All the pressure is on Kerry to deliver an All Ireland in 2021

[TheGreatest]

Eric Lowndes gone now, also Kev Mc(In Tokyo ). john Small, Cooper and Murchan all fitness doubts , Cluxton, list goes on. Not the same team.

Definitely Kerry's to lose, It has been good while it lasted.

I don't know what your modus operandi is but you seem to be on some sort of crusade to hail kerry as the greatest team that ever played the game before they have even won one AI title. I think this is slightly premature but I do think with all the defections Dublin have had in the last 18 months, that Kerry have a glorious chance to win it this year now.

Dublin have lost so many stalwarts that they could now be considered to be going through a transitionary period. Any county that gets their act together over the next few years will have a better chance of winning an AI and Kerry appear to be the team best positioned. I would even go as far as to say that they probably now have better players all over the pitch than Dublin. Psychologically they have questions to answer though as they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory during the closing stages in big championship games in the last 2 seasons. Until they win an AI those questions will remain unanswered.

Not at all, its them or no one imo.

Maybe the best thing to happen to Mayo is not having to rely on O Connor and bring other players into it,

I honestly think we will be beaten this year. Finally.. at what stage I don't know, no team, not even Dublin can absorb the personal changes and current injury list.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/malachy-clerkin-dublin-won-t-win-the-all-ireland-this-year-1.4621345

Malachy Clerkin: Dublin won't win the All-Ireland this year

For the first time in almost a decade, they've the look of a team who lack firepower


Malachy Clerkin



Dublin won't win the All-Ireland this year. Somebody will beat them at some stage over the next seven weeks. Could be Kerry at the end, could be Mayo in the semi-final, could be one of the northern teams if one of the other two fall before then. We know not the day nor the power. But it will happen.
This is not meant to be provocative. Truth be told, it's as much a shock to this column as it is to anyone to realise it. If it feels like an outlandish thing to declare, that's only because this is the first time in the past nine years when you could have felt confident even bringing it up.
Think back over it. At no stage during the six-in-a-row could you have banged your fist on the table and declared the Dubs would be beaten. The last time they lost a championship game was, famously, in 2014, a game that Donegal went into as the biggest outsiders in an All-Ireland semi-final for 20 years. The year before that was Jim Gavin's first, when he unleashed Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, Dean Rock et al on the championship and danced them all into submission.
For the first time in almost a decade, they have the look of a team who lack the firepower to pull it off
Oh, there have been your hunches and your feelings and your just-might-bes down the years. The mind drifts to Colm Parkinson's podcast the week before the Dubs played Tyrone in 2017 where neither of his guests predicted a Dublin win. Stevie McDonnell and Conan Doherty - no mug, either of them - got to the verdicts at the end and went for a draw (McDonnell) and a Tyrone win (Doherty). Woolly himself was the rock of sense in the group but even he went for Tyrone to cover the three-point spread.
The point is, we've all taken a swing from time to time. We've all written match previews where we were, in Seán Moran's great phrase, "attempting to look wise after the event, before the event". This column is far from immune, having spent most of the years between 2011 and 2015 indulging in a frankly weird mania for giving the verdict to underdogs in matches against the Kilkenny hurlers. The thinking was probably that it would turn out to be right eventually. What an idiot.
Anyway, this is not that. Obviously if we start predicting on an annual basis that Dublin won't win the All-Ireland, the year will come around where that will be the case. But that's stopped clock stuff, of no use to anybody. It's not the point of the exercise here.
•   Formidable Lohan the ideal spiritual leader for the Banner
•   GAA summer all the better when Wexford step up to the fight
•   Cavan and Tipperary brought back down to earth after 2020 heroics
The loss of Stephen Cluxton is a real thing. Ditto the loss of Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion and Cian O'Sullivan. File photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

