Two years is a long stint in football and after all the wild and wonderful times we have endured on recent trips around the sun, it feels like an act of folly to try predict the lay of this or any other land when we head into the winter of 2025.
But let's do it anyway.
After winning this year’s All-Ireland title, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell had his contract extended by an extra season to take him up to the end of the 2025 campaign.
Farrell has been in the hotseat since the start of the Covid-interrupted 2020 season and has won two All-Irelands in his four years in charge.
Despite being reigning champions, Dublin are currently second favourites behind Kerry for the 2024 All-Ireland SFC title. Should Farrell see out his full term, he will have been in charge for six seasons, just one less than his predecessor, Jim Gavin. Before Gavin, Pat Gilroy held the job for four seasons, delivering one long overdue All-Ireland title in 2011.
On the assumption that Na Fianna man Farrell takes his leave from one of the most labour-intensive gigs in the game when his current contract ends, and bearing in mind that the men from the capital don't tend to look outside the county for a boss, we've had a quick scout around at the contenders who might be in the running to take Farrell’s place in two years’ time.
Mick Bohan
The Clontarf man has transformed Dublin ladies from perennial bridesmaids to one of the most dominant teams in any code in the country. Under Bohan’s stewardship, the Jackies have won five All-Ireland titles in seven seasons which, save for a fortuitous Meath goal in the 2021 decider, could just as easily have been six from seven.
Having lost three straight All-Ireland finals to Cork, Dublin won four in a row from Bohan’s first season in charge, 2017, before losing that 2021 final to Meath, who themselves were on their way to two-in-a-row. The pain of a 2022 quarter-final defeat to Donegal was soothed by this year’s comprehensive display in beating Kerry in last August’s title game.
Bohan acted as a skills coach on Jim Gavin’s backroom team with, first, the Dublin Under-21s, then later the senior side who won the 2013 All-Ireland title.
Ladies’ football has progressed at pace in the past decade in terms of the attention paid to the game and the overall quality of the product. Dublin’s Girls In Blue have been among the best prepared sides in the country. Indeed, their dominant display against the Kingdom in this year’s final may go down as their finest hour. How much further can Bohan take them?
Even in the year 2025 – should Farrell indeed move on – handing the biggest job in football to a manager whose main successes were achieved in the ladies’ code would represent something of a gamble on the Dubs’ part. It would certainly prove a ground-breaking move.
The fact his current squad has almost replicated the dominance of their male counterparts while playing a similar brand of attacking football can only aid Bohan’s case.
It's highly likely that whoever takes over from Farrell will inherit quite a youthful team without so many household names in situ. A younger playing demographic may be less fussed by the background of the incoming boss.
Having turned one of the most high-profile teams in the ladies’ game into a dominant force, it seems only a matter of time before Bohan is asked to continue a similar job with the Boys In Blue.
Declan Darcy
The former selector under Jim Gavin is understood to be the preferred choice among the more senior members of the current Dublin panel. But how many of those players will still be around come January 2026?
Darcy was with Gavin all the way as they won six All-Ireland titles in seven seasons from 2013 to 2019 and is known to have the trust of the squad. But again, how many of that squad are still around by the time the next manager comes in is anyone’s guess.
At the end of 2025, Stephen Cluxton will be 44 and most likely in his latest unannounced-but-assumed retirement; Michael Fitzsimons will be 36; James McCarthy will be 35 while John Small, Brian Fenton, Jack McCaffrey and Ciaran Kilkenny will all be 32.
Throw in David Byrne, Niall Scully and Cormac Costello at 31 heading into the 2026 season and you’re talking about a Dublin panel that will likely be very different even to the one that heads into preseason training in a few weeks’ time for the 2024 campaign. By that stage, the new manager could be looking at a team anchored by 20-somethings Con O’Callaghan (29 in 2026), Sean Bugler (27), Lee Gannon (25), Evan Comerford, who will then be 27, and Colm Basquel at 29.
Darcy won two All-Irelands and three Leinster Under-21s as part of Gavin’s backroom team before stepping up to the seniors with the Round Towers Clondalkin man heading into that 2013 campaign.
It has always been assumed that Darcy, currently a performance coach with Leinster Rugby, would have a crack at the top job at some point. Perhaps his chance came and went. Then again, few know the inner machinations of the Dublin senior men’s set-up better than the former Leitrim star. He may indeed prove the perfect candidate to lead a young squad through those choppy waters of the inter-county seas.
