Jim Gavin’s All-Ireland and National League double with the Dubs has been recognized by the judges at the Phillips Sports Manager of the Year award.
In winning the award, Gavin became the first GAA winner in eight years and the first Dublin boss to receive the prestigious trophy.
“I wasn’t aware of that. That kind of caught me a bit off-guard this afternoon with so many other fantastic managers there,” Gavin said.
“But I’m very humbled to get it. I didn’t expect it. But now that we have it, it’s testament to the management team first of all in Dublin.”
Gavin told an intrigued audience at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel how he enjoyed the immediate aftermath of his team’s win over Mayo in the All-Ireland final last September.
“After a game, the most satisfying moments are the few minutes together in the dressing room. It was just the players, the management team and some County Board officers,” he said.
“It’s important to let the players bask in the moment. They should enjoy that time because it’s a special moment. I said to the players that we would probably be never together as a group in the same room again.
“Players get injured, retire, lose form so that is the case. Even for the medal presentation, one of the players was missing because he had an early start for work the next day.”
Already planning for the defense of the All-Ireland title, Gavin believes Mayo will be contenders again next season as they seek to avenge their defeat to Dublin.
“We played Mayo three times this year – twice in the league and then in the All-Ireland final. We only got past them by a point in the final. They’re not far off it, and they’re back training while we have suntans after our trip to Cancun.
“We have six players doing exams in UCD so we had the holiday early to facilitate them. There was no study done in Cancun,” Gavin revealed.
“When we were on holiday we said to them that this was their summer holiday, during the season they’re amateur players, they don’t get time for weekends or weeks away with their families or with their girlfriends.
“So for us when we had our holiday it was a holiday, to tune off and to relax and to enjoy the location they were in and to enjoy their summer holiday.”
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