Dessie Farrell appointed to succeed Jim Gavin as Dublin manager on three-year term

The 1995 All-Ireland winner was ratified at a meeting of the Dublin county board’s management committee in advance of annual convention in Parnell Park this evening before their choice was revealed to delegates by county board chairman, Seán Shanley.

His appointment comes as little surprise, even if the sequence of events that led to the job becoming vacant threw added complications into the process.

A four-man sub-committee spoke to a number of candidates, including Declan Darcy, who has been a selector under Jim Gavin for the past seven silver-plated seasons, before deciding that Farrell was the right man to lead Dublin in the immediate post-Gavin years.

A former Dublin captain, Farrell’s managerial credentials are robust from both underage and club involvement.

He began coaching in 2006, just a year after retiring as a player, initially taking charge an Under 13 west Dublin development squad.

He coached them until they became a combined county team at Under 16 level, a group that went on to lose the 2011 All-Ireland minor final to Tipperary.

The following year, Farrell managed the minor footballers again, this time to a first All-Ireland title for the county at the grade since 1984.

That victory still stands as Dublin’s only minor All-Ireland of the past 35 years.

He made an immediate step up to the Dublin Under 21 job, steering separate groups to All-Irelands in 2014 and in ’17, the last staging of the competition before it was regraded to Under 20.

It was after that success that he ruled himself out of taking the senior job, although the suspicion remained that he would eventually follow so many of the players he had coached into the senior ranks.

This year, he was manager of the Na Fianna senior footballers, who effectively knocked a star-studded Ballymun Kickhams team out of the Dublin SFC, before losing to eventual winners, Ballyboden St. Enda’s after extra-time.

He also held the role of performance coach to the Dublin hurlers under Mattie Kenny.

Farrell’s relationship with many of the players who have backboned Dublin’s success at senior level of the past five years was clearly seen by the kingmakers as one of the most alluring aspects of his candidacy.

Talents such as Ciarán Kilkenny, Jack McCaffrey, John Small and Paul Mannion blossomed under his coaching while Brian Howard and Eoin Murchan key players on his most recent Under 21 team.

The makeup of Farrell’s backroom team is as yet unknown and will be revealed over the coming days.

His first game as manager comes on January 11th, when Dublin play in an O’Byrne Cup semi-final, although with most of this year’s squad due to be abroad on a team holiday and Farrell will be left with a mostly experimental pick from which to make his maiden selection.

Dublin’s first match in next year’s Allianz League is on Saturday, January 25th in Croke Park when they take on Kerry in a repeat of this year’s All-Ireland SFC final.