DUBS SHOULD SEE JIM’S JIBE AS A TRIBUTE

IT would appear that Jim McGuinness retains the capacity to niggle Dublin, given James McCarthy (below) refused to agree with the former Donegal manager’s view that the champions were the most defensive team in the championship last year.

For what it is worth, I don’t believe that Dublin deserve to be categorised as such, but it is no insult to say that one of the reasons they are the best team in the land is because they play defence better than anyone else.

What Dublin are is the best organised side we have ever seen and that covers the whole shooting match – defence, midfield, attack and impact from the bench.

While McCarthy is right to say they are a ‘front-foot’ team, what makes them so hard to beat comes down to how they have refined their attacking instincts.

Indeed, they play risk-free football and sometime that may not be such a thrilling spectacle as they recycle ball back and over the field – as they did for almost three minutes after halftime when Cormac Costello scored that point against Kerry – but they are perfectly within their rights to do so when faced with deep-lying defences.

The main reason they are doing that is down to the lesson they learned from McGuinness and Donegal in 2014 – playing high-risk, front-foot football plays into the hands of those setting deep-lying defensive traps and have the smarts to counter.

Had McGuinness just said they are the smartest team in the land, I don’t think it would have brooked any argument.

And indirectly he could take the credit.