FORMER DUBLIN STAR Kieran Duff says he’s not confident that his county can achieve the unprecedented five-in-a-row.
Jim Gavin’s side are chasing history this year after collecting the Sam Maguire for a fourth consecutive time last year, but Duff is wary of the various factors that could threaten their chances throughout the season.
He’s also conscious of the historical element attached to Dublin’s bid, given how Kerry’s drive for five was famously halted by Offaly in 1982.
If you asked me to put money on it now I wouldn’t,” said Duff at the launch of the new Laochra Gael series which will feature an episode about the 1983 All-Ireland winner.
“Just simply, so many things can happen between now and then.
“There’s going to be loads of pressure thrown at them. They’re good enough to win it but they’re so many things that can happen from guys losing form to referees’ decisions.
“When Offaly beat Kerry back in ’82, that type of thing. Dublin could lose players. We’ve been lucky over the years that we haven’t lost too many players, one maybe per year.”
Dublin have suffered two defeats so far in the Division 1 campaign, the second of which was a thrilling encounter with Kerry in Tralee earlier this month.
The reigning champions have lost league games before with a crunch tie awaiting them against Mayo this Saturday, but it’s unusual for Dublin to have so many black marks beside their name in the spring.
Duff is quick to counter that “they’re human as well,” while also pointing to the fact that those losses to Kerry and Monaghan were played outside of Croke Park.
Taking Dublin out of Croke Park for their neutral Super 8s game has become a major discussion point recently, and Duff can understand the reasoning behind it.
“They have a point and we’re talking about the Super 8s. It’s probably going to happen and Donegal are putting in a motion.
“I’ve no doubt it will be passed and they’re probably dead right to do it. It is an unfair advantage.
“Lookit, Dublin have no problem playing anywhere else in Ireland and that’s what it is.”
Prior to Dublin’s round 3 clash with Kerry, there were reports that St Vincent’s Diarmuid Connolly was involved in one-on-one sessions with Bryan Cullen with a possible view to rejoining the Dublin panel.
The two-time All-Star has been a notable absentee in the Dublin camp. He spent last summer playing football in Boston and his most recent appearance for the Dubs was a league outing against Mayo last February.
Gavin denied those reports of his return after that defeat to the Kingdom, but Duff believes that a forward of Connolly’s calibre would be a brilliant addition to the Dublin squad in their quest to complete the historic five-in-a-row.
I know we won last year’s All-Ireland without him but when you start losing guys for whatever reason, through loss of form, wouldn’t it be great to have Diarmuid Connolly on the bench even to throw in.
“He won the All-Ireland two years ago when he came off the bench against Mayo and changed it. Once there’s no disruption in the camp and no problem with bringing him in, I’d have Diarmuid Connolly there.”
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Didn’t Donegal play Tyrone in the first round? And Dublin will play Kildare in the next round, as will Cork and Kerry, and it’s not the GAAs fault that Galway have melted into a shambles. We would then have had Mayo v Galway too in the first round. All of this before the end of June. Then you have the real payoff, the excitement of seeing the very best teams against each other in August and September, the way any worthy competition should be. The GAA has plenty of flaws but I think this article is a very unfocused knee-jerk reaction to a few hidings dished out by teams on top of their game.
Dave agree entirely
A Dubs fan
Lot of people talking about Mayo this year but where have we heard that before
Wouldn’t write off Kerry either S a lot of people seem to be doing
I’m a Dubs man meself Declan. I think this Mayo team is a different proposition from previous years, there’s a hard edge to them which I think makes them serious contenders.
I think Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Mayo are all around the same level (one from each province too, which is nice) then there’s Tyrone, Kerry and Kildare a level just below that. 7 realistic contenders for the All Ireland, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Yes agree 7 teams with varying degrees of optimism
If they had that in the premiership they would be laughing!!
Mayo have new fitness coach so let’s see
A dubs fan passing a comment about another team being over hyped early in the year.. Oh the irony!
