22 in a row and counting for Dublin

Sunday’s Leinster quarter-final win over Wicklow put Dublin on a par with their predecessors who, from 1974 to 1980, claimed 22 consecutive victories in the provincial championship.

Armed with the statistic at yesterday’s AIB football championship launch, James McCarthy intended informing his father John who featured on so many of those teams in that period. “That from the 70s? I’ll tell that to the old man when I see him later. Outdoing him again!”

Joking aside, McCarthy didn’t dare to dream Dublin would dominate for such a run, which stretches back to 2011 when they beat Laois.