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Ballymun Kickhams needed late heroics from Dean Rock and John Small to edge out Lucan Sarsfields by a single point in a Dublin senior football championship thriller, underlining how county stars are increasingly deciding club games and how the gap with their club peers continues to widen.
Paul Keane writes that Ballymun Kickhams entered their Dublin senior football round two clash against Lucan Sarsfields as overwhelming 1/12 favourites, with the opposition priced at a distant 13/2.
Despite those odds, Lucan came within seconds of producing a famous upset. In the fifth minute of stoppage time they held a one-point lead and were closing in on a landmark victory, only for veteran John Small to surge forward and win a crucial free that leading scorer Dean Rock converted to level matters. The Lucan restart then fell out over the sideline under heavy pressure, allowing Ballymun to work the ball to forward Fiach Andrews, who slotted the winner.
There was still time for one final kick-out, but Small intervened again, rising highest to claim the restart in a fashion that would have caught the eye of AFL scouts had he been a few years younger, and Ballymun held on for a one-point win. The match at the Clann Mhuire grounds in Naul was effectively decided by a pair of Dublin greats, with Rock and Small sharing fifteen All-Ireland senior medals between them.
Rock scored all but one of Ballymun's second-half points, while Dublin icon James McCarthy and former Longford senior Keelin McGann registered earlier two-pointers. Jamie Grant, who had a brief spell with the Donegal seniors, was influential from wing-back as well. Observers of club championship action around the country have noted that county players dominating and deciding games at club level is increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception.
While inter-county players have always been expected to stand out, a clear gap now appears to be opening up between the highly conditioned county stars and their club teammates, raising questions about whether players who have not come through the county underage system or spent time in a county development programme can realistically make the leap to a senior inter-county panel. New research co-authored by Rob Mulcahy, Head of Athletic Development at Setanta College, has examined the pathways taken by players into senior inter-county teams.
The study found a clear dominant route, with seventy-six per cent of surveyed Kerry senior footballers and Tipperary senior hurlers having previously represented their county at both minor and U-20 level. Those who entered later or reached senior level without underage pedigree were in a small minority.
Former Kilkenny star Walter Walsh, speaking at the Hurling for Cancer Research charity game in Carlow, noted that new Cats manager Henry Shefflin has been attending nearly every club game in the county as he searches for talent, though he is likely already familiar with most of those he may promote given their established underage credentials. There will always be exceptions to the trend, such as Meath defender Seán Rafferty, who won an All-Star in his debut year despite never featuring on Meath minor or U-20 teams, though he had been part of a senior development panel for twelve months prior.
Meath themselves have moved things forward by announcing that performances in a revised regional championship running throughout November will carry even greater weight than club form when selecting the 2027 inter-county football squad, giving boss Robbie Brennan a fresh shop window to assess prospective talent across all grades in the county
Dublin GAA Ballymun Kickhams Lucan Sarsfields Dean Rock John Small County Players Setanta College Henry Shefflin Kilkenny Hurling Meath Football
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