Dublin suffered relegation in the League for just the fourth time ever as a result of yesterday's defeat to Monaghan.
Granted, for many years of its existence, the League was played on a regional basis but since the early 1970s, with the exception of a couple of seasons in the 1990s, there has always been a Division One, varying from eight to 18 teams.
Regardless of its size, Dublin have invariably been in it though they have slipped out on occasions, suffering relegation in 1973, 1984, 1995 and now 2022.
With the reduction of teams in Division One from 16 to eight teams for the 2008 League, Dublin found themselves in Division Two that year though, strictly speaking, it shouldn’t count as a relegation given that they retained their place in the top 16.
But while Dublin have dropped out of the top flight for the first time since coming up from Division Two 14 years ago, their previous relegations didn’t necessarily spell disaster for them in the Championship.
1973
Dublin were in the new-look 16-team Division One for 1970/71 competition and held their place there for two years before making the drop from Division 1A.
Defeats to Offaly, Galway, Longford, Cork, Kerry and Roscommon meant that a solitary victory over Kildare wasn’t enough to prevent them dropping to Division 2A along with the Lilywhites.
The subsequent Championship campaign was brief enough, with Dublin exiting the Leinster Championship in a second round replay defeat to Louth after beating Wexford in the first round.
But, the following winter, Kevin Heffernan arrived as manager in what proved to be one of the most influential appointments in GAA history.
Dublin won promotion in 1974 and, from relative obscurity, swept to Leinster and All-Ireland titles, establishing the capital as a footballing superpower and a legacy that stands to them to this day.
1984
Heffernan was in his second spell as Dublin manager when they were next relegated in the 1983/84 League as reigning All-Ireland champions.
The fallout from the infamous 1983 All-Ireland final win over Galway meant that Dublin were down a number of players through suspension and they didn’t manage a win until their second last game, against Kildare, with a final day defeat to Armagh sending them down.
They regrouped for the Championship, however, and retained their Leinster title and returned to the All-Ireland final. Kerry stripped them of their title with a comfortable victory, however, in the counties’ first meeting since 1979.
It took two attempts for Dublin before they returned to the top flight for the 1986/87 League, which they won outright.
1995
The example of 27 years ago is one that current manager Dessie Farrell may be clinging to this week as his only relegation as a Dublin player was immediately followed by his only All-Ireland.
Dublin had a decent League record prior to their relegation in 1995 having won the title in 1991 and ‘93 but opened the 1994/95 edition with defeats to Meath, Kerry and Donegal before rounding out the pre-Christmas programme of games with a win over Laois.
Another loss to Kildare left them on the brink however and while they beat All-Ireland champions Down, a draw with Derry on the last day wasn’t enough to save them.
League relegation didn’t carry quite the same negative connotations then as it does now, however, and Dublin brushed themselves down and retained their Leinster title with an empathic final victory over Meath.
Cork were beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final before a nervy one-point victory over Tyrone delivered the capital’s first Sam Maguire Cup in 12 years.
Pat O’Neill stepped down as manager after the opening League game against Leitrim a few weeks later and Dublin failed to win promotion under his successor Mickey Whelan before the League was overhauled in 1997/98, when four groupings of mixed ability were drawn up for one season only.
