There won’t be too many neutrals rooting for Kilmacud Crokes this weekend - but Shane Cunningham couldn’t care less.
One of the largest GAA clubs in the country, their acquisition of Galway’s Shane Walsh last year drew much scorn on both the Crokes and Walsh, with his native Kilkerrin-Clonberne left without their star player.
In the absence of Paul Mannion through injury, Crokes have hardly missed a beat with Walsh in tow as they’ve progressed to a second successive All-Ireland final, looking to go one better against Glen on Sunday having been dramatically edged out by Kilcoo last year.
But the backdrop of being a Dublin superclub that has snapped up the services of one of the game’s outstanding talents means that Cunningham doesn’t believe they’ll get much credit beyond Stillorgan and Dublin if he’s the man that lifts the Andy Merrigan Cup on Sunday.
“I’d say probably no, absolutely not,” said the captain. “But does that bother me? No, absolutely not.
“I just care about winning and maybe what your close family and friends think about it is what motivates me and if anyone else has a view on it they’re entitled to it and it doesn’t affect me.”
He added: “I'd say there's probably more clubs than not [in Dublin] that have a county player from outside their club or whatever. I understand as well that it's Shane Walsh, and the year he had. Himself and [David] Clifford were going for the Footballer of the Year.
“It was obviously going to gain an awful lot of talk and an awful lot of commentary when he joined us. When he kicked another point in the All-Ireland final, I knew that he was coming to us and I was going, 'Oh God, this is going to cause havoc!'
“But I think it's very normal for players to join clubs in the county they're working in. But I understand the commentary on it as well.”
