BRENNAN’S GOT NO DOUBTS, NA FIANNA ARE A SERIOUS SIDE
KILMACUD CROKES boss Robbie Brennan reckons Dublin SFC final opponents Na Fianna are the best he’s seen this year — and that includes Kilcoo.
Holders Crokes’ progression to the Dublin decider is no surprise, though it’ll be Na Fianna’s first final since 2005, when they also played Crokes.
The Glasnevin outfit swept past Ballyboden St Endas on Saturday with a mix of young and experienced Dublin players in their ranks.
No less than seven of their players — Jonny Cooper, Eoin Murchan, David O’Hanlon, Adam Rafter, Aaron Byrne, David Lacey and Brian O’Leary — played in competitive games for Dublin this year.
An eighth Na Fianna player, James Doran, picked up an O’Byrne Cup medal in January.
Cooper and Murchan are the established inter-county senior stars, though Rafter, Lacey, O’Leary and Doran, along with full-back Eoin O’Dea and sub Donal Ryan, have all featured heavily for Dublin U-20 teams in recent seasons.
Crokes boss Brennan said it is a giant test for Crokes, particular- ly without injured star Paul Mannion, who also missed the AllIreland series earlier this year.
Brennan said: “No disrespect to anybody else, but this is
Established
(right) probably the best team we’ve faced, minus Paul. Looking at Na Fianna in their semi-final, we have our work cut out without him.
“I think Na Fianna are that good, I think they’re right up there. I think Lar Norton and the lads have done a fantastic job with them. They might have been lacking defensively previously, but I think they look really, really solid now and they have serious firepower up top, so they look the real deal.”
Three-time All-Star Mannion missed last season’s Leinster final against
Naas and the All-Ireland series encounters with Padraig Pearses of Roscommon and Kilcoo.
Asked if he rates Na Fianna higher than top teams like Kilcoo, Brennan nodded.
He said: “Oh, yeah, the likes of Brian O’Leary and Conor McHugh and Aaron Byrne, everyone knows the household names that Na Fianna have. When you add in what they’re doing at the back, O’Dea and Murchan, Coops, it’s a serious, serious setup.”
Offsets
Both Crokes and Na Fianna remain in the hunt for a double of Dublin senior football and hurling titles, a feat Crokes pulled off in 2021. Mannion’s unavailability for the next three months following ankle surgery is a body blow, though the form of new recruit Shane Walsh offsets that somewhat. Footballer of the Year nominee Walsh struck eight of Crokes’ 12 points during Sunday’s comfortable semifinal defeat of Thomas Davis. Brennan said of the playmaker: “He’s one of those gifted guys. Great to have him.”