No, it's more that we should all take a minute to mark the novelty of the moment we have. Breathe the air, take in the day. Recognise that at the sharp end of things at least, there is a championship afoot. The scandal of kicking the lower orders out after one game is a stain on it all but we can talk about that some other time.
This is about rejoicing in the fact that for this summer at least, the whole thing isn't a done deal. For all of Dublin's inarguable qualities throughout the Gavin era and last year, the chronic predictability of it all has been a pair of concrete slippers for the championship as a whole. We can admire Dublin and still want to puke at how straightforward they have made it.
Mayo's repeated and epic refusals to bow down is what endeared them to so many people along the way. Even at the height of that great rivalry though, you always felt on some level that you were stretching the arguments for Mayo in the build-up to games in a way you didn't have to do for Dublin. There were too many ifs and buts and ultimately, when it came down to it, you half-knew all the time that Dublin's bench would decide it in the end.
Things are different this year. The last time you could sit down mid-championship and be adamant that Dublin weren't going to win it all was in August 2012 when Pat Gilroy's team scraped past Laois in the last eight of their All-Ireland defence. They had already been unconvincing against Wexford and Meath in Leister and the key score in the Laois game was a goal from a deflection by Michael Darragh Macauley. They were anything but back-to-back champions in waiting and so it proved against Mayo next day out.
The championship has changed in the meantime and clearly there is no real danger to Dublin in Leinster. Meath will presumably feel every bit of the great vengeance and furious anger routine this coming Sunday and neither Kildare nor Westmeath are up to it either. But they will have to win two serious games against two serious teams after that. And for the first time in almost a decade, they have the look of a team who lack the firepower to pull it off.
The loss of Stephen Cluxton is a real thing. Ditto the loss of McCaffrey and Mannion and Cian O'Sullivan. But just as real is the gradual erosion of their cast of bit-part heroes. There's no Darren Daly to send on to do a job in any one of the defensive positions. There's no Paddy Andrews or Kevin McManamon to bring in as soon as one of the shooters kicks two wides. There's no Macauley to thud into midfield to change the tempo and tenor of a game.
Maybe these roles are going to be filled by Tom Lahiff and Peadar Ó Coifigh Byrne and the Basquel brothers and Aaron Byrne and Séan McMahon and Seán Bugler and Cillian O'Shea and Shane Carthy. But nobody knows that yet and so there's no reason for anyone to fear the reaper when Dublin start emptying the bench.
It would obviously be wrong to posit that Kerry or Mayo or Donegal or whoever have a more proven squad than Dublin. That is just not true. Dessie Farrell's side did win an All-Ireland just over seven months ago, after all.
But every one of those good teams must surely see Dublin in a reduced state and have immortal words of the British cox in an Olympic rowing event years ago ringing in their ears. If not now, when? If not you, who?
For the first time in years, mark this column down as one who doesn't see the answer being the obvious.

[AnGaelGearmanach]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/malachy-clerkin-dublin-won-t-win-the-all-ireland-this-year-1.4621345

Malachy Clerkin: Dublin won't win the All-Ireland this year

For the first time in almost a decade, they've the look of a team who lack firepower


