Lily Whites or Dark Horses?
For the past few years, the Dublin footballers have proven to be a real enigma in their quest to secure their 23rd All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Seemingly not good enough to wrestle back the Sam Maguire trophy, they are simultaneously a cut above what they face in the Leinster Championship, strongly supported by their current haul of four provincial successes in a row. Yet, Wexford got further than them in the All-Ireland Series last year, while Meath finished at the same stage as them in 2007 after overcoming Tyrone.
This was after Dublin had defeated both of them. Some people have suggested that Dublin may be better off losing earlier on so that they can regain their momentum through the back door. It is debatable whether this would be beneficial to Pat Gilroy’s side, but they no doubt would benefit from some strong competition from their Leinster rivals. Certainly, beating Wexford by 23 points did them no favours going into the Tyrone game last year.
So, the question is, which team is best equipped to knock the Metropolitan’s off their perch. While it can be dangerous to read too much into league form, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the biggest challenge to Dublin this year may well come from their nearest neighbours, Kildare. Of all the Leinster teams, Dublin included it has to be said, Kildare were arguably the most impressive and were unlucky not to make the Division Two decider (Cork and Monaghan will be the ones playing in the top tier next season).
There seems to be a great deal of optimism within the county, which represents a massive turn around from the events of May 18th last year when Wicklow recorded a historic victory over the Lilywhites. The post-mortem from this match saw plenty of rumour and hearsay surrounding the issue of discontent within the camp and the possible resignation of Kieran McGeeney as team manager. Whatever about the former, the latter certainly was little more than gossip, as McGeeney has and (most likely) never will be someone to shy away from a challenge and he got his players back on track by bringing them to the All-Ireland quarter-final where they were narrowly defeated by Cork.
This showed that Kildare were making slow but steady progress from John Crofton’s reign, but it would count for little if they didn’t improve upon it in 2009. The early O’Byrne cup matches saw him try out a host of players, including Mark O’Sullivan, the free-taker from county champions Celbridge, before deciding on who would be most effective for Kildare going into the National League.
They got off to a flying start in the league, when they took on close rivals Laois in O’Moore Park and overcame them on a score line of 0-18 to 1-8. Given that Laois have been one of the teams that have caused Dublin some headaches in recent years, this was a more than welcome victory. Not so much the win itself, which is always welcome of course, but the fact that they contributed so handsomely to the scoreboard.
When playing in Division One last year, Kildare got an average of 10.9 points per game. By the time the full-time whistle blew in Pairc Tailteann, Navan a couple of weeks back, this had been raised to 16.4. While the fact that they dropped down a division has to be considered, they still faced some extremely stern opposition and look to be leaving their days of low-scoring behind them.
Another pleasing aspect from the league for Kildare was the fact that they are relying less and less on Allenwood’s Johnny Doyle to get the necessary scores that will produce a winning result. Doyle finished top scorer in the Championship last year, but the likes of Eamonn Callaghan, Ronan Sweeney (a rejuvenated figure this season), James Kavanagh, Eoghan O’Flaherty and Alan Smith have taken the pressure of him. He still managed to contribute 0-36 during the league though, and will be needed when the months of June and July come around.
Further back the field, the likes of Morgan O’Flaherty, Hugh McGrillen, Michaels Foley and Conway have acquitted themselves well at midfield, while Dermot Earley has put in some impressive displays at midfield.
Following their win over Laois, they drew with Munster Champions Cork, before defeating Wexford, Fermanagh and Monaghan. There were various elements of these performances which would have been pleasing to Kieran McGeeney and fellow selectors Paul Grimley and Niall Carew (the battling victory over Monaghan was especially satisfying), but there would still be one or two concerns ahead of their Leinster opener against Offaly.
When losing to Armagh in Newbridge on March 22, the margin of victory could have been far greater than it actually was in the end (they lost by two as it turned out). Veteran midfielder Killian Brennan was substituted just passed the mid-way point in the opening half of that match, and that certainly was an area that they struggled in during that match. This also happened to Brennan in the Cork game last year and it would seem likely that he may miss out on a starting position in the final. At the start of the year, Earley’s midfield partner was Daryl Flynn of Moorefield, but he was sent off in the comprehensive win over Wexford for an alleged stamp so questions may be asked about his temperament.
The last league game against Meath also saw two dismissals, late ones for Earley and Ronan Sweeney. Earley has since gotten his sending-off overturned, while Sweeney’s dismissal still remains a mystery because Kildare haven’t looked for it to be ruled out. The reason for this is because Earley would have missed the Offaly game with an eight-week ban, while Sweeney would have been free to play with only a four-week ban.
It seems, in the greater scheme of things, that both men were harshly treated, but they did walk into a situation which had the potential to turn sour for them and they will need to avoid this in the Championship.
Overall though, Kildare are in a good position to make a decent fist of tackling Dublin’s crown. Kieran McGeeney had been involved with Na Fianna in North Dublin for a number of years, indeed he would have come face-to-face with Pat Gilroy on more than one occasion, so would have a decent knowledge of what the St. Vincent’s man would have at his disposal. Of course, there will be other counties who, despite indifferent league campaigns, feel they can take on Dublin just as much as Kildare do. Meath face Dublin in the opening round, and these are more often than not very close encounters. Meath have a potentially explosive forward line, and if a couple of players can help to fill the leadership roles left void by Messrs. Geraghty and Fay, then anything is possible. Wexford, Laois, Offaly, and Westmeath were very underwhelming during the league but if they all get back to full-strength they could yet have a say as to where the Delaney Cup will go this year.