Paul Kimmage and Kieran Cunningham joined Joe Molloy for the Sunday Paper Review on Off the Ball.
The fallout from Dublin's post-match press conference antics last Sunday continued with Kimmage describing the scene.
"You had to be there," Kimmage told Molloy, adding: "This was absolutely extraordinary...I've written in the column this morning about Jim and the way he does his business and it's actually brilliantly encapsulated in Michael Foley's piece...he gives a superb example of this guy, Bill Parcells, an American Football coach who worked with the New York Giants and his attitude to the media.
"He was disdainful of the media. We're in the business of collecting information and as Parcells frequently said 'we're not in the business of exchanging information' and that could be Jim Gavin's mantra there in terms of what he sees as his duty and role as the manager of the Dublin football team.
"And I don't have a problem with that whatsoever. I've understood that from the moment he took over the team. I've admired him for his utter selflessness. I mean, he has no ego, he wants no praise - all he wants to do is build a winning team - and he's done that absolutely superbly," he added.
Looking back to the aftermath of the All-Ireland final, Kimmage went on: "Here's what I did have a problem with and this is what today's piece is about - so the game ends and Stephen Rochford, the Mayo manager, is brought in and he is absolutely distraught.
"It was pitiful to watch him, it really was. But, he could not have been more gracious to the Dublin team and the Dublin players - I thought it was tremendous.
"I was a little peeved that some jobsworth jumped in and said 'right, that's it, over now' after six minutes. I would like to have talked to him a bit more about it and asked him a few questions but I just thought it was really, really brilliant what he did.
"And then we were sitting there for about 20 minutes and you kind of wonder 'ok well, what's going on?' and I'm not on deadline, I've got to say.
"You got the sense 'we're not too fussed about going in to see these media guys'.
Dublin manager Jim Gavin. Image: ©INPHO/James Crombie
"Again, I don't have a problem with that (the Dublin players celebrating privately in the dressing room after the final whistle) - I'm just making the point that Rochford was straight in and we were left waiting 20 odd minutes. A small point I'd make about that...give respect, get respect.
"We're doing a job - we deserve respect. If they want respect then it's earned as well but there's two sides to that.
"Forty reporters waiting there in a room for Jim Gavin to come and give his thoughts...that's a small point and I do not have a problem with that. Here's what I do have a problem with: they came in and...he brought Stephen (Cluxton) in and you don't expect anything from Stephen Cluxton and again I don't have a problem with that.
"I am surprised as to why he goes. If it's not something you enjoy doing, if you don't have a contribution to make, if you don't want to say anything then why do it?
"You're captain but bring in one of the kids who is doing cartwheels because he has won an All-Ireland and give us some sense of 'this actually meant something to us' - why not do that?
"But that's again a small point. So they bring in Stephen and Jim hasn't reached his chair and someone says 'how's the heart, Jim?' and it was a great opportunity for Jim to say 'Jaysus, I need a transplant - what a game!' and it was like a wasp had stung him: 'fine, how was yours?'
"Now, where does that come from? Where does that come from? So you've got hostility straight away from the moment he sits down. It's not that he's not engaging - he's actually being hostile about this.
"He has won three-in-a-row. He comes in, he sits down and he hasn't even sat in his chair and he is being hostile.
Dublin Manager Jim Gavin celebrates with Mick Seavers after the match. Image:©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
"You begin to think 'well, we'll let that pass, we'll let that pass'. So then he's asked quite early on about Mayo's failure to get across the line again and the long history and all that and he says 'well, we know what it's like, we were here a couple of months ago and the National League Final.'
"So he's comparing a defeat in the National League final to how many finals is that for Mayo since '51? And now I do have a problem, now I do have a problem.
"I have a problem with the lack of empathy. I have a problem with the lack of grace and I just though 'you must be joking'...and then the third thing was, Declan Bogue asked him about the disgraceful, disgraceful final minutes of the game. Absolutely disgraceful and an absolute blemish on what had been the best sport I'd watched this year.
"But, the last minutes were absolutely disgraceful and about the three Dublin players had wrestled Mayo players to the ground in that last minute and he's asked about this and he didn't engage with the question.
"This has been going on since the start - just pass it off. And I'm sitting there listening to this and...'I'm thinking, 'hold on a second - what is this all about?' You come in here, you look like you've lost the game - if you turn off the sound and watch the expression and you say 'these guys have lost - what is the point of winning?'
"You've won three All-Ireland's...what is the point if there's no joy and you can't express that joy or if, does coming in here and actually being a bit gracious towards the losers, expressing a bit of happiness - by doing that does that mean you can't win again next year?
"Well it that's the price...give me losers. I only want to deal with losers if that's what we're going to get from Jim Gavin and his team for the next four years - I'm not interested."
The full discussion can be heard here:
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