5 key factors — Dublin v Meath, Leinster SFC final
Dublin can make it eight provincial titles in nine seasons this afternoon but, just like 2010, Meath will be out to spoil the party. Here’s where it will all be decided.
Jim Gavin’s Dubs have been the most talked about team of the early part of the summer and successive 16-point wins against Westmeath and Kildare have only added to the buzz of expectation in the capital.
It’s a chilling thought but Gavin believes this team still has more to offer. “We still haven’t realised our potential,” he said.
“There are lots of areas for improvement. We are always looking to get consistency of performance and over the 70 minutes against Kildare that wasn’t there.”
If Dublin can take their game up another level, even Meath at their best won’t be able to live with them.
2. Meath’s tactics
Royals boss Mick O’Dowd will be the first to tell you that if Meath try to out-football Dublin this afternoon, there will only be winner. The challenge is to settle on a game plan that will disrupt Dublin’s fluid attacking waves, knock them out of their rhythm and ultimately frustrate them.
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The counties’ great Leinster rivalry of the late 80s and early 90s was a series of ferocious and physical contests with no shortage of flashpoints. Meath don’t have to rely on the dark arts to cause problems for Dublin this afternoon — they’re better than that — but how they attempt to contain and then counter will go a long way towards deciding the result.
3. Brogan at his best?
Not so long ago, the quality of Dublin’s attack on any given day was very much shaped and defined by the performance of Bernard Brogan. Now the breadth and diversity of scorers has taken some of the spotlight — and pressure — off the 2010 Footballer of the Year.
All of Dublin’s starting forwards scored against Westmeath while Paul Flynn was the only one to miss out against Kildare; Dean Rock has scored on both of his appearances from the bench as well.
Meanwhile Brogan has only scored 1-3 from play, is still to play a full Championship game, and was replaced after just 48 minutes in the semi-final. That last fact alone shows the remarkable depth at Jim Gavin’s disposal, and Dublin may well be playing a long game to keep Brogan fresh for the tests coming later in the summer.
But the fact remains that if they are to challenge into late August and September, at some stage they will find themselves relying on Brogan. If that day comes today, they will need him to be at his incisive best.
4. Meath’s new boys
Eamon Wallace and Michael Newman hadn’t tasted Championship action a month ago. Now the two, who start either side of Stephen Bray in the Meath full-forward line this afternoon, are set to line out in Croke Park in front of what is expected to be the biggest crowd of the summer so far.
Both made strong impressions in the games against Wicklow and Wexford. Wallace, a former national underage sprint champion, has terrifying pace while Newman has hardly put a foot wrong with his free-taking.
He scored nine from dead balls last day out against Wexford but packed out with Dubs, Headquarters will feel like a very different place this afternoon, particularly when he is kicking into Hill 16. How will he handle the challenge?
5. The rivalry
In elite sport it seems almost ridiculous to point to the influence of an intangible factor like “rivalry” but when it comes to Dublin and Meath, the history between the counties is simply inescapable.
Memories of an era when this was the defining match in Leinster meant that most of the build-up to today’s game has focused on whether that rivalry still exists or whether the counties’ relative strengths means it is dead in the water. There is no one column or newspaper article that Mick O’Dowd will be pinning to the dressing room wall but, rest assured, the presumption that they are no longer fit to dine at Dublin’s table will have stung the Royals’ pride.
They caused a shock in 2010 and then came within three points of another one in last year’s Leinster final. The bookmakers make this an eight-point game in Dublin’s favour but Meath will give their all to make sure it is a lot, lot closer than that.
5 key factors — Dublin v Meath, Leinster SFC final
1. Can Dublin improve again?
Jim Gavin’s Dubs have been the most talked about team of the early part of the summer and successive 16-point wins against Westmeath and Kildare have only added to the buzz of expectation in the capital.
It’s a chilling thought but Gavin believes this team still has more to offer. “We still haven’t realised our potential,” he said.
“There are lots of areas for improvement. We are always looking to get consistency of performance and over the 70 minutes against Kildare that wasn’t there.”
If Dublin can take their game up another level, even Meath at their best won’t be able to live with them.
2. Meath’s tactics
Royals boss Mick O’Dowd will be the first to tell you that if Meath try to out-football Dublin this afternoon, there will only be winner. The challenge is to settle on a game plan that will disrupt Dublin’s fluid attacking waves, knock them out of their rhythm and ultimately frustrate them.
The counties’ great Leinster rivalry of the late 80s and early 90s was a series of ferocious and physical contests with no shortage of flashpoints. Meath don’t have to rely on the dark arts to cause problems for Dublin this afternoon — they’re better than that — but how they attempt to contain and then counter will go a long way towards deciding the result.
3. Brogan at his best?
Not so long ago, the quality of Dublin’s attack on any given day was very much shaped and defined by the performance of Bernard Brogan. Now the breadth and diversity of scorers has taken some of the spotlight — and pressure — off the 2010 Footballer of the Year.
All of Dublin’s starting forwards scored against Westmeath while Paul Flynn was the only one to miss out against Kildare; Dean Rock has scored on both of his appearances from the bench as well.
Meanwhile Brogan has only scored 1-3 from play, is still to play a full Championship game, and was replaced after just 48 minutes in the semi-final. That last fact alone shows the remarkable depth at Jim Gavin’s disposal, and Dublin may well be playing a long game to keep Brogan fresh for the tests coming later in the summer.
But the fact remains that if they are to challenge into late August and September, at some stage they will find themselves relying on Brogan. If that day comes today, they will need him to be at his incisive best.
4. Meath’s new boys
Eamon Wallace and Michael Newman hadn’t tasted Championship action a month ago. Now the two, who start either side of Stephen Bray in the Meath full-forward line this afternoon, are set to line out in Croke Park in front of what is expected to be the biggest crowd of the summer so far.
Both made strong impressions in the games against Wicklow and Wexford. Wallace, a former national underage sprint champion, has terrifying pace while Newman has hardly put a foot wrong with his free-taking.
YouTube Credit: KilkennyFootball
He scored nine from dead balls last day out against Wexford but packed out with Dubs, Headquarters will feel like a very different place this afternoon, particularly when he is kicking into Hill 16. How will he handle the challenge?
5. The rivalry
In elite sport it seems almost ridiculous to point to the influence of an intangible factor like “rivalry” but when it comes to Dublin and Meath, the history between the counties is simply inescapable.
Memories of an era when this was the defining match in Leinster meant that most of the build-up to today’s game has focused on whether that rivalry still exists or whether the counties’ relative strengths means it is dead in the water. There is no one column or newspaper article that Mick O’Dowd will be pinning to the dressing room wall but, rest assured, the presumption that they are no longer fit to dine at Dublin’s table will have stung the Royals’ pride.
They caused a shock in 2010 and then came within three points of another one in last year’s Leinster final. The bookmakers make this an eight-point game in Dublin’s favour but Meath will give their all to make sure it is a lot, lot closer than that.
This RTE promo for the Munster Hurling Final should make your hair stand on end
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Bernard Brogan comp:All Ireland U21 Hurling Championship (Hurling 56) All-Ireland Senior HC GAA GAA 2013 Jim Gavin Leinster SFC final Mick O'Dowd Dublin Meath