Suddenly, Leinster ain't a Dublin sleepwalk

Is it fanciful to suggest the boys in blue are not in Leinster's top two right now? 

IN THE SHADOWS: Dublin manager Ger Brennan is interviewed by Brian Tyres for TG4. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.

By accident last year and design this time, Dublin didn’t attend the launches of the Leinster senior football championship.

A training camp meant nobody was available at last season’s event, while their decision not to send anyone this time around was a form of protest in the wake of Ger Brennan’s 12-week suspension.

Their continued absence hasn’t gone down well in Leinster. As one official said, “We didn’t suspend Ger.” If other counties felt slightly insulted, that would be understandable too. Dublin undoubtedly don’t think it but the perception conveyed is they are too big for Leinster when they clearly are no longer.

There was a time when Dublin showed up at the provincial launches and were at pains to the brink of patronisation to point out the respect they had for the competition.

“We’re very passionate about the Leinster championship, very passionate, I suppose, about east coast football and the way it’s played and the way teams approach their football in Leinster. It’s a very attacking, attractive brand of football,” Jim Gavin insisted at the 2017 renewal.

Listening to Gavin list off opposing players, on occasion getting a name or two wrong, the six-time All-Ireland SFC winning manager’s emphasis on the province was clearly laboured.

Gavin and his analysis team did their due diligence, of course, but apathy was always banging at the door. In 2024, over four years after Gavin left, Dublin beat Offaly in a Leinster semi-final to complete the set of beating every county participating in the competition. Like Alexander The Great, they had no worlds left to conquer.

On Off The Ball last Saturday, former Dublin star Kevin McManamon gave great insight into how difficult players found it to raise themselves for Leinster games.

“For years, when you know you’re going to win Leinster, your preparation gradually shaves off and you convince yourself, you kind of fake it.

“I remember talking to Paul Mannion one night and he was like (whispers), ‘I just hate these games’. Because you were playing teams you know you were going to beat and there was no jeopardy, there was no fear whatever. You just go in and you had to do your thing.

“There wasn’t a bit of fire in you and Dublin got very used to that over the years subconsciously and I they need to start snapping out of that and be scared and feel like there’s a lot at stake here.

“That’s one of their challenges because a lot of the lads (Niall) Scully, Con (O’Callaghan), Ciarán (Kilkenny), it’s not disrespectful but it’s just the way Leinster was for 10 years. It wasn’t challenging for the players.”

The novelty of a Leinster semi-final outside Croke Park last year should have stoked some of the embers for the Dublin players. It was a similar indifference in the competition that precipitated the move by then Leinster chairman Derek Kent to think outside the Dublin venue for the games, which had been the venue for the two games going back to 1995.

“The logic behind it was that we were playing our games in Croke Park with half, quarter of an empty stadium, the atmosphere wasn't there,” he admitted.

“Our counties weren't travelling. Really, at the end of the day, we can go out to provincial grounds, which are all up standard and the point I'm making is that going out there is a win-win for everybody, it's a win-win for supporters, it's a win-win for the county boards.” 

It’s not disingenuous to suggest the Portlaoise venue was a contributory factor to Meath’s victory over Dublin 12 months ago. With four wins there this season, Croke Park may be a playground for Robbie Brennan’s team but how they harnessed the wind in O’Moore Park was crucial. In GAA HQ, the elements that day wouldn’t have been as pronounced.

The strides they and Louth have made are real and more pronounced by the regression of Dublin, whose dominance of the province at U20 level ended in 2020 and had some knock-on effects. There is the problem too of young Dublin players trying to operate in the shadow of one of, if not the greatest team in Gaelic football history, a point McManamon also mentioned recently.

Replacing Dublin in Division 1 next season, the joke in Meath is Brennan’s team’s second-tier league games will be the undercard to their top-flight matches in Croke Park next year as Páirc Tailteann continues to be redeveloped. It’s all part of the banter around the most anticipated Leinster SFC in 15 years.

Kildare captain Kevin Feely agreed with that perception at this year’s launch. He bracketed Dublin, Louth and Meath as the top three but said Louth’s victory last year has given hope to the likes of his own county.

“It definitely was a big factor in building excitement for the year ahead, knowing that the Leinster championship was a lot more winnable for a lot more teams and certainly as a player it makes you want to keep coming back,” said Feely.

“I know there was a time a few years back where you were wondering is the provincial championship gone and we're lucky now that Leinster is back competitive again.” 

Like Louth and Meath, Kildare should turn up this weekend. Dublin have to start doing the same.