Dubs living on borrowed time as Ger Brennan returns to sideline
– have some hand or other on the favourite’s tag when it comes to lifting Sam Maguire this year. I don’t disagree with that view but it is far from a clearcut case that one of those will ultimately win theand, of the rest, Galway seem to me to be the team most likely to be the disrupters to that gang of three.
As jeopardy truly comes into play this weekend – with four of the remaining 16 football teams set to depart the championship as we get to the nitty-gritty part of the campaign – I’ve grown more inclined to factorThey have come a long way after a difficult National League when a lot of men were missing and they had so many injuries to cope with. Even still, they managed to finish up comfortably mid-table in Division One with eight points.
Now Galway, with only the absence of Seán Fitzgerald, who has his hands full with other matters on Love Island, are pretty much back to a full deck and are nipping along nicely. I realise Galway weren’t overly impressive against Kildare but they got the job done and ended up winning by 13 points that day.
And if we’re looking at Galway in the last two years, the All-Ireland final against Armagh in 2024 and last year, they were badly hamstrung with injuries which finally seem to have cleared up. Weekend’s football fixtures, throw-in times and TV details, including Donegal v CorkConfused by the new format for the All-Ireland football championship? Here’s how it works Cillian McDaid was in and out of the team with injuries. Shane Walsh, Damien Comer the same.
Seán Kelly looked like a man who was playing through injuries. It looks like all those players are fit again and that givesoptions he didn’t have and a full hand to play now, especially with Rob Finnerty stepping up to probably become their marquee forward. They also have strength around the middle in Céin D’Arcy, John Maher, Paul Conroy and Matthew Tierney, so they have options for long kick-outs.
I don’t know if you can call them dark horses as this is a team that’s been to two All-Ireland finals in the past four years, but they weren’t on form earlier in the year and now they’re definitely shaping up for a long summer. Westmeath go to Pearse Stadium without any fear, with huge momentum and belief in what they’re doing, but I feel that playing Galway will be a step up from anything that they’ve played to date.
We’re into June and into proper championship football, although I don’t see many shock results like the ones that were thrown up in the provincial matches. The draw sort of lends itself to fairly predictable results in a lot of them. I feel Armagh, Galway, Kerry and Donegal are well set for wins and the other matches are 50-50. The two games which are hardest to call are Roscommon against Monaghan and Derry versus Meath.
Two of the better teams in the championship will be gone after this weekend, though I’m not sure any of those four teams are ready to launch a serious attack on the All-Ireland just yet. Dublin’s manager Ger Brennan and Galway manager Pádraic Joyce after league tie on March 22nd. Photograph: James Crombie/©INPHOI see Dublin quoted as much as 35-1 to win the All-Ireland, which says a lot about where they’re at.
Would it be a massive shock if Dublin were beaten? I don’t think any of us would be overly shocked, to be honest, and I do think it’s only a matter of time before Dublin are put out of the championship. Do Dublin see themselves as victims, I wonder? I’m sure that’s an angle they could use as a motivation.
You always try to find an angle as a player or a manager – something to get an edge. I’ve been in dressingrooms where managers play the underdogs card or produce a newspaper cutting or use what an opposing manager or player has said. If I’m honest, as a player you’d pay very little heed to it. But sometimes managers would use such tactics to harness players’ energy and to focus the minds.
It’s not a card you can play every weekend or every week, but there are times when if it’s used correctly, it can be very effective. I suspect Dublin and Ger Brennan will be certainly trying to use whatever angle they can to get the best out of Dublin, although given their losses to Louth and Westmeath in their last two matches, they would seem to be living on borrowed time.
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