DERMOT EARLEY SEES light at the end of the tunnel for the counties challenging to end Dublin’s Leinster reign.
Jim Gavin’s side are bludgeoning their way towards another provincial title but the capital’s golden era can’t last forever, Earley warned.
The Kildare legend watched with a sinking feeling as his native county rolled over in a 19-point defeat against the Boys in Blue last Sunday.
One bookie now makes the Dubs as short as 1/500 to brush past minnows Westmeath on 11 July and lift their 10th Leinster crown in 11 years.
Earley said: “I don’t know if it’s going to be the same way over the next couple of years.
“I think Dublin have a golden era of player. We could rattle off (numbers) one to 20 — they’re all household names and they have All-Irelands.
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“There’s massive competition, but they’re not going to be there in three or four years, the likes of Stephen Cluxton, the Brogans, Paul Flynn, Diarmuid Connolly.
They’ll always be competitive, but they won’t have the golden era of player that they have now.
“I think that there’s an onus, that the standards at county board level and at team level in the other (Leinster) counties have retracted a bit. It’s up to them to bring that back up.”
Earley, the GPA President, was speaking at the launch of the Association's Fair Play Campaign on Thursday. Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE
Meanwhile Kildare have to regroup for their qualifier against neighbours Offaly on Saturday — a task made more difficult by the six-day turnaround.
Earley, who won two Leinster titles and two Allstars during his own playing days, believes that a win in Tullamore will lift the doom and gloom that is hanging over the Lilywhites.
“I think Kildare went in with hope (against Dublin),” he said at the launch of the GPA’s Fair Play Campaign.
“If you hope you’re going to win a game, you’re not going to win it. You have to really believe you’re going to win.
And they didn’t do that. They didn’t believe.
“I think we were all hoping – including myself – that they would be within a 10-point margin, that you could build on that going into the qualifiers.
“But it was disappointing, the level that they played at. A lot of things were disappointing — disappointed with fitness levels, I was disappointed that they waited until the second half to really put the fight up. That’s worrying.
“But I do know a lot of these lads and I do know that they’ve taken a lot of these beatings in the past and they have bounced back. They’re strong mentally.
“The six-day turnaround is going to be a big issue. They’re in Tullamore, against their neighbours who would love to take a skelp off us, so they have to be right for this.
They have to have their heads right. And if they’re not, I don’t think they’re going to come out of Tullamore with a result.
Kildare are no strangers to the qualifiers; they have played in at least one every year since their introduction in 2001, and carried on all the way to the All-Ireland semi-finals in 2010.
“If you win on Saturday, last Sunday is forgotten, because you automatically change your focus. One win can change everything.
And Kildare aren’t a Division 3 side. They’re not. I would like to think that, up until two years ago, we were a top eight side.
“I think if we get a run in the qualifiers, we’ll see the real quality of Kildare.”
'Dublin won’t always have the golden era of player that they have now'
DERMOT EARLEY SEES light at the end of the tunnel for the counties challenging to end Dublin’s Leinster reign.
Jim Gavin’s side are bludgeoning their way towards another provincial title but the capital’s golden era can’t last forever, Earley warned.
The Kildare legend watched with a sinking feeling as his native county rolled over in a 19-point defeat against the Boys in Blue last Sunday.
One bookie now makes the Dubs as short as 1/500 to brush past minnows Westmeath on 11 July and lift their 10th Leinster crown in 11 years.
Earley said: “I don’t know if it’s going to be the same way over the next couple of years.
“I think Dublin have a golden era of player. We could rattle off (numbers) one to 20 — they’re all household names and they have All-Irelands.
“There’s massive competition, but they’re not going to be there in three or four years, the likes of Stephen Cluxton, the Brogans, Paul Flynn, Diarmuid Connolly.
“I think that there’s an onus, that the standards at county board level and at team level in the other (Leinster) counties have retracted a bit. It’s up to them to bring that back up.”
Meanwhile Kildare have to regroup for their qualifier against neighbours Offaly on Saturday — a task made more difficult by the six-day turnaround.
Earley, who won two Leinster titles and two Allstars during his own playing days, believes that a win in Tullamore will lift the doom and gloom that is hanging over the Lilywhites.
“I think Kildare went in with hope (against Dublin),” he said at the launch of the GPA’s Fair Play Campaign.
“If you hope you’re going to win a game, you’re not going to win it. You have to really believe you’re going to win.
“I think we were all hoping – including myself – that they would be within a 10-point margin, that you could build on that going into the qualifiers.
“But it was disappointing, the level that they played at. A lot of things were disappointing — disappointed with fitness levels, I was disappointed that they waited until the second half to really put the fight up. That’s worrying.
“But I do know a lot of these lads and I do know that they’ve taken a lot of these beatings in the past and they have bounced back. They’re strong mentally.
“The six-day turnaround is going to be a big issue. They’re in Tullamore, against their neighbours who would love to take a skelp off us, so they have to be right for this.
Kildare are no strangers to the qualifiers; they have played in at least one every year since their introduction in 2001, and carried on all the way to the All-Ireland semi-finals in 2010.
“If you win on Saturday, last Sunday is forgotten, because you automatically change your focus. One win can change everything.
“I think if we get a run in the qualifiers, we’ll see the real quality of Kildare.”
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