Brennan not worried by absence of Dublin and Meath in SFC final

THE absence of Dublin and Meath from the Bank of Ireland Leinster SFC decider on July 20 may not necessarily result in the provincial council taking a financial hit.

However, chairman Nicky Brennan conceded yesterday that it was improbable that the attendance at the Laois/Kildare final would reach the level of last season's Dublin/Kildare game. That produced a record crowd of 78,003 and gate receipts of almost €1.35m, which was twice the return for the hurling final.

While acknowledging the importance of finance to the Council in running its affairs, Nicky Brennan argues that the boost to the image of the championship by the twin successes of Kildare and Laois at the weekend was of much greater significance.

"I don't look at it from the point of view that the Leinster Council may lose money from not having Dublin or Meath in the final. We shouldn't overlook the fact that there will be a big influential man 'in the middle,' one Mick O'Dwyer. He is really going to be the star billing in many respects because of his involvement in the two counties,'' Brennan said.

He is optimistic about the game attracting a good crowd, something in the region of 60,000.

"We will also be playing our part in the Council by giving it a big push in the three weeks leading up to the match, once the Special Olympics are over.''

Admitting that the attendances at the two semi-finals at the weekend had been disappointing (29,630 for Meath/Kildare and 57,615 for Laois and Dublin), he conceded that it wouldn't be a great year for the Council unless they had a draw in either final. Already they took a hit in the three-match promotion in Croke Park early on, with an attendance of less than 18,000.

"Attendances are down in an overall context, but we are not going to start worrying at this stage. The bottom line is that we will cut our cloth accordingly. We can only spend what we bring in."

Meanwhile, Mick O'Dwyer might have admitted that he didn't really believe Laois would overcome favourites Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday but he is not in the least surprised Kildare will be providing the opposition in the final on July 20.

"In fairness, Padraig Nolan has done a great job. With the young fellows they have introduced they are building a nice team," O'Dwyer said. "I'm delighted Kildare are going to be there.

"I want to see Kildare staying at the top. That was my job when I was there and that was why I got out at the time. I left behind the nucleus of a good side and it was easy to build on that."

It is a sentiment that current Kildare captain Anthony Rainbow finds favour with, saying: "There still is a great team there. We have players like Glen Ryan who have been around for 10 or 12 years, others like Tadhg Fennin, Killian Brennan, Johnny Doyle and Paddy who are there for the last three or four years and then we have young guys coming in. It's a mixture of the young and old and we're ticking away nicely."

Rainbow accepts that Kildare don't have the best of records for scoring, but argues that the work they have been putting into it in training is beginning to pay off.

"A lot of people knock Kildare for not scoring. But, we got 15 points against Meath on Saturday night and against Longford we scored 1-14. We're working a lot on our scoring and hopefully we can keep it up."

Laois captain Ian Fitzgerald and his team-mates have five weeks to prepare for the biggest challenge in their careers. But, these few days are a time for reflection and to savour what has been achieved under Mick O'Dwyer, against all the odds.

"A lot of teams don't value the League, but we got some great games this year against the like of Kildare, Meath, Mayo, Armagh and Tyrone. They were all big, strong teams, among the top 10 best in the country. We had to learn something from these games and we did."

It wasn't the first game in which Fitzgerald was replaced, but it's part of the strategy that O'Dwyer has employed, and which the players appreciate. "He made this clear at the start, that lads would be taken off," Fitzgerald explained. "He said that he would be using four or five subs in games and he does.

"It's great because we have a strong panel. You know that the player coming in for you is going to do a job. You just give your all for however long you are on the pitch."

In his view, O'Dwyer has been successful because of the respect that he commands. "He has at his disposal every player who can play football in the county and I suppose that comes from the respect that everyone has for him.

"He has the best players giving everything for him. That is what he has brought to us whereas in other years we didn't have everyone that we could have had."