I’M A BOG-HOPPER, in case you haven’t noticed.  But of course I earn my crust in Dublin so I am forever indebted to the denizens of the Pale for providing me with a wage and a chance to ‘earn’ (in as much as it could be called work) a living.

But being a culchie up here has its problems obviously.

I’m not entirely sure if Dublin people know this, but there is nothing on earth scarier to a culchie than a Dublin kid under the age of 10 engaging you in conversation.  You know there’s every chance they’re going to rip the piss out of you, you know you can’t say or do anything, and they know that you know that.  All you can do is walk away very fast, hoping they don’t follow you and abuse your glasses/man-bag/extreme height.

Then there’s the presumption among Dublin people that if you’re over six foot tall and from the country, you’re a guard.  Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that, it’s perfectly fine if that’s who you are, how you live your life is no concern of mine, some of my best friends are guards… but I’m not.

So there are cultural gaps to be overcome, but for the most part the respective parties get on like a house on fire.  This doesn’t however always extend to a full-throated support for the Dublin senior football team from them’s that move to our nation’s capital to work, eat, sleep, pray and avoid kids.  The fair-weather nature of that Dublin support does seem to rankle with rural folk… as if attending FBD League games in January was something to be proud of, and not the sign of mental instability it most assuredly is.

For those more devoted to the Dublin cause – they did enough to win on Sunday against Wexford in the Leinster final, but there is so much scope for improvement it’s unreal.  The reaction of the Dublin players at the final whistle really told a story; they barely raised a hand in celebration at the final whistle.  They knew they’d played poorly, and that a flukey goal had played a huge part in turning the game around.

In fairness, by the time Bryan Cullen had lifted the Delaney Cup, those looks of bemusement had turned to smiles but it was still quite telling.  Dublin’s season won’t be made or broken by Leinster titles, and this performance just wasn’t good enough.  Stephen Cluxton certainly thought as much – he had disappeared down the tunnel within 20 seconds of the final whistle.  I guess he grabbed the post-match celebrations on the telly later!

The remaining Dublin players feign delight following yesterday’s win (© Ciaran Murphy).

“Built like a snake with hips”

Wexford know this was a massive chance lost.  Their play in the ten minutes either side of half time was really top class but having spoken to Jason Ryan in the tunnel after the game, that will come as little consolation.  Many people seem to think Dublin were always going to win this – I certainly didn’t think that, and in fairness, I don’t think anyone in the Wexford team thought that either.

But they will have to regroup for the qualifiers now and that’s certainly within their powers – they will play the winners of Limerick and Waterford and so they have every right to feel confident they’ll be back in Croke Park for an All-Ireland quarter-final.

Kildare might not feel quite so ecstatic at what the draw threw up for them – they will have to beat Meath and then the Ulster final losers to get to the quarter-finals but they shouldn’t fear anyone on the basis of what I saw in Portlaoise on Saturday evening.

They were poor in the first half, but their second half display was exceptional, scoring 1-13 in 35 minutes and winning that half by 12 points.  They are fit enough and good enough to beat anyone on their day, and the more I see of them the more convinced I am of how good they are.

Tomás O’Connor was very good for them at full-forward – he won a power of ball, and showed great hands to off-load to players in better positions.  He seemed unbeatable in the air, but as Newstalk analyst Conor Deegan noted after I’d spoken to him on the pitch after the game, he’s actually only about six foot one.  I towered over him, said Conor, but there was a slight difference in physique – he’s in awesome physical condition, and I’m “built like a snake with hips.”

I felt that was a little harsh, but then again as Patrick MacCabe would put it, that’s the bony-arsed bog-man in me…

This week Murph was – scolded by a hyper-active Jason Ryan 30 minutes into the Leinster final for not bringing a jacket.  Seriously.  The man is a legend!