Focused Farrell fails to flinch as he peers into the post-Gavin abyss

If there were inevitable anxieties about stepping into the shoes of the five-in-a-row Clondalkin Caesar, they dissolved in the oceanic vastness of Farrell's hunger to fashion his own fate, to not die wondering.

And, so, he sits in AIG's North Wall boardroom, Dublin training top about his still athletic frame, and unlocks his philosophical vault.

"I've always taken the approach that there are two ways you can live your life. One as a timid soul, year by year, month by month, week by week, possibly even hour by hour.

"Or the other is, perhaps, do the things that frighten you at times. This thing stimulates me, it challenges me. I love football and I love working with footballers. Now is the time, if I didn't do it now it would probably never come around again."

Farrell's back catalogue - notably his unflinching focus as GPA trailblazer - offers an eloquent reminder of his willingness to to risk failure rather than nurse a regret that will never quieten.

So here he is, at the launch pad of a defining voyage in his life, oozing the effortless heavyweight presence of a Hill 16 legend - he was a standout Footballer of the Year nominee from the All-Ireland winning class of 1995.

A thoughtful, poised speaker, his first eloquent, assured media briefing confirmed that this was no star-struck, deferring David Moyes trembling in the shadow of Alex Ferguson.

While unshakably generous in the bouquets he tosses at a group of players who have pushed out the boundaries of achievement, he will have no qualms about placing his own signature on the summer of 2020.

Asked what message he had prioritised in his pre-Christmas meeting with the history-making giants, his carefully calibrated response was: "I think it was to convey a sense of appreciation to those players for what they've done for Dublin football.

"Also, to convey to them that's what happened now is in the past and that we need to look forward. Looking forward to establish that there will need to be improvement in this squad and in our performances in 2020.

"We can't afford to be complacent, we can't afford to stagnate."

He is bright enough and sufficiently reflective to recognise potential pitfalls.

A glass half-full perspective has it that Farrell is taking over a team immune to the laws of diminishing returns; but there is a glass half-empty side, that even falling a millimetre shy of a sixth All-Ireland will be viewed as failure.

Is the voyage that launches in Longford with tomorrow's O'Byrne Cup tie, the easiest or most difficult in Irish sport?

A rush of adrenalin so tangible you might touch it energises the 48-year-old as he ponders the question.

"It depends on your own perspective, of course. No doubt, they've been hugely successful and that brings its own challenges.

"I think what we try to do is establish a culture of learning and curiosity and ensure that they continue to be students of the game and want to get better and want to improve.

"If we can instil that type of hunger in the group and motivate them in that way, who knows what's going to happen?"

And so, with a manager staring into that Gavin-shaped void and spying only the acreage of fresh possibility, Dublin football takes its first confident steps into a redesigned, intriguing new era.