Weak Leinster won’t impact our drive for Sam, says McMahon
ON Wednesday, the official launch of the Leinster Football and Hurling Championships takes place at the Pearse Museum in Rathfarnham. It’s hard to avoid the sense of history attached to the venue, chosen for good reason.
Formerly Scoil Éanna, the long list of famous past pupils includes Frank Burke, who fought in the 1916 Rising, was interned at Frongoch, and went on to win All-Ireland hurling and football medals with Dublin.
It’s not the Leinster Council’s fault that in trying to play up the history and tradition of their own provincial tournaments, it only serves to point up how the province has become almost the sole property of Dublin in football.
2010 stands alone as the only year since 2004 that the Leinster football title has gone to another county, Meath plucking that one from Louth’s grasp in the most headlinegrabbing deciders of them all.
After annexing 11 of the last 12 titles, nobody drew a line from Dublin’s recent Allianz League final defeat by Kerry and suggested Leinster was suddenly anybody’s to win.
Listening to Dublin defender Philly McMahon, though, the opposite may just be the case. Losing to Kerry has put the All-Ireland champions on high alert.
Not surprisingly, the All-Star defender wasn’t falling for the line that it’s a done deal already.
‘No. Definitely not. We certainly won’t be thinking that way, anyhow. You’ve Kildare going up to Division 1, they’ve done well this year. Leinster is looking a bit stronger this year.
‘I’m looking forward to this Leinster campaign because I think it’s going to be very competitive. There are going to be so many challenges for this group of players.’
Earlier in the week, Cian O’Sullivan had spoken of the lessons learned by the semifinal defeat by Meath in 2010 and the surreal spectacle of conceding five goals. For McMahon, the only downside of Dublin’s dominance has been the drop off in crowds due to the predictable nature of results.
‘I remember at one stage, every game I was playing, the whole stadium was nearly full. It was crazy there for a while. The expectations are gone really high now. You don’t get that any more.’
And yet he’s not about to wish that Dublin had the minefield that is Ulster to navigate instead of a quarter-final draw against either Carlow or Wexford. He’s not one of those who feels that Dublin are in danger of coming into an All-Ireland series under-cooked.
Asked if it helps Dublin to have stronger competition within Leinster, he’s conflicted. ‘It does and it doesn’t. Look at Munster where Kerry would have had Cork to compete against. When they’ve had years where it hasn’t been as competitive, they’ve still gone on and been successful. It’s the same with us.
‘If we’ve won a Leinster Championship comfortably, it still sets us challenges. We’ve won All-Irelands when it’s perceived as being weak. It certainly would be good for the fans to see it a little bit more competitive.’
But that’s a different argument altogether. As he points out, Kerry haven’t done too badly in the title stakes in a province where only Cork have been a consistent rival.
They have learned to peak in high summer as well as plot a way through their province.
As to the idea that the League final might have exposed some vulnerabilities in the Dublin camp, especially with the 36-game unbeaten streak in League and Championship being brought to an end by Kerry, McMahon isn’t convinced.
‘We lost games in the League in 2015 – didn’t we lose games in the League? – and did well in the Championship. I think it’s more exciting for people outside of the Dublin circle. They’re thinking it’s a bit more open…’
Whether that is down to a bit of wish-fulfillment, only time will tell.