JOHN O’MAHONY
AFTER all the cold analysis was done for the 2017 football season, the two defining moments were provided by Dublin’s free-taker extraordinaire, Dean Rock. The first was the kick he missed in Croke Park last April, which saw his team lose their 36-game unbeaten streak. The second was his composure in kicking the final point of the All-Ireland final to secure the Dubs’ first three-in-arow in more than 90 years.
And so, it all starts again this evening in Croke Park with a repeat of last year’s Leinster football final. Kildare are seeking to close the gap further on Dublin from last year, when they became the first county in four years to get within nine points of Dublin in the province, scoring 1-17 in the process.
The Lilywhites have made progress under Cian O’Neill and they are carrying most of the hopes for making Leinster competitive once again — given that Meath are still in Division 2. O’Neill will want his team to maintain their momentum this spring and there will be no better way of doing that than upsetting the odds in Croker and taking the scalp of Dublin.
With a growing population, neither Kildare nor Meath can hold up the argument of a lack of playing resources when it comes to their inability to challenge Dublin. But both counties have been playing catch-up for some time now.
Under O’Neill, though, the Lilywhites have been upwardly mobile. Players such as Paddy Brophy, Daryl Flynn and Kevin Feeley have stepped into leadership roles that were lacking in Kildare since Johnny Doyle departed.
There is structure to their play, too, and they have a ball-winning midfielder in Feeley and a skilful target man in Brophy, who can thrive with quality ball. Brophy proved to be a handful for the Dublin full-back line in last year’s provincial decider and in the likes of Niall Kelly, they have a decent spread of talent across their forward line.
If Dublin are ever going to be vulnerable, it is likely to be this evening. They have only been home from their holiday in South Africa a few weeks and they will be shaking off the cobwebs tonight. Kildare should prey on any sluggishness.
It will be interesting to see the attitude of Jim Gavin towards this League campaign. Despite reaching last year’s final, I don’t think that Gavin placed a whole lot of value in the competition 12 months ago. They also reached the decider against Kerry by accident. With five minutes left in the final round of fixtures, it was Donegal and Monaghan who were going to qualify for the League final.
Gavin used this competition for his own means last year. He dipped into his vast playing resources and gave a number of players, such as Niall Scully, a chance to show what they could do. They drew three of their matches but they won games at times, just by dint of who they are, and by the simple fact that winning is a habit.
Gavin will do something similar this year. He will try out a few new players and is likely not to be too concerned by reaching the final. The sense is that they are just slowly getting back into the swing of things after their holiday and three-in-a-row celebrations — although the row they had with the GAA over the gym facilities in Abbotstown indicates that Dublin haven’t taken that much of a break.
Kildare will have targeted this game while Dublin were soaking up the sun in South Africa and there are certain areas of vulnerability that they found last summer, which they should look to exploit again.
Even though the season begins with the usual sense of excitement, there is also a feeling that the top teams, particularly Dublin, remain so far ahead of the others that there is little romance in county football now. If Kildare were to ambush the All-Ireland champions, it would kick-start the whole year. And it would maintain their momentum and give their players the belief that they can close the yawning gap to the champions.
I think that the Lilywhites will test Dublin tonight, and they will close the gap to the champions even further. But as ever in Croke Park, pride will kick in with Jim Gavin’s team and they will claim a win.