Cuala star power wins the day as Derek Dunne leads his crew to Dublin title glory

Derek Dunne would have been forgiven for swerving the Cuala job when it came up last year. Austin O’Malley stepped down after leading the southside club to an All-Ireland title, meaning that regardless of who took over, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot of wiggle room available for improvement. What was he going to do – take them into the Champions League?

But when you’re a lifer, you’re a lifer. Dunne’s father was over the Cuala team that made their first-ever football final way back in 1988. His daughter Jennifer won three All-Irelands for Dublin and over the weekend played her 50th game for the Brisbane Lions in the AFLW. He had the 2002 boys’ team in Cuala when they were kids – five of them played here as they torched Castleknock in the Dublin final by 3-15 to 1-6.