Malachy Clerkin



Dublin won't win the All-Ireland this year. Somebody will beat them at some stage over the next seven weeks. Could be Kerry at the end, could be Mayo in the semi-final, could be one of the northern teams if one of the other two fall before then. We know not the day nor the power. But it will happen.
This is not meant to be provocative. Truth be told, it's as much a shock to this column as it is to anyone to realise it. If it feels like an outlandish thing to declare, that's only because this is the first time in the past nine years when you could have felt confident even bringing it up.
Think back over it. At no stage during the six-in-a-row could you have banged your fist on the table and declared the Dubs would be beaten. The last time they lost a championship game was, famously, in 2014, a game that Donegal went into as the biggest outsiders in an All-Ireland semi-final for 20 years. The year before that was Jim Gavin's first, when he unleashed Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, Dean Rock et al on the championship and danced them all into submission.
For the first time in almost a decade, they have the look of a team who lack the firepower to pull it off
Oh, there have been your hunches and your feelings and your just-might-bes down the years. The mind drifts to Colm Parkinson's podcast the week before the Dubs played Tyrone in 2017 where neither of his guests predicted a Dublin win. Stevie McDonnell and Conan Doherty - no mug, either of them - got to the verdicts at the end and went for a draw (McDonnell) and a Tyrone win (Doherty). Woolly himself was the rock of sense in the group but even he went for Tyrone to cover the three-point spread.
The point is, we've all taken a swing from time to time. We've all written match previews where we were, in Seán Moran's great phrase, "attempting to look wise after the event, before the event". This column is far from immune, having spent most of the years between 2011 and 2015 indulging in a frankly weird mania for giving the verdict to underdogs in matches against the Kilkenny hurlers. The thinking was probably that it would turn out to be right eventually. What an idiot.
Anyway, this is not that. Obviously if we start predicting on an annual basis that Dublin won't win the All-Ireland, the year will come around where that will be the case. But that's stopped clock stuff, of no use to anybody. It's not the point of the exercise here.
•   Formidable Lohan the ideal spiritual leader for the Banner
•   GAA summer all the better when Wexford step up to the fight
•   Cavan and Tipperary brought back down to earth after 2020 heroics
The loss of Stephen Cluxton is a real thing. Ditto the loss of Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion and Cian O'Sullivan. File photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

No, it's more that we should all take a minute to mark the novelty of the moment we have. Breathe the air, take in the day. Recognise that at the sharp end of things at least, there is a championship afoot. The scandal of kicking the lower orders out after one game is a stain on it all but we can talk about that some other time.
This is about rejoicing in the fact that for this summer at least, the whole thing isn't a done deal. For all of Dublin's inarguable qualities throughout the Gavin era and last year, the chronic predictability of it all has been a pair of concrete slippers for the championship as a whole. We can admire Dublin and still want to puke at how straightforward they have made it.
Mayo's repeated and epic refusals to bow down is what endeared them to so many people along the way. Even at the height of that great rivalry though, you always felt on some level that you were stretching the arguments for Mayo in the build-up to games in a way you didn't have to do for Dublin. There were too many ifs and buts and ultimately, when it came down to it, you half-knew all the time that Dublin's bench would decide it in the end.
Things are different this year. The last time you could sit down mid-championship and be adamant that Dublin weren't going to win it all was in August 2012 when Pat Gilroy's team scraped past Laois in the last eight of their All-Ireland defence. They had already been unconvincing against Wexford and Meath in Leister and the key score in the Laois game was a goal from a deflection by Michael Darragh Macauley. They were anything but back-to-back champions in waiting and so it proved against Mayo next day out.
The championship has changed in the meantime and clearly there is no real danger to Dublin in Leinster. Meath will presumably feel every bit of the great vengeance and furious anger routine this coming Sunday and neither Kildare nor Westmeath are up to it either. But they will have to win two serious games against two serious teams after that. And for the first time in almost a decade, they have the look of a team who lack the firepower to pull it off.
The loss of Stephen Cluxton is a real thing. Ditto the loss of McCaffrey and Mannion and Cian O'Sullivan. But just as real is the gradual erosion of their cast of bit-part heroes. There's no Darren Daly to send on to do a job in any one of the defensive positions. There's no Paddy Andrews or Kevin McManamon to bring in as soon as one of the shooters kicks two wides. There's no Macauley to thud into midfield to change the tempo and tenor of a game.
Maybe these roles are going to be filled by Tom Lahiff and Peadar Ó Coifigh Byrne and the Basquel brothers and Aaron Byrne and Séan McMahon and Seán Bugler and Cillian O'Shea and Shane Carthy. But nobody knows that yet and so there's no reason for anyone to fear the reaper when Dublin start emptying the bench.
It would obviously be wrong to posit that Kerry or Mayo or Donegal or whoever have a more proven squad than Dublin. That is just not true. Dessie Farrell's side did win an All-Ireland just over seven months ago, after all.
But every one of those good teams must surely see Dublin in a reduced state and have immortal words of the British cox in an Olympic rowing event years ago ringing in their ears. If not now, when? If not you, who?
For the first time in years, mark this column down as one who doesn't see the answer being the obvious.

