Home comforts for standard bearers Dublin is one of their greatest advantages

LET’S talk about money and resources and the fact that Dublin teams don’t have to travel long distances to training. All of those things matter of course. It is a supreme delusion to state that money doesn’t matter.

When other county boards are stressing about how to keep the lights turned on or give their players a better cut of meat, all of that is taken care of in Dublin.

Back in February 2017, Tyrone players broke ranks over a one-off £15 payment they were asked to make for a foam roller and resistance bands. Ronan Mcnamee addressed the issue during a press briefing.

“You’re not going to begrudge £15 for anything. It’s the principle of it,” he said. “I saw on Twitter, I can’t remember who put it up, but someone said, ‘can you imagine Dublin asking players for £15?!’ The question would never be asked in the first place.”

Pressed on whether it was affecting morale, he continued, “Well, there are constant issues with mileage… some people don’t get paid full amounts of what they would maybe claim. But if it’s being talked about by players, it’s obviously going to affect it in some way. If it wasn’t a problem, they wouldn’t be talking about it.”

That’s one of their closest competitors, squabbling and fighting and getting bogged down, sweating the small stuff. But they can hardly help comparing themselves with the standard bearers, Dublin.

But what’s maybe more important is the lack of travel involved, which means increased rest and recovery time.

Jack Mccaffrey left the panel disillusioned by the effort required to commute from Kilkenny.

Eoghan O’gara, another man who had a fair trek to where he lived in Wexford, left citing that commitment. Meanwhile, the panels of Tyrone, Donegal and Mayo have had to just bear it for years when up to a third of their panel have been commuting to training.

In the professional age, this is the greatest variable in preparing a team.