Leinster’s lean times starting to look like a thing of the past
It is now seven years since a Leinster team (Meath) won an All-Ireland title, five since one (Meath again) appeared in a final and four (Dublin) since the province was even represented among the last four sides standing.
Part of the problem has been that, apart from Westmeath in 2001, Leinster teams have been by and large slow to warm to the qualifier route.
That has changed this year with three counties making it through to the last round of the back door system and, out of the 12 teams still chasing the Sam Maguire, five are from the GAA’s eastern jurisdiction.
“Much has been written about the state of Leinster football in recent years,” said O’Neill in his Leinster final programme notes on Sunday.
“Those who are deemed to know about football claim our football is poor.
“All sorts of statistics are wheeled out to back up these claims and it is easy at times to be put off by constant negativity.
“However, in the last ten years Meath, Offaly, Kildare, Dublin, Laois and Westmeath have all won the Leinster championship. For variety alone that is hard to beat.”
Even when Leinster was failing to provide a representative at the biggest of games, the province routinely threw up some of the most attractive fixtures in the summer programmes.
Two examples that spring to mind are the Laois-Kildare Leinster final in 2003 and the Dublin-Laois decider last year, and O’Neill made much the same point over the weekend.
“I know that many other sports would love to fill a stadium with a crowd capacity of 82,000.
“(Sunday) was the third time in two years that our Leinster Championship has attracted over 80,000 spectators. The fact that people keep coming to our games in such vast numbers should lead one to conclude that our football must be exciting.”
Dublin, Offaly, Laois and Longford (belatedly) have all been back-slapped for performances this summer, but Westmeath have made their way this far without much attention.
Defeat Galway in Pearse Stadium and they will have equalled their best championship runs of 2001 and 2004.
Losing to Offaly in the first round of the provincial competition was a heavy blow, but home draws in the first two back door rounds helped them regain their equilibrium.
“We got a very favourable draw in the first round of qualifiers when we came out against London at home,” said selector Paddy Collins. “That helped us to get in a little bit of rehabilitation and then we got Limerick at home in Cusack Park.
“You’re moving up another rung of the ladder when you’re taking on Galway who I’m sure will be smarting after Sunday.”
Westmeath have had a dizzying turnover of players since their provincial title in 2004 and such has been their trawl for players that they fielded a youngster still eligible for the minor grade next year as a sub in Sligo over the weekend. “This type of experience will be good for some of the younger players,” said Collins. “Thankfully, Dessie (Dolan) is back. He scored eight points in Sligo, five of them from play. Every week is bringing him on more.”
