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Dubs Just not good enough  Metropolitans
simply don’t have the players to win Sam this year... again
A LITTLE visualisation exercise this Wednesday morning as you pretend
to be working. Close your eyes and think very hard. Can you see Dublin
parading Sam Maguire this September?
This column can’t. We just can’t. All smartass slagging aside,
it’s just damn hard to see a swathe of blue on the pitch in late
September.
When the crash comes, there’ll be all manner of reasons presented
throughout the intensive media coverage. Fans getting on their back, too
many backroom coaches, an untimely substitution, Stephen Cluxton losing
the head and giving a bad pass, too many culchies on Dublin club teams
— take your pick.
We just reckon Dublin won’t win the All-Ireland because they’re
not quite good enough. This is a reason that all counties, not just Dublin,
ignore too readily when they conduct a post mortem.
It’s always some small aspect of preparation, some mental edge lost
in the build-up, or some club player who the manager won’t pick
because the manager (always the manager) is a renowned b****x.
Mayo and Cork are deemed to have taken final hidings off Kerry because
of mental frailties and unwise comments in the build-up. Never that they
simply aren’t good enough to win the All-Ireland.
Dublin are the prime example. Given what he has to work with, Paul Caffrey
is arguably doing the best job of any manager in Ireland.
Preparation would appear to be spot on, as Dublin’s strength and
fitness are there for all to see. The gap between them and the rest of
Leinster is getting wider, not smaller, Meath’s stubbornness last
season notwithstanding. Dublin’s average winning margin in Leinster
Championship matches is getting larger every year. Laois, the province’s
second-best team this decade, simply can’t live with them any more.
But in August and September, Dublin are falling short and the reason is
that Kerry and a couple of others have better footballers. Who from Dublin
would make the Kerry team?
By our reckoning, maybe Cluxton, Barry Cahill, Ciaran Whelan, Bryan Cullen
(though not on current form), Alan Brogan and Conal Keaney.
Dublin uncover reasonably promising players like Paul and Bernard Brogan
and Diarmuid Connelly when they need to uncover a Marc Ó Sé
or a Declan O’Sullivan.
We watched their clash with Cavan on Saturday night and while conditions
and circumstances rendered it of little relevance to summer in Croke Park,
one could still conclude that little will change this autumn.
Ross McConnell (not quite good enough) is still their best option at full-back.
Seanie Johnston scored six points for Cavan, so we can conclude that Dublin
still have good-but-not-quite-good-enough options for corner-back.
Newcomers like Eamonn Fennell and Brendan McManamon looked decent footballers
but Dublin have decent footballers coming out of their ears. They lack
really great footballers.
The most confident prediction that any GAA analyst can make is that that
lack of real greatness, particularly in an era when Kerry are making greatness
routine, will see them fall manfully short once more.
BY the way, either Dubs are stupid, or the Gardai underestimate them,
or both. A missive was issued to newspapers from the press office of the
boys in blue (the guards, not the Dubs) last Thursday with some very basic
advice for any sky blue ultras (the Dubs, not the guards) planning on
travelling to Breffni Park.
Of course, when the guards say something, you have to interpret it and
work out what they’re really saying.
Here’s excerpts from the press release with a helpful garda-English
translation in brackets.
Allow plenty of time to complete your journey safely. Dublin is approximately
70 miles from Cavan.
(Listen you clueless urchins, the game is at seven. None of this craic
of nipping into a city centre pub at ten-to-six and starting to think
about a way to the match at about quarter past, then giving out when you’re
sitting in a traffic jam in Meath at five-to-eight. Leave at, at least,
5pm).
Please allow 20 minutes to walk from the parking areas to Breffni Park.
The throw-in will not be delayed.
(Tell you what, make it half four).
Entrance to Breffni Park is by the turnstiles only (Leave the ladders
at home).
Allow sufficient time to purchase ticket and then to enter the ground
via turnstiles.
(Tell you what, make it four. And for the love of God, bring money).
Breffni Park is located in a residential area. The Garda Siochana request
all supporters to respect the privacy of all residents in the vicinity
of Breffni Park.
(We know that some of ye are going to be bursting after drinking two plastic
bottles of jungle juice on the way up. But we’re telling ye now:
The first person to even look like they’re going to piss in a garden
is going to get a batin’).
High traffic volumes are expected, particularly in towns and built-up
areas.
(If you’re still going to insist on coming, we have these things
in the country called towns and villages that usually have six pedestrian
crossings per 300m of Main Street. Tell you what, actually, leave at two).
Surprisingly, the release left it at that, omitting concepts like the
correct method for dressing oneself and rudimentary use of maps.
Tell you what, some of those dastardly Boys in Blue will never change.
You heard us. |
