Will Dublin's season hinge on the outcome of tomorrow’s National League final?
Defeat would destabilise the team entering into the championship
IF tomorrow does not prove to be a joyous occasion for the sky-blue hordes on Hill 16, then you can bet that ‘It’s only the league’ will be the common refrain in the taverns around Croke Park after the match. The pain of defeat will be tempered by talk that it is in the Leinster and All-Ireland arenas where Dublin will be properly judged.
The reality for Dublin boss Pat Gilroy and his players is somewhat different. Tomorrow is a pivotal game in the life cycle of this team. Since the startled earwigs were trampled into the ground by Kerry in the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final, Dublin’s recovery operation has been admirable.
There were signs of progress last season as they bounced back from the provincial collapse against Meath to produce a series of wholehearted displays in the qualifiers. Chiselling out wins over Armagh and Tyrone demonstrated that Dublin had developed into a championship force. Yet when they came up against Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final, their defensive indiscipline and lack of variety up front saw them come undone at crucial phases.
The signs during this season’s league have been that their mistakes have been rectified. Their defence has shut up shop and since last summer’s Leinster semi-final defeat to the Royals, they have only conceded eight goals in their subsequent 12 championship and league games. Kevin McManamon, Tomas Quinn and Diarmuid Connolly have started to take the scoring heat off Bernard Brogan.
But yet for all that optimism, they need to claim the silverware tomorrow if they are to become All-Ireland challengers. Defeat would be a shock to their system that would destabilise the team.
In that regard, the 2010 championship fortunes of the protagonists in last year’s league final is salient. Mayo entered that game on the a high after recording away league victories in Tralee and Páirc Uí Chaoimh. However, all that positivity evaporated when they came to Croke Park and were emphatically defeated by Cork. The lifeless nature of their performance that day precipitated a summer slide as they succumbed to Sligo and Longford.
A league triumph would not have guaranteed that Mayo would have mounted a serious All-Ireland assault. But by at least producing a stronger challenge, they would have entered the summer on a surer footing.
In contrast, Cork travelled a smoother route. Conor Counihan spoke during the week how he placed an emphasis on league when he took over in an attempt to build up the confidence of a team that was fragile after suffering devastating championship defeats. A Division Two crown in 2009 and a Division One title last year proved crucial foundation stones when it came to prevailing in those tense finales in championship ties last August and September. Those league triumphs provided invaluable experience to draw on in order to achieve championship glory.
That’s a theme that is now well-established in the GAA with five of the last eight All-Ireland football champions having earlier that year won the league. Mickey Harte, Jack O’Connor and Pat O’Shea knew the merits of spring success and Counihan has followed that trend. Brian Cody and Liam Sheedy have utilised the same template in hurling. It’s one which Pat Gilroy must now follow with his Dublin charges.
Victory tomorrow would be a notable achievement for a county that has not won a league title since 1993. More importantly their aspirations of lifting Sam Maguire for the first time since 1995 will be greatly strengthened by such success.
IT’S three years to the month that Dublin’s footballers were presented with The Blue Book, the infamous publication that never really was supposed to be a publication.
Leaked to a national newspaper the following September after they had been beaten by 12 points in an All-Ireland quarter-final, it had only been intended to be seen by members of Paul Caffrey’s panel.
But with the cover page reading ‘Dublin, All-Ireland champions 2008’ it was sure to draw guffaws from outside the county. And it did. Oh, it did.
Three years on and people aren’t as quick to mock the Dubs. Unlike the set-up in 2008, there is trust in their group now, among themselves but in the system they play, a most effective tactic which will only break down if it isn’t executed properly.
Likewise, Dublin’s keenest critics haven’t been tripping over themselves to dismiss their unbeaten league campaign as hype. Simply because it would be termed unwarranted.
Tomorrow’s final is a culmination of a most satisfactory few months in which they have negotiated several injury setbacks to win all but one of their seven games.
What has been most impressive about their displays is the refusal to panic.
Kerry, Cork and Monaghan all pushed them in the second half but they kept their heads and in turn won the points.
Beating the League and All-Ireland champions in February was huge for Dublin. Naturally, they didn’t play it up but they were the last of the three teams who have dominated football since 2003 they hadn’t beaten under Pat Gilroy.
You’ve heard of muscle memory? Well there’s winning memory too.
That should stand to them tomorrow. Of course, there is added attraction in beating Cork for a second time this year but they would much rather do it on a balmy Sunday in August or September.
The plain fact is nobody remembers league finals. But for the fact we constantly remind ourselves five of the last eight Division One winners have gone onto win the All-Ireland title, we wouldn’t recall the winners either.
As one Dublin footballer recently told this writer: “There’s no point getting worked up about it (the final). The season starts all over again next month.”
If winning the competition was such a big deal Jack O’Connor would be a worried man. All three of his All-Irelands with Kerry were preceded by league crowns.
O’Connor and his men might watch the game on TV from the Algarve but there’s no doubt Kerry are where they want to be right now, both geographically and metaphorically.
Also, the team Dublin lean heaviest in terms of their total football philosophy is Tyrone. Two of their three All-Ireland titles under Mickey Harte — 2005 and 2008 — came in years in which they didn’t reach a league final.
Earlier this week, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas argued winning the Carling Cup was vital to his team this year because they had won nothing together.
The same rule doesn’t apply to this Dublin team. Several of them have a mint of Leinster medals tucked away, they know what it’s like to get their hands on silverware.
Granted, the Delaney Cup is a national honour but they have titles to their name.
Another tomorrow would be lovely but nothing more. Just because Dublin haven’t claimed the Division One title in 18 years doesn’t mean they have to win it.
There’s trust among themselves they don’t need to. That’s not to say they don’t want to.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