Ger Brennan
An intriguing 'outside’ chance for the role at best. Brennan was one of the more interesting inter-county managerial appointments of this past off-season when he was announced as the man to fill the Mickey Harte-sized hole in the Louth dug-out.
Brennan anchored the Dubs defence from centre-back when Pat Gilroy’s side ended a 15-year All-Ireland famine in 2011 and was still in the No 6 jersey when Gavin repeated the trick two years’ later. It’s difficult to see what Brennan could achieve in just two seasons with Louth that would propel him into serious consideration for the Dublin job by Christmas 2025.
Could the St Vincent’s man lead them to a provincial final? Sure. But the bould Mickey Harte already did that this year – winning himself a 'promotion' to the Derry gig in the process. Brennan formerly managed Wicklow club, Bray and more recently was a coach with Carlow footballers.
It would appear – if indeed his ambitions are even aimed toward the Dublin sideline – that the most realistic scenario would be for Brennan to enhance his coaching reputation with a solid stint in the Wee County and perhaps secure a slot on the coaching ticket with whoever the next Dubs' manager is.
Jason Sherlock
Former darling of the Hill, Jayo, has paid his dues on several successful backroom teams with the Dubs without ever seeming to stand out as a serious candidate for the big seat.
A hugely popular figure both in the dressing-room and on the training field, Sherlock was seen to be a big loss to the Dublin coaching set-up when he stepped away in recent seasons. The 1995 All-Ireland winner was forwards coach for the five-in-a-row-clinching 2019 season under Gavin.
The top job may not be coming his way any time soon, but it’s highly unlikely we’ve seen the last of Jason Sherlock operating in some capacity on a Dublin inter-county sideline.
Stephen Cluxton
Not as unlikely a scenario as you might think. At 41 years of age in 2023 - and after a year off - Cluxton proved himself to be as good as ever between the posts for Dublin's latest All-Ireland run.
At the moment, particularly with fellow nine-time All-Ireland champ James McCarthy's recent intimation that he might stick around to have a go at La Décima, it seems probable that Cluxton will remain on the Dublin playing squad next term. He turns 44 in September 2025, by which time he could have another All-Ireland title (or two) tucked under his bed. Or he may be two years into final retirement, who knows!
Cluxton's appointment to the managerial role would tie in nicely with Dublin's ultra-modern, preferred template of a player-driven leadership within their senior sides. The Parnell's man offers obvious, seemless continuity.
A simple pathway might see Cluxton play one more season in 2024, become a selector in Farrell's final year before taking the reins himself from 2026.
Then again, Cluxton was still at the peak of his powers last summer. Could he Tom Brady this thing and continue to play through 2026 at 44 years of age? Everything and anything is on the table.
Not a man for issuing statements, big or small, the only thing we know for sure, is that Clucko probably won't give us a heads up ahead of time either way.
Who else?
Despite leading Kilmacud Crokes to an All-Ireland Club title in 2023 and possibly another in the new year, collecting three straight Leinster successes along the way, those in the know suggest the Stillorgan club’s boss, Robbie Brennan, is not looking to move into the inter-county game anytime soon.
All-Ireland-winning captain, Bryan Cullen, who led the team to glory in 2011, has cut his coaching teeth since his retirement in January 2015. Like Darcy, he has also been heavily involved with Leinster Rugby.
Former Dublin fullback Paddy Christie is heading into his second season as Longford manager. He was previously on David Power’s backroom team in Tipperary when they won an emotional Munster title on the centenary of Bloody Sunday in 2020.
Longford finished second from bottom of Division 3 – ironically one place above Tipp – in the 2023 National League and will operate in the bottom tier in 2024.
Play It Again, Sam?
Don’t laugh. At least not straight away. But could the winter of 2025 see Dublin go back to the future and reappoint a former manager who has been down this road before? Pat Gilroy has been involved with Farrell’s Dubs this past season and often strikes as a man who’d give it another go – despite his protestations.
If not Gilroy, is it completely unthinkable to imagine Jim Gavin back in the hotseat? Neither Gilroy nor Gavin will have reached their 55th birthday by the time Dessie’s stint has run its course. Mere kids, by managerial standards. Could a refreshed Gavin do it all over again? There’s only so much golf a man can play…
A crazy thought, perhaps. And they do say you should never go back… unless you're Jack O’Connor. Or Jim McGuinness. Or Kevin Heffernan. Or…
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