THE predictability of the outcome and eventual winners of the All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championships could probably be written on the back of a cigarette packet: Dublin and Kilkenny.
Most bookies would not be giving you great odds for that double, so the lack of competitiveness makes the competition appear somewhat less attractive. You may have the odd close game or a high-octane Ulster Championship encounter before either Tyrone or Donegal emerge as the most likely winners of the Anglo-Celt. However, being honest, the Dubs would eat either of them alive at the minute.
For any commentator of Gaelic games, it is extremely difficult to write a piece on football currently. The Dublin players, squad and management team have all been covered. Their secrets have been told. All you are left to consider is a conveyor belt of talent. One athlete after another, with the requisite skill to back it up. They have beaten Kerry too many times in too many big games for lessons not to be learned.
Last Sunday’s game was a copycat of the 2015 All-Ireland final for slow learners. Yes, Aidan O’Mahoney was sent-off with one point between the sides. However, in truth, it was only a matter of time before the Dubs turned the screw.
Dublin were getting their scores easier. Kerry, meanwhile, were expending twice as much energy for a fraction of the return. Before you know it, a team such as Dublin can be seven points up and it becomes a damage limitation exercise.
I have always lived my footballing life on the ideal that, on any given day, anyone can be beaten. Leicester City have been an example of how hard work can win over talent.
However, when a dominant team such as Dublin have the ability and, more importantly, the willingness to out-work, out-fight and out-think the opposition, what do you do then? They ‘eat lightning and crap thunder’ in the works of Mickey from the film Rocky.
While there is no doubt that the talent coming through the ranks in the Dublin panel is phenomenal, Bernard Brogan continues to play a key role within Jim Gavin’s team. I have always thought Brogan was a top class player. Sometimes, though, he played too much on the periphery of games and he was afforded the opportunity to stay on the field far longer than he should have because he had carved out such a good reputation as a finisher.
The decision to keep Marc O Se on Brogan was a particularly curious one. O Se was not getting a look in at times last year with Kerry and it was surprising that Dublin’s best finisher was marked by a player he knew he could dominate, going on the last few years’ performances.
The pantomime villain, Kieran Donaghy, played immensely well for Kerry last weekend. I worked with Donaghy in the bank some years ago and you would go a long way to find such an entertaining and engaging character.
The fact he was booed on most occasions when in possession would only have spurred him on even more. He must have committed well over 15 fouls and destroyed the referee verbally on a number of occasions. He was eventually booked close to the end.
Certain players play best on the edge - halfway between prison and, well, ‘the line’. The truth is Donaghy is a far cry from the fella who reportedly missed Kerry training because he was apparently out looking for his dog. Missing training in Kerry still constitutes a cardinal sin.
The soothsayers were telling us a few years ago that Eamon Fitzmaurice was the new Mick O’Dwyer. I think they possibly spoke a bit soon. It does not need to be a great Kerry team to win Munster. Great Kerry teams are measured by All-Irelands and especially those that are won by beating Dublin. Donegal did Kerry a favour in 2013.
I would say that Tyrone were a bit envious and, indeed, had one eye on the bigger prize down the line during the Division Two final against Cavan. The Blues competed extremely well and have some really good six-foot-plus players.
It will take them a while to get to Tyrone or even Donegal’s level, but at this stage of the year it is about getting competitive games and also getting equipped with the pitch in Croke Park. It is a very different experience than Breffni or Healy Park or other Ulster grounds.
Mickey Harte has built himself a really solid team. A team much further on than 2015. A team less reliant on a few key individuals. I actually think Tyrone can win Ulster this year. If they can manage that, there will be the sneaky suspicion - in their mind - that Dublin are vulnerable.
When I played, like the current players no doubt, I always thought we could beat anyone. Perhaps this was delusional, misplaced and downright wishful thinking, but if you have any aspiration as a county player, you have to think this way.
I am not sure, though, if I played in an era which included as good a team as this current Dublin outfit. Armagh and Tyrone were great teams. Cork and Kerry had their moments too, but could never be described as having dominated. Basically, the gap to the top was smaller in my time. It is slightly depressing nowadays.
At this stage, Dublin have the two best teams in the country. The first 15 and the second 15. Only an amalgamation of players countrywide would provide any sort of worthy competition.
In the words of Bruce Springsteen in Nothing Man, ‘The Sky remains unbelievably blue’. Do not expect the colour to change anytime soon.
