Dubs’ Triumphal March must stir rivals

TS ELIOT makes his annual intrusion upon the world of Gaelic games this weekend. There will be reports of April being the cruellest month as accounts of relegation are compiled across the country.

Beyond the opening line of ‘The Waste Land’, Eliot writes of the month ‘mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain’.

Memories of a time when Dublin did not dominate football remain vivid, not that one would think so listening to some accounts of their current dominance. They are undoubtedly the finest team of this age, certainly the best Dublin has ever produced, and they will be recalled, no matter what happens next, as one of the game’s best ever.

Desire, though, should stir within their rivals this spring. Dublin beat a record that, up to a year ago, almost nobody knew about, when hammering Roscommon last weekend. It was no great matter: the records that count in the GAA are All-Ireland tallies and, in particular, consecutive titles.

If Dublin complete three in a row this autumn, it will say far more about their greatness than an unbeaten record they took off a Kerry team from a time when statistics were not as lovingly gathered.

The champions are an impressive sight, but the game has been ruled by mighty forces before. No team, remember, is unbeatable.