Dublin manager Mick Bohan believes that he never thought his side would reach the All-Ireland Final this year.
The 50th final of the competition takes place at Croke Park on Sunday, August 13, and the battle between the old rivals is sure to be a fascinating one.
After several changes to his squad in 2023, Bohan stated that he previously backed Dublin's opponents on Sunday, Kerry to lift the Brendan Martin Cup. Kerry were bested by Meath in the 2022 edition.
"At the start of the year, I would have said Kerry is the best team in the competition," Bohan shared. "If we weren't competing against them, I'd be wishing them well. However, we are facing them, so that changes everything."
This is Bohan's seventh year in the role, but there was a time he thought that he wouldn't be in charge coming into the 2023 campaign. This came after their All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Donegal.
"We are delighted to be back in the final" ..
Mick Bohan spoke to @MauriceGrehan about this Sunday's TG4 All Ireland final vs Kerry.
Tickets remain on sale from usual GAA ticket outlets + Ticketmaster & directly from the LGFA office 01-8363156, [email protected] #DublinLGFA pic.twitter.com/lZex9RyrBe— DublinLGFA (@dublinladiesg) August 8, 2023
“I’d say driving away from that game, I was gone,” he said. “Definitely. But sport is funny. I can’t even tell you at this point in time what turned it around. I do know as a management team that we felt we let ourselves down that day. And I don’t know whether it was still the ghost of the previous year. We certainly had Meath in the wing mirror.”
Despite eventually agreeing to stay on, Bohan wasn’t initially won over by Dublin’s 2023 prospects but admitted that it is an 'achievement with what has gone over the last year. “I would have said to you at the start of the year that our whole modus operandi was to make this thing competitive again,” he said. “If you’d asked me last November or December were we going to be in this position, I’d have said no. It was just too much all at once. So that in itself, being here, is an achievement.”
The TG4 All-Ireland Senior final between Dublin and Kerry kicks off at 4pm. You can watch it live via TG4.