San Marino get hammered every time they play but you don’t see fifa changing around the format of the European/world cup qualifiers so they can win a few games
If counties are not up to the standard why should the gaa change around the format to try and suit them, the football championship is very strong and some teams will get left behind
They change the format every few tournaments! And they do it to allow a more desirable geographic spread off WC finals competitors
The fact that there are eight competitive teams places the Gaa in an enviable position . It can’t be said of other codes. How many EPL winners have there been since its inception . The GAA championship compares very Favourably. It’s not long since Dublin and Donegal were on the wrong end of a few such drubbings . In 2011 London almost beat mayo who then made an all Ireland semi final , beating the all Ireland champions en route. Louth contested a Leinster final . Wexford likewise on a couple of occasions. Similar knee jerk reaction were pedalled out in 2010 when none of the provincial finalists reached the semi finals . September is the time to make a more considered judgment
GAA is fine as is.
If other counties want to perform they can pay for more training sessions and try and get more people to come to the matches.
I agree in part. But I don’t think it means we need to rearrange the format of the championship. Every time a team gets hammered some people talk about the need to level the playing field. The system is fine. It has been changed once, with the back door, if they change it again like they did with the league over and over again people will lose interest.
We had years of Galway hurling people blaming the structure of the championship for them not winning, now it’s the championship structures that Galway footballers are rubbish,
Derry were not well beaten, in fact they played some of the best football of the championship to date in the best game to date. Diagonal balls to Bradley and his destruction of Down defense in first half was a joy to watch.
Westmeath got a day out in croker they saw the level they need to aspire too its all a learning curve / and that’s always the way it’s been how else are you going to improve
The money and the people involved with the Dublin team vs small counties like w.meath is very unfair.Maybe a large populace county like Dublin should field two teams a city and county team.
As Kerry do each year and how All Ireland’s have they won with a small population
The whole thing is a farce lets do away with the provincials 8 groups of 4 top 2 into the the A final bottom 2 to a B Final and in the last 16 -an open draw when your out you are out at least the teams in the final get to play the same amount of games.
Yeah, everyone would get three games and the eventual finalists would get 7. Seems fair
I wouldn’t do an open draw for the last 16 though. I’d run it like a Heineken Cup. The best performing team plays worst and so forth, to reward consistent good play
The championship is fine the way it is. They should give division 3 and 4 teams home advantage when playing division 1 teams.
The championship format is fairly rubbish to be honest. It’s not fair in my opinion to the Ulster teams especially. The Connaught and Munster Championships and somewhat Leinster are absolute dire. They should have a Champions League style format of 8 groups of 4 teams and the top 2 from each group enter the Last 16 of the All Ireland with the top from each group playing a 2nd placed team. The groups would also be seeded from their National League position meaning all Division 1 teams would be in a separate group and so on. At least every team would get 3 Championship games, the prospect of an open draw would also do much to enhance the game….and I’m not from Ulster!
I don’t see how ulster is any better. Donegal are near certainties for ulster this year and that will be 3 in a row and before them Tyrone and Armagh shared it for the previous ten years.
Leinster and ulster have to win more games to win an all Ireland however which is definitely unfair.
Kerry and cork basically don’t have to do anything until August because the rest of Munster are light years behind them. This is extremely unfair on the rest and plays a large part in Kerry’s success in my opinion despite their producing some excellent teams.
Some people suggest that it’s better for Kerry/Cork to take the back door route as they get more competitive games. As it is they get to play Each other in their only tough match before Aug and arrive untested into the Knockout stages.
These two scenarios get played out whenever Kerry/cork reach the QF and either win easily or lose comfortably.
If they get to QF by winning munster and win easily its cos they are fresh from easy matches. If they lose its cos they are untested.
For decades ulster was the weakest province, now it’s the most competitive. Why, they work hard but helped as all the counties place football number one. In Munster only Kerry place football 1, all the others are hurling or 50/50 in corks case. Munster will never have 6 strong teams
Maybe picky, but Derry WERE Division 2 and Down WERE Division 1, but Derry got promoted, Down got relegated, so division 2 team beat division 1 team.
(Best game if championship so far – great advert for GAA)