Old hero Ryan confident Dubs will see off Laois

Former Dublin All-Star Shane Ryan has backed his county to progress against Laois at the weekend.

Ryan believes that Laois have the potential to be dark horses but the boys in blue will have too much footballing ability for their O’Moore opponents.

“It won’t be a stroll in the park against Laois, but I’d still expect Dublin to win,” he said.

“It could be a similar situation to the Meath game . If they take their foot off the pedal, Laois could capitalise on it but I still think Dublin will have too much for them.”

However, Ryan was also at pains to stress the need for a professional approach ahead of the Saturday night blockbuster at Croke Park.

“Laois won’t have much fear of Dublin, whom they’ve had a few good results against over the years . If Dublin were playing Cork or Kerry they would have no problem whatsoever motivating themselves. But now there might be a bit of a niggle in the back of their heads saying ‘we’ll win this handy enough’, so that’s something they’d want to guard against.”

Although delighted with the result, Ryan was also critical of the second-half performance in the Leinster final win over Meath.

“It’s a common theme with teams that when they go a certain distance ahead and seem to be cruising that they drop their work rate and their tempo.

“Maybe Dublin took their foot off the pedal a bit too much, and against a team like Meath who’ve come back so much in the past, it was a poor second-half showing.”

Given the media clamour to dismiss Dublin’s quarter-final and potential semi-final opponents, does the six-time Leinster winner agree with assertions that they got a handy ticket?

“I’d say it is the easier side of the draw. I would expect Dublin to get to the final, but once they get there it’s a toss of a coin really, assuming that it’s going to be Cork or Kerry who face them. That said, I wouldn’t say they’d be regarded as failures if they don’t go the whole way, as Cork and Kerry are really top teams.”

So wait, no Donegal?

“I think Donegal are capable of beating Cork or Kerry, but I’m not sure if they’d be capable of beating the two of them in consecutive matches.

“I believe that they have one big win in them, but if they beat Kerry, and assuming Cork beat Kildare, I can’t see them winning two big games like that in a row.”

Persistent back injuries prompted Ryan’s decision to step away from the inter-county scene after a glorious 12-year association with Dublin GAA. However, when asked if tomorrow’s quarter-final will be tinged with regret due to his recent retirement, the 33-year-old was emphatic in his response.

“Sure you would miss the big days out in Croke Park alright, with the sun shining and 80,000 people cheering you on but, by and large, no. I’ve given enough years to inter-county GAA so I don’t have any regrets.”