John Small has revealed that he and Jack McCaffrey headed for a beer inside Croke Park after Dublin’s heartbreaking defeat in the 2011 All-Ireland minor football final.
The future Dublin stars were part of a hugely talented side that lost 3-9 to 1-14 against an equally formidable Tipperary before the now iconic senior final between Dublin and Kerry later that afternoon.
Small’s side led by as many as seven points during the game, only for Tipperary to mount a remarkable comeback and deny Dublin.
Speaking at an event ahead of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland GAA Minor Football Final between Cork and Tyrone, John Small admitted the occasion remains difficult to remember positively despite the quality of the team involved.
It wasn’t a great experience, to be honest.
We had a really good team and obviously got to the final. We were seven points up at some stage, could have actually been eight.
When the whole rest of the stadium, the Dublin crowd, were in absolute elation having not won it for 16 years, we were the opposite, very depressed.
The 2011 Dublin minor team now reads like a roll call of the county’s modern greats.
Small lined out alongside future senior All-Ireland winners Jack McCaffrey, Ciarán Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, Cormac Costello, Niall Scully, Davy Byrne, Eric Lowndes, Robbie McDaid and Emmet Ó Conghaile.
John Small Reveals He And Jack McCaffrey Went For A Pint As Dublin Ended 16-Year Wait For Sam
Yet despite Dublin ending their 16-year wait for Sam Maguire later that day, John Small says he was unable to enjoy the occasion.
I didn’t really watch it. I couldn’t. I was sick.
After Tipperary beating us, actually, I think I met Jack McCaffrey too. Said we’d just go for a beer.
We went straight down to one of the beer stands in Croke Park because we were both emotionally so drained and upset.
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While Stephen Cluxton was preparing to kick one of the most famous scores in GAA history and the rest of Dublin prepared to celebrate their first senior All-Ireland since 1995, two future stars of the county’s greatest ever team were sitting together trying to process their own disappointment.
Small believes that defeat may ultimately have helped drive many members of that group on.
It could have been a catalyst for a lot of that stuff.
I just thought that we were probably a better team and on the day they just nipped us.
It definitely, in terms of that hunger and desire for a lot of that group, pushed them on to go on and achieve bigger and better things.
The Dublin defender would move quickly through the county ranks.
Pat Gilroy brought him into the O’Byrne Cup squad, while he also won 2 All-Ireland titles for Dublin’s under-21s under Jim Gavin and Dessie Farrell.
However, John Small says nobody realised quite how special that minor group would eventually become.
No, we didn’t know how good it was.
Ciarán was very much talked about, but guys like Paul Mannion developed into unbelievable players that we probably didn’t realise at the time how good he was.
Jack, obviously myself.
Brian Fenton couldn’t get a look in until under-21.
Small also pointed to players such as Cormac Costello, Robbie McDaid, Davy Byrne and Niall Scully as part of the talent emerging around Dublin at the time.
When you look on it in reflection, it obviously underpinned the Dublin team for a while, but at the time you don’t know how good it is.
The former Dublin defender remains a supporter of the old system that saw the minor final played before the senior decider.
The fixture is now played separately, but Small believes young players benefitted enormously from experiencing Croke Park at its fullest.
I think that was brilliant.
To play in front of a full Croke Park, even if it’s not completely full by the time the minors are over, you’re getting a big crowd and a big atmosphere.
It’s a great learning.
Fifteen years on, the result still hurts.