I had a good innings, I’d never give out about it: Coman Goggins

Coman Goggins was known for his speed during his Dublin days and Wednesday night's Episode 7 of 'The Hop Ball', the new Dubs TV series, sponsored by AIG, certainly accelerates along at great pace.

Despite not having made county panels at minor or under-21 level the Ballinteer St John's man emerged to captain Dublin to Leinster SFC glory in 2002 (the first since 1995).

Coman, who played 74 (combined NFL/SFC) times for the Dubs, won four Leinster SFC medals (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007) in total, was Dublin's lone All Star in 2001 and represented Ireland in International Rules.

In the 65-minute interview with his former Dublin team-mate Eamonn Fennell, Coman looks back primarily on his days in blue under the different management teams of Tommy Carr, Tommy Lyons and Paul 'Pillar' Caffrey.

His first intercounty experience with Dublin was with the county juniors in the summers of 1998 and 1999 while his Sigerson Cup displays added to his growing experience at the time.

However, his displays for an emerging Ballinteer St John's team also contributed to his being called into the senior panel in late 1999 by then manager Tommy Carr.

"Ballinteer was only founded in the '80s, it was a young enough club but they had built up through the age groups and so in the early to mid-90s we started drifting through junior leagues.

"I did my Leaving Cert in '95 and drifted into what was the junior team at that time, and that team was full of bearded men," he jokes, referring to himself as a "fledgling".

Coman was part of a Ballinteer side that eventually made it all the way to senior championship status having conquered all before them in the junior and then senior ranks.

"There were plenty of guys capable of playing (intercounty), luckily two (along with Johnny McNally) of us got there in the end."

St John's wasn't the only Dublin club he played for as he switched allegiance to neighbours Kilmacud Crokes at minor as Ballinteer did not have a team at that age group at the time.

"Much and all as it probably broke my dad's heart I went to Kilmacud Crokes for a couple of years and was involved for a couple of teams that Pat Duggan (manager) was involved in.

"I was a late bloomer, I was light," says Coman looking back to that time. 

After a short stay with Crokes he moved back to Ballinteer where his father Brian was looking after teams and his brothers, twins Ciarán and Morgan, and youngest brother Diarmuid all played.

His brother Diarmuid was a talented inside forward for St John's but is now the other side of the focus as a film and series lead director having worked on such tv shows as Bulletproof, Silent Witness, Red Rock, Casualty and Hollyoaks among others as well as work earlier in his career with RTE and TG4.

Coman's sister Aine, like her brother, also wore the county colours having represented Dublin in camogie underage.

"I had the passion and interest in going back to Ballinteer St John's. My dad was looking after teams there. I had a bit of success in Kilmacud, won a minor 'B' championship with Johnny Magee. Mick O'Keeffe, Ray Cosgrove a couple of those guys were a year below and won minor 'B'."

Following two summers with the Dublin juniors, losing a provincial semi-final and final, but getting to play in Croke Park in both years (1998, 1999) Coman was promoted to the senior setup.

He was walking into a dressingroom with plenty of household names and two future Dublin senior managers - Jim Gavin and Dessie Farrell .... "big hitters that you would have stood on the Hill and gawked at and now you were trying to sit in beside them and pretend you were trying to be as good as them," reflected Coman.

"It was daunting to walk in, 'cos they were such big household names and serious operators both on and off the field.

"When I came in at the end of '99 I think there were league matches in the winter time which should have suited me but funnily enough didn't.

"So this first season with Tommy Carr I didn't play any league games. We played a game (challenge) against Cavan, I think it was, in the Phoenix Park and I damaged my Achilles. So here was this fella from Ballinteer who had been brought into the senior team and we used train in the barracks in Rathmines, which was a grim place at the best of times, it always seemed to be cold there, and I was standing there and people going by must've beein saying 'what's the story with his fella? He comes out to the panel and he's there lifting a few 5k dumbbells and thinks he's Mr Muscle," he jokes.

"So you are then starting to wonder if you are going to get the chance at all. But, in fairness, to Tommy Carr he said 'get yourself right and then we'll do a proper assessment of where you are at in terms of ability'."

He didn't have to wait too long as the following summer he made his senior championship debut for Dublin.

"The thing that you have dreamt about is suddenly happening," he recalls.

While he had to wait until 2002 for Leinster honours he was selected at corner-back on the 2001 All Star team, Dublin's sole representative that year, made all the more impressive as Dublin had finished fifth in Division 1 of NFL, been beaten by Meath in the Leinster final and were knocked out of championship after an All-Ireland quarter-final replay defeat to Kerry in Semple Stadium, Thurles.

During this era (2000/2001) Coman says that the style of training Dublin were doing under Tommy Carr took on a transition.

"Tommy (Carr) started to look at, think Liam Hennessy is the guy's name who was involved with Irish rugby at the time, when the training stopped being about laps around the field and suddenly became more focussed on (fact that) you needed to build power in particular areas to build your speed."

In 2002 new Dubs boss Tommy Lyons, who had managed Kilmacud Crokes to All-Ireland club honours in 1995, appointed Coman as Dublin captain, the team would go on to be crowned Leinster champions for the first time in seven years.

It was something of an unexpected appointment.

"In 2002 think of the guys around the place - Paul Curran, Jim (Gavin), Dessie (Farrell), Declan Darcy ... just natural born leaders in that dressingroom so for Tommy Lyons maybe it was a case of putting a new face on it ... this was a new generation coming through, you think of the likes of Barry Cahill and Alan Brogan that were coming into the setup at that time."

That same season Coman's club-mate Johnny McNally was also included in the senior squad, a player who had also impressed for a few years at club and with the Dublin juniors.

Paying tribute to McNally his former Dublin captain says what you get with Johnny was "honesty from start to finish".

"What captured Dublin in their essence at that time (2002) was the work-rate Johnny delivered across the full-forward line" ..."relentless and ferocious in his tackling and from there the intensity grew".

The discussion later turns to the mental preparation involved in the intercounty game and Coman suggests that, in hindsight, it was an element he would go about differently if he had the time all over again.

"Certainly I wasn't playing with the same freedom (towards end of his intercounty days) I'd come in with. My preparation didn't change but my thought-process got move 'heavy' around what was going on and then impacted on me and how I was impacting game."

In early 2008 Coman made the decision to call time on his Dublin career and informed then manager Paul 'Pillar' Caffrey.

While All-Ireland glory proved out of reach the Ballinteer St John's man enjoyed a fine career - four Leinsters, one All Star, International Rules, first Ballinteer clubman to represent county at senior championship level, first and only man to captain the county from the club.

"There was a real sense of achievement in those Leinster titles. I had a good innings, I'd never give out about it."

The interview concludes with Coman picking out the best player he played alongside (Paul Curran) and what current player he'd love to play alongside (James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey).