Whelan still dreams of helping Dublin to end 13 years of dismay

MORE than five months on from their All-Ireland quarter-final hammering by champions Tyrone, Dublin midfielder Ciarán Whelan still can’t figure out what happened to the four times Leinster champions. At this stage, the game has been consigned to history, yet he has a vivid recollection about what it felt like after their challenge collapsed 20 minutes from the end.

He knows that if he was a boxer, he would have been tempted to throw in the towel after about 15 minutes of the second half.

It was a black day for the team and their supporters, another nail in the coffin for a proud county which has striven continually to reach the Holy Grail. Not since 1995, under the management of former star Pat O’Neill has the Sam Maguire Cup rested in the capital.