Paul Bealin got chatting with a pal recently about winning the All-Ireland with Dublin in 1995 and learned a surprising fact about that season.
Turns out Dublin were relegated from Division One just a few months before lifting Sam.
“I was kind of thinking, ‘Really?’ I’d actually totally forgotten about being relegated in ’95,” said Bealin.
“I won an All-Ireland with Dublin that year and I remember winning the Railway Cup around that time and the National League in 1991 and 1993 but I’d genuinely forgotten we were relegated from Division One. It just shows how much it registered with me.”
Context, of course, is everything. It’s easy to write off a relegation, or to forget about it entirely, when you win an All-Ireland immediately afterwards.
Right now, Bealin’s 1995 colleague Dessie Farrell and the current under pressure Dublin players don’t have that luxury as they find themselves deep in the mire. All-Ireland talk seems fanciful.
…
- March 9, 2022
