'I didn't sit in the dressing room thinking I was the reason Dublin didn't beat Armagh'
IT'S THE DAY after the 2002 All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Armagh, and the RTÉ Six O'Clock news has just come on the TV in a pub.
Sitting at the bar are some of the Dublin players who are processing the effects of a one-point defeat in Croke Park. It's been seven years since their county last tasted All-Ireland success, but this group will not be the ones to end the wait. A first Leinster title since 1995 will have to do instead.
John McNally is among the crew, along with Dublin full-forward Ray Cosgrove who has been the star of the summer. He's clocking out of the championship with a scintillating 6-23. He'll be collecting an All-Star award for that as well as joint top-scorer gong along with Armagh's Oisín McConville.
But today is a day for escaping. They want to avoid the city centre and so they've found a spot in Ballymore Eustace to drink their pints in quiet anonymity. Just when they think they're in the clear, the final moments of their loss to Armagh appear on the TV screen. A last-minute free from Cosgrove that came back off the post.
'Jaysus,' quips the barmen serving the wounded Dublin lot.
'I wouldn't fancy being that poor fella today.'
****
It always comes up on weeks like this. THAT free. THAT miss.
Dublin v Armagh in Croke Park? Of course Ray Cosgrove's phone is going to ping with the usual deluge of messages. He's in a WhatsApp group with Oisín McConville, and the back and forth is always good natured. McConville technically finished the 2002 championship with two more points than Cosgrove but they both won the top-scorer award as McConville played one more match.
Cosgrove never lets him forget that.
Ray Cosgrove wheels away in celebration after a goal in the 2002 Leinster final. INPHO INPHO
For those who can recall, 2002 was the summer of Saipan. It was the summer when Roy Keane either left or was sent home from the Republic of Ireland's World Cup squad, depending on where your allegiances lie.
That controversy held the country in a headlock. But Cosgrove's quality soared above it. In the space of a few months, he was no longer Ray Cosgrove. He was Cossie – the darling of Hill 16.
'The season just took off and I didn't realise the amount of hype that had been created,' he says, looking back.
'Things are just happening. I wasn't quite aware of the magnitude of what was going on, to be perfectly honest.'
By 2002, Cosgrove was heading into his sixth year on the Dublin circuit. He was first introduced to the senior squad by Mickey Whelan in 1996 and he felt a breakthrough to the team was close.
He was playing for the A team in their training games coming into the Leinster final against Meath. But when the selections were announced, he didn't get the nod. He didn't even make the matchday panel.
'I was going well,' Cosgrove continues. 'I was only 19 years old so maybe a little bit light and inexperienced. This was a Dublin team that had just won the All-Ireland. I left that Saturday before the final thinking I could be getting a shout.
'For whatever reason, Mickey obviously made the decision with the management team. Maybe they felt that's a big, strong, Meath team and this fella's not cut out for it at the moment. He just didn't back me, I suppose.'
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By 1999, the door into the Dublin team was still locked for Cosgrove. Again, they reached the Leinster final, and again, Meath were their opponents. The Dublin-Meath rivalry was in full roar in those years. Not too unlike the Celtic Tiger that defined Irish consumerism at the time.
Cosgrove did make an appearance on that occasion off the bench, but he was taken off again later in the game as Dublin lost by five points. Tommy Carr was in charge at that point, and after that game, they had a conversation about Cosgrove's future. They agreed that he should concentrate on playing club football.
'I suppose I had a bit of prove,' Cosgrove adds. 'I was still playing good football with the club in 2001.'
Former Dublin manager Tommy Lyons. INPHO INPHO
2002 ushered in a new chapter for Dublin and for Cosgrove. The difference? Cosgrove's Kilmacud clubmate Tommy Lyons became the new Dublin boss. He decided that Cosgrove was his man, and offered assurances that he would stick with his man come hell or high water. It's hard to imagine a concept where a manager — who has a large panel at their disposal — could make such a promise. But Cosgrove's form made it easy to stick with him.
'He took a chance on me. He showed faith in me. And from day one, he said, 'Cossie, regardless of how you're going, I am going to play you. I'm going to persist with you.' He showed complete faith in me. That was the faith I needed.
'Tommy would have called me Monday morning after games day saying, 'You've done this, you've done that…' He was giving me feedback and he was honest.'
****
Before we go forward, let's go back. Gaelic football wasn't Cosgrove's first sport. He had links through his Mayo-born parents and his Galway cousin, Gay McManus, who played against Cosgrove's native Dublin in the 1983 All-Ireland final. But the first ball Cosgrove kicked was for Leicester Celtic in Rathfarnham.
He was a nifty centre midfielder too. He was on a DDSL team that won a Kennedy Cup, which is prestigious competition at U14 level. He also enjoyed some success with Cherry Orchard. There was talk of trials too but the intrusion of injury stopped him from pursuing any opportunities in England.
'I missed a couple of trials. I got injured at U15 when I was out with the the Irish team. I was on trials at the AUL. I tore a calf most of the trials there. And that set me back a good few months. I was due to go on trial with Derby. And I missed the boat to go across.'
