Earley: Dubs machine capable of steamrolling opposition

Former Kildare midfielder Dermot Earley has described Leinster semi-final opponents Dublin as ‘a machine’, capable of moving up and down the field in devastating ‘waves’ of attack.

The twice All Star, recently forced to retire from county duty because of a back injury, predicted a close game at Croke Park on Sunday as the province’s perceived top two teams battle for a final spot.

But he acknowledged that for Kildare to have any hope of beating League champions Dublin for the first time in Kieran McGeeney’s time in charge, they will have to up their all round game to previously unseen levels.

“You have to go beyond Dublin’s level of intensity,” believes Earley.

“You can’t just match it. You have to actually go beyond it in terms of pace, the way they play the game, their directness, their tackling. Everything. You have to go beyond all of that and actually play that way yourself. Obviously Dublin’s full-forward line is their strongest area and denying them possession in that area is one of the ways to stop them. So working extremely hard out around the middle of the field, stopping their runs, tackling them, stopping that delivery in, those are all key things. It sounds easy saying it but it is going to take a huge amount of effort because Dublin are developing into a machine. They move in waves, they come back in waves. How you stop that wave is very hard but we are going to have to out-work them.”

Earley acknowledged that under McGeeney, Kildare have yet to defeat a serious All-Ireland title contender. Since taking over for the 2008 season, McGeeney has taken the county to four All-Ireland quarter-finals and one semi-final though arguably the greatest Championship scalps they have taken in that period are Meath and Derry.

“Kildare haven’t really beaten a top four team in the Championship and that’s another thing, just to get over that hurdle,” continued Earley. “You look at Donegal and the confidence they took from winning their province a couple of years back and look where they are now. Ourselves and Donegal met a couple of years back and there was a kick of a ball between us and that was a really intense game. They kicked on from there and we went a little bit back. Hopefully this year we are picking up the pieces.”

Like Dublin, Kildare have made a significant investment in youth in their team. McGeeney handed five players their Championship debuts in the quarter-final defeat of Offaly while Fionn Dowling and David Hyland, from this year’s U21 side, appeared as substitutes. Earley spelt out the value of a Championship win over Dublin at Croke Park to these new players. “In my second year, 1998, I was lucky enough to win a Leinster, beating Dublin along the way, and what that did for me as a player was unbelievable,” he said.

“To get over a team like Dublin, for the young players, and the older players, would be massive.”