We’ve become smarter players, says Philly McMahon
The corner-back referred to how lessons learned from losing to Donegal in 2014 meant they were prepared for anything Mayo threw at them in the All-Ireland final and replay.
They had expected something different from them in the replay but it didn’t materialise.
“We don’t have to wait for the management to make a decision for us. That was definitely something we lacked in 2014 when Donegal came up with a tactic we hadn’t seen, that we didn’t adapt to on the pitch.
“I think this year we came up against all the eventualities and we were able to deal with them. That’s because we’ve become smarter footballers because we understand our sport a little bit better.
“Nobody, I don’t think, came up with anything different to what we’ve experienced this year in the league campaign and the championship. In a way we were expecting something different so that really kept us on our toes.”
McMahon highlights how Dublin pick and choose when to celebrate now as opposed to before when every championship win was toasted. “When we won a game in Leinster we were probably celebrating the same for an All-Ireland quarter or semi-final now. That’s completely changed. In the past maybe we would have gone out the next day and probably went for golf and a few drinks after that.
“But nowadays, because we’ve been successful, it takes a lot more for us to kind of go ‘we need to celebrate’. It’s changed, the success factors have changed. You don’t really celebrate winning a quarter-final of an All-Ireland whereas when I was there initially the lads were going out for two days after winning a Leinster game.”
Admitting this year’s triumph was sweeter than last year, McMahon found the post-final banquet more taxing than the game itself.
“I was more fatigued from listening to people at the banquet that night than I was the whole game because you’re hearing the same thing, and I’m not drinking. I’m drinking water and people are saying the same thing!
“You have to be respectable, you have to listen and you’re fatigued more than from that than the game. “That’s tough but it’s what people connect to you with, you’re a footballer. You just have to be nice and talk to them.”
The 29-year-old is realistic to accept last Saturday week’s win was a fleeting moment for the players as a group. “It’s funny because you look at the changing room after the final, and we’re all celebrating. You’re looking around the room and you’re saying ‘This team isn’t going to be here next year – it’s going to be a different team next year.’
“People will retire; you’ll have players coming in. People with injuries. You look at Jack (McCaffrey) and Rory (O’Carroll) – they went off and did their own thing. So, you just don’t know what’s going to change, what’s going to happen. So that is why you stay so grounded.”
