Former Dublin star Barry Cahill says that Dessie Farrell’s rookies need to come up to the mark much quicker after Saturday’s reverse at the hands of Armagh.
Following on from a stuttering 2021 campaign as the Dubs slipped to a first Championship defeat in seven years, the League got off to the worst possible start as Kieran McGeeney’s side left Croke Park with a victory that was far more comfortable than the final five-point margin suggested.
Coupled with last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Mayo, it was the first time that they have lost successive games at Croke Park since 2009, when Tyrone also saw them off in the League opener, a rousing encounter 13 years ago today, having dumped them out of the Championship the previous August.
But that was right at the start of Pat Gilroy’s reign and Dublin were into their 14th year without an All-Ireland. Expectations are higher now.
“Things were quite different back then,” said Cahill, who played in those games. “We’d come off a very poor performance in defeat to Tyrone in the All-Ireland quarter-final on a wet Saturday night in Croke Park so certainly the morale had been low.
“We were just on the back of coming home from training camp in Spain in January so naturally with a new management team coming in at that particular time it’d be fair to say that there would be a bounce around new players coming in and new ideas, etc.
“Every game in the 2009 League campaign would have been very much a learning experience for players and management in preparations for the summer, whereas this felt a little different.
“Dublin were missing a few players but they still had a strong enough team there on Saturday and certainly other guys who were getting their opportunities on Saturday, they need to be getting to that level a bit quicker.
“I think a lot of people felt that they may not be as strong as previous years but probably Saturday night went a little bit further than that, the manner of the defeat and against a team like Armagh who, in general, Dublin would have had more than enough for them over the last number of years.
“I think Saturday evening was a bit of an eye-opener in that sense.”
He added: “Dublin are definitely back in the pack now, there’s no question about that in terms of All-Ireland contenders.
“The gap between them and everyone else that Jim Gavin would have had in his regime has been closed.
“I don’t think anyone was ever going to get up to that height, it was more a case of other teams hoping that Dublin would come back a little bit and that’s been the case, mainly due to all those retirements in the last 18 months but I would still have them in the mix.”
Still, while they may not have the depth of Gavin’s era, Cahill feels that they will still be very difficult to beat in the Championship provided Farrell has four pillars to build his team on.
“I think Dublin are very much in the mix in terms of the All-Ireland race and I certainly wouldn’t be ruling them out at this stage because I feel there’s just too many quality players still amongst that group.
“The four standout guys for me would be Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Fenton, Con O’Callaghan and Brian Howard and I think if those four guys are fit and motivated and sharp I think Dublin will give anyone a game in the Championship.”
Next Saturday’s opponents, Kerry, also provide a reference for how quickly transitional periods can be negotiated sometimes.
Cahill added: “After Dublin defeated them in the All-Ireland semi-final in ‘13, there was talk in Kerry that there’d be a lot of retirements and they mightn’t get an All-Ireland for another few years and all of a sudden they were All-Ireland champions in 2014.
“I wouldn’t preempt it too much in terms of how Dublin’s season is going to pan out this year.
“We’ll obviously know a lot more as the League develops in the next month or two.”
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