I agree with this column but I still believe Dublin will win the AI. This is due something not touched on in this report;

The weakness of the other competition.

Don't get me wrong, Kerry are a formidable side that has players like Dave Clifford and Sean O'Shea who have football hanging out of them. However the rest of the field such as Mayo, Tyrone or Donegal are just not on Dublin or Kerry's level. This was proven in Kerry's complete annihilation of the O'Neill County in the league semi-final. Dublin do look exposed this year however I think the minimal fans suits Dublin as they are trained like pro athletes to block out every distraction. I predict Dublin will have their 7 in a row but it won't be as convincing as the past couple of years.

[Blowitupref]

Malachy Clerkin known as a good journalist but poor on predictions.

[JoG2]

"For the first time in almost a decade, they've the look of a team who lack firepower"... That's some statement!

[yellowcard]

Dublin: Evan Comerford; Michael Fitzsimons, David Byrne, Seán McMahon; James McCarthy, Brian Howard (0-2), Robert McDaid; Brian Fenton (0-2), Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne; Paddy Small, Ciarán Kilkenny (0-1), Niall Scully; Ryan Basquel, Con O'Callaghan, Cormac Costello (0-7, 5 frees).

Subs: Tom Lahiff (0-1) for McDaid inj., (34); Seán Bugler for R. Basquel; Colm Basquel (0-1) for Scully (53); Aaron Byrne for Small (56); Dean Rock (0-1) for Byrne (66).



This was their lineup against Wexford. There were a lot of unfamiliar names compared to a peak Dublin and I think that Clerkin is correct in saying that they lack firepower. Their bench for instance no longer frightens teams when previously they were able to bring on All Stars like Connolly, Brogan, Howard, McMahon, O'Sullivan, Mannion etc with 20 minutes to go to see out matches. Now they are bringing in rookies. It's clear that Dublin are going through a transitionary period and it is only the weakness of the opposition that will enable them to win an AI this year. Some of those new players they are bringing in may well be decent but they will inevitably take time to bed in.

In saying all that, I still think that the only team who can beat them this year will be Kerry. On paper they have better players who are further on in their development at this stage. Compare the Kerry bench to the Dublin bench now and there is no comparision really. 

[An Fhairche Abu]

Bit of wishful thinking in that article, could Dublin be caught in a one off game this year by Mayo or Kerry? Possibly yes, but to say that they won't win it is a bold statement, albeit there is certainly an arguement to be made that Dublin have not improved. Whether they have declined back to the level of the two closest challengers is unknown as of yet.
Kerry had a golden opportunity to beat Dublin in 2019 and completely blew it, until they actually do it they have serious potential, nothing more.

[Rossfan]

Malachi playing the role of useful eejit to give the impression there's a vibrant unpredictable AI competition this year.

[larryin89]

i happen to think hes bang on the money , i dont understand this complete disgust when some offer an alternative to the commonly held narrative . injuries are also starting to hurt the dubs. look they are still favs but touching even money from 8/13 a couple of months ago. If we beat galway id give our bucks a  good chance of actually winning the all ireland. kerry do not frighten me from a mayo perspective .

[AnGaelGearmanach]

i happen to think hes bang on the money , i dont understand this complete disgust when some offer an alternative to the commonly held narrative . injuries are also starting to hurt the dubs. look they are still favs but touching even money from 8/13 a couple of months ago. If we beat galway id give our bucks a  good chance of actually winning the all ireland. kerry do not frighten me from a mayo perspective .

Delusional comment.

[Hound]

Dublin: Evan Comerford; Michael Fitzsimons, David Byrne, Seán McMahon; James McCarthy, Brian Howard (0-2), Robert McDaid; Brian Fenton (0-2), Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne; Paddy Small, Ciarán Kilkenny (0-1), Niall Scully; Ryan Basquel, Con O'Callaghan, Cormac Costello (0-7, 5 frees).

