.
In league action against Tyrone.
When Howards casts his mind back, it’s to that season when everything changed in 2011. His clubmate Ciaran Whelan was retired by then.
And once they started winning, they went from being mocked to, well, something else.
“When we were winning there was always a narrative, there was probably more hatred towards us. Not hatred. Hatred is obviously a strong word but people were saying, ‘they just keep on winning’.
“Now you see the competition. The gap has completely closed. It’s anybody’s now. I don’t know how many teams are left but it could be anyone’s really.
“Hostility and hatred? I don’t really know if that’s still there because I think if there’s an opposition team that you admire, you just admire them for the way they way, it’s a style that you like.”
In breaking records, Dublin have created an environment remarkably similar to Brian Cody’s remorseless Kilkenny team. The team may not be completely settled, but the spirit is.
When Howard was making his way onto the panel and then the team, he bore witness to some ruthless carry-on. Like Bernard Brogan not making the 30 players for the in-house matches, fetching a bag of balls and heading off to another pitch for a solitary kicking session.
“That was a huge thing for me when I came in,” says Howard.
“These lads had every right in their own head to be angry about not playing or not starting in the 15 when what they had done for Dublin football was generational and had changed the way Dublin played football.
“The likes of Bernard, Paul Flynn, Kevin McMenamin and Mick Macauley. To see how they handled themselves in terms of their professionalism.
“Just say I was up against Paul Flynn, he wanted nothing more than for me to play well on the pitch even if that meant he was still on the sideline or Bernard Brogan or Diarmuid Connolly or whoever it was, they would always encourage you and they’d want what’s better for the team. That was a huge thing.”
He added, “The one eye opener when I walked in was how hungry these lads were. The likes of Bernard Brogan and Paul Flynn. They just wanted to keep winning and they were machines.
“That was sort of passed down to me. That what’s I wanted.”
His medal count sits at five now. Motivation to collect more?
It’s everywhere. His club. His family. His girlfriend Emer.
“Firstly, I absolutely love it. I love playing it but it’s more I love making my family proud. It’s more other people is the main joy of it and the force behind me of wanting to achieve success.
“The feeling of winning an All-Ireland is something I don’t think you can ever replicate. And when you have that energy in you, it’s just raw emotion and to share with lads that you’ve been through the trenches with.
“You’ve had those dark nights in early December or whenever it is. To be able to win in Croke Park, your home county walking up the steps is a huge honour.”