His first foray into Gaelic football was somewhat accidental. While attending St Benildus College, he offered to tog out for a team struggling with numbers. A teacher at the school was involved with Kilmacud Crokes and Cosgrove could feel himself inclining more towards the O'Neill's ball.
Cosgrove celebrating after winning the 2009 All-Ireland final with Kilmacud Crokes. Donall Farmer / INPHO Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
'We ended up winning the Dublin U14 A title,' he says.
'I joined Kilmacud and we ended up winning the U15 championship. That year we beat a Ballyboden team in the semi-final. I think they'd been unbeaten all the way up through when they were under-aged. And we were the first team to beat that Ballyboden team. Jim Stynes' younger brother David would have been on that team.
'I remember I was double-jobbing with the soccer. I had my foot in both camps. It just festered from there.'
By the time he was at the U18 grade, Cosgrove dropped the dual-player tag and decided to specialise in Gaelic football.
****
When he thinks back to 2002, Cosgrove points to a draw against Galway in the National League as the 'catalyst.' It was their last game of the Division 1 campaign. Cosgrove scored 1-4 and could sense a fruitful summer was looming.
Dublin started their Leinster championship with a two-point win over Wexford and a 2-11 to 0-10 semi-final victory over the Royals illustrated their intent. It was a first championship win over Meath in seven years, and Cosgrove scored 2-3 to help make it happen.
'That was the first sign of, I'd arrived on the scene. Darren-Faye was one of the best full-backs that the game had ever seen. When you walk off the pitch and say, 'Jaysus, 2-3 off Darren-Faye', that isn't so bad.'
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Dublin went on to become Leinster champions for the first time since 1995 and eventually dispatched Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final after a replay. Cosgrove's legend continued to grow and a belief that Dublin could push on for the next prize was visible in the city.
'There was a big 40-foot poster on Connolly Street against the Bank of Ireland.' he says. 'The flags, the bunting around the place.'
And then came Armagh in the semi-final. A tough outfit packed with Crossmaglen All-Ireland winners and Ulster champions. Kieran McGeeney was their captain at centre-back, and Cosgrove was familiar with him from the Dublin club scene.
'Geezer was playing with Na Fianna so I would have obviously locked horns with Geezer. We would have known a good bit about the Armagh boys from the few that were playing in Dublin.
'They were battle-hardened. They were more experienced. But certainly, it was a game that we went into thinking that, yeah, we could get something out of it. There was no fear on our behalf.'
****
Cosgrove reflects on it as his best game for Dublin. You might only remember the free but he remembers the six points he scored. It was as close to perfect as he could get. He was the one that actually won the free too, drawing a trip from Enda McNulty. Cosgrove felt it was 'soft enough' though.
He just kicked it with too much caution. If he had his time back, he'd put his boot through it. Instead of trying to curl it over from the instep, he'd hit the strike with more conviction. Actually, he would have taken the free off the ground. That was his preferred style of free-taking. But a knee injury forced him to start taking them from his hands.
'I knew I'd done as much as I could. It was probably the best game I ever played in a blue jersey. I didn't blame myself for missing the free. We would have only drawn the game. It's not like as if we would have won the game if I scored.
'I didn't take the burden of blame on my shoulders. It wasn't just that kick that led to us being beaten. There were lots of other missed opportunities. I didn't sit in the dressing room thinking I was the reason Dublin didn't beat Armagh.'
The Dublin and Armagh teams before the 2002 All-Ireland semi-final. INPHO INPHO
Cosgrove does have games that haunt him. The 1998 Leinster final against Éire Óg of Carlow needed three games to determine a winner. In the second game, Cosgrove kicked a free which was dispossessed and led to a late equaliser. Dublin's 2006 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Mayo hangs over him too. More so than the 2002 heartache.
He knows that others feel differently, and he had some slagging to deal with.
'That was part and parcel of it. You do get reminded of it quite regularly. It would get annoying but I had a very quick response. I finished top-scorer in the championship and I'd say, 'Here listen, when you finish top-scorer in the championship, get back to me and I'll talk to ya.' That usually quietened a few of them.'
Cosgrove continued serving Dublin until 2008, deciding that he was 'only making up the numbers' at that stage and left after the National League. This was just three years before Dublin's All-Ireland breakthrough and he can feel satisfied that he helped lay the brickwork for future players to thrive in a Blue jersey.
He did reach the summit with Kilmacud Crokes in 2009 as they conquered the club kingpins Crossmaglen to become All-Ireland champions. Something of a full circle moment for Cosgrove.
He's always felt gratitude towards Tommy Lyons for taking that chance and giving him that summer to remember.
You can say what you want about the free in 2002. But if you want to come at him, you best have scored 6-23. He's ready for you if not. And as Dublin and Armagh prepare to meet once again tomorrow afternoon in Croke Park, he might have to hear about it once or twice more before then.
As for the bar man who spoke after his free appeared on the television, Cosgrove had something for him too.
'Well, here I am!'
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