As the All-Ireland Football final closes in, two former protagonists of the 2011 decider joined us on Off The Ball.
Dublin's Barry Cahill and Kerry's Darran O'Sullivan reminisced about the build-up to that final with Joe Molloy.
The figure of Pat Gilroy loomed large as Cahill shared a few anecdotes from the ex-Dublin manager's time in charge that year.
The 2011 decider was the first experience of an All-Ireland final for that Dublin panel, given that 1995 was the county's most recent appearance at that stage.
So getting a grip of the experience was necessary. One involved staging a mock pre-match parade where Pat Gilroy took up the presidential role.
"We could see the reason for it"
"We actually did a parade. Pat Gilroy pretended to be Mary McAleese as the president, shaking hands and all that," Cahill recalled.
"There were 35 lads on the panel probably training and nobody had experienced a final before. We could see the reason for [the mock parade]. No-one wanted to take the tone of it differently."
27 August 2019; Pictured are Glenbeigh-Glencar and former All-Ireland winning Kerry footballer Darran OSulivan, left, and St. Brigids and former All-Ireland winning footballer Barry Cahill at the launch of AIBs new short film, The Toughest Temptation.The three-minute film captures the reactions of four superfans from counties Mayo, Kerry, Dublin and Tyrone as they are faced with the decision to forgo watching their team compete in the semi-final in order to win tickets to the All-Ireland final; or give into temptation and press a button to watch the semi-final but miss out on tickets to the final. AIBs The Toughest Temptation reflects the passion and dedication behind what it means to be a true GAA fan.
For exclusive content and to see why AIB is backing Club and County follow us @AIB_GAA on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and AIB.ie/GAA. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Cahill also discussed the culture change as Dublin went from also-rans to soon-to-be perennial champions.
He shared another Pat Gilroy story involving current veteran forward Bernard Brogan.
Humble
"I remember after 2009, [Gilroy] called out Bernard for not maybe tracking back players," he said.
"And then the next year, you had great examples of Bernard then who went on to win Footballer of the Year.
"He was putting in as many tackles as any of the defenders. In the 2010 quarter-final, which was a big win for this group against a lot of three-time All-Ireland winners, Bernard was Man-of-the-Match.
"And the interview after the game, he came across so humble and about the team. He couldn't have been any more praise-worthy in terms of his team-mates and the group. Maybe it would have been a slightly different interview two or three years earlier."
You can watch the full chat with Barry Cahill and Darran O'Sullivan above via YouTube.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