Subs: Tom Lahiff (0-1) for McDaid inj., (34); Seán Bugler for R. Basquel; Colm Basquel (0-1) for Scully (53); Aaron Byrne for Small (56); Dean Rock (0-1) for Byrne (66).



This was their lineup against Wexford. There were a lot of unfamiliar names compared to a peak Dublin and I think that Clerkin is correct in saying that they lack firepower. Their bench for instance no longer frightens teams when previously they were able to bring on All Stars like Connolly, Brogan, Howard, McMahon, O'Sullivan, Mannion etc with 20 minutes to go to see out matches. Now they are bringing in rookies. It's clear that Dublin are going through a transitionary period and it is only the weakness of the opposition that will enable them to win an AI this year. Some of those new players they are bringing in may well be decent but they will inevitably take time to bed in.

In saying all that, I still think that the only team who can beat them this year will be Kerry. On paper they have better players who are further on in their development at this stage. Compare the Kerry bench to the Dublin bench now and there is no comparision really.

I think this is correct. For the 6 in a row there hasn't been much between the starting XVs of Dublin, Mayo and Kerry, and the latter two left behind at least 1 AI each in the period. But Dubs bench was miles better than both during that period. That gap has now gone from huge to non-existent.

If I was ranking defence of those 3 teams I'd go
1. Mayo, 2. Dublin, 3. Kerry
But the exact opposite if ranking the attack.

Dubs still should have the edge in terms of the top 6 inches and belief, and still seem to be able to match everyone else for hunger.

The Ulster champions will have an advantage in terms of battle hardness. But the best team in Ulster may not win the Ulster championship

[larryin89]

Am i  reading that right hound you are saying Mayo have the best defence of the three teams?

[AnGaelGearmanach]

Dublin: Evan Comerford; Michael Fitzsimons, David Byrne, Seán McMahon; James McCarthy, Brian Howard (0-2), Robert McDaid; Brian Fenton (0-2), Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne; Paddy Small, Ciarán Kilkenny (0-1), Niall Scully; Ryan Basquel, Con O'Callaghan, Cormac Costello (0-7, 5 frees).

Subs: Tom Lahiff (0-1) for McDaid inj., (34); Seán Bugler for R. Basquel; Colm Basquel (0-1) for Scully (53); Aaron Byrne for Small (56); Dean Rock (0-1) for Byrne (66).



This was their lineup against Wexford. There were a lot of unfamiliar names compared to a peak Dublin and I think that Clerkin is correct in saying that they lack firepower. Their bench for instance no longer frightens teams when previously they were able to bring on All Stars like Connolly, Brogan, Howard, McMahon, O'Sullivan, Mannion etc with 20 minutes to go to see out matches. Now they are bringing in rookies. It's clear that Dublin are going through a transitionary period and it is only the weakness of the opposition that will enable them to win an AI this year. Some of those new players they are bringing in may well be decent but they will inevitably take time to bed in.

In saying all that, I still think that the only team who can beat them this year will be Kerry. On paper they have better players who are further on in their development at this stage. Compare the Kerry bench to the Dublin bench now and there is no comparision really.

I think this is correct. For the 6 in a row there hasn't been much between the starting XVs of Dublin, Mayo and Kerry, and the latter two left behind at least 1 AI each in the period. But Dubs bench was miles better than both during that period. That gap has now gone from huge to non-existent.

If I was ranking defence of those 3 teams I'd go
1. Mayo, 2. Dublin, 3. Kerry
But the exact opposite if ranking the attack.

Dubs still should have the edge in terms of the top 6 inches and belief, and still seem to be able to match everyone else for hunger.

The Ulster champions will have an advantage in terms of battle hardness. But the best team in Ulster may not win the Ulster championship

Surely you are fishing there

[yellowcard]

The Kerry hype is now in overdrive, so much so that they are now favourites to win the AI over a 7 in a row chasing Dublin. Justifiably so in my opinion but they still have to prove that they can get over the line and win an AI title. 

[TheGreatest]

They looked good once they got going yesterday, easily favorites for it now