Football

Barry Cahill: Bringing Dublin out of Croke will spur them on

Former Dublin defender Barry Cahill actually made his Championship debut outside Croke Park<br /> Picture by Seamus Loughran
Former Dublin defender Barry Cahill actually made his Championship debut outside Croke Park
Picture by Seamus Loughran
Former Dublin defender Barry Cahill actually made his Championship debut outside Croke Park
Picture by Seamus Loughran

Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Dublin v Laois (today, 7pm, Nowlan Park)

BRINGING Dublin out of Croke Park for the first time in ten years might only serve to motivate them further believes their former defender Barry Cahill.

He wore number three on the last Dublin team to play a Championship game outside headquarters, picking up a fresh-faced Brian Kavanagh for the afternoon as Longford put a scare on them in Pearse Park.

Conal Keaney pulled them to victory on an afternoon not so rare in those days. Cahill made his debut in Carlow’s Dr. Cullen Park against Wexford in 2002, and played qualifiers in Clones, Carrick-on-Shannon and Portlaoise.

Their domination of Leinster and the willingness of their provincial rivals to go along with keeping them permanently housed in Croke Park have meant they haven’t been out since.

And perhaps the fact that Nowlan Park, with its reduced capacity of 25,000, is unlikely to even be sold out for tonight’s meeting with Laois underlines why.

For St. Brigid’s clubman Cahill, Leinster Council are right to bring Dublin out of their cocoon, but they are wrong in where they are taking them.

“Definitely it was good to get Dublin out of Croke Park. There’s been so much discussion about it that it was worthwhile having that exercise and getting them out for a Leinster Championship game.

“But the game definitely should have been in Portlaoise. The winners of the Laois-Wicklow game were entitled to have home advantage.

“It wouldn’t have made any difference to Dublin players or supporters if it was in Portlaoise rather than Nowlan Park. It may have given Laois a bit of a boost.

“Speaking to a few of the Dublin players recently, they would have been happy to play in Portlaoise. Sometimes players get an extra buzz from playing a team in their own back yard.”

An eight-time Leinster medallist who grasped the elusive Celtic Cross a year ahead of his retirement, Cahill looks back on his own playing days with fond memories of battles with Meath and Kildare.

Those two, he says, must shoulder the bulk of responsibility for the absence of any competitive edge from the provincial Championship, of which Dublin have claimed 10 of the last 11.

And he doesn’t see much changing this year.

“To be honest, I think Dublin could win all their Leinster Championship games by whatever margin they want.

“Any of the teams in Leinster would do well to keep Dublin to a single-digit defeat. If Dublin were motivated enough and wanted to up the gears in any of their games, they could win by 10 or 12 points.

“The real criticism should be aimed at Kildare and Meath. You couldn’t put the two of them in the top 10 in the country at the moment, and the Leinster Championship is definitely poor because of it.

“Back in my time, we played Meath in a Leinster quarter-final in 2007 and it was a sell-out, and we drew with them and the replay was a sell-out.

“Different times economically maybe, but it goes to show to how valuable having the likes of Meath and Kildare going well, with their populations and support bases, to the Leinster Championship.”

Jim Gavin has handed starting berths to Michael Darragh Macauley and Kevin McManamon ahead of a game for which they are a scarcely believable 1/100 on with the bookies.

Former Footballer of the Year Macauley gets the nod ahead of Denis Bastick, while Davy Byrne and John Small are the two new faces in defence, replacing exiled duo Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey.

Laois, who have recently added Roscommon goalkeeping legend Shane Curran and former Galway hurling boss Anthony Cunningham to their backroom team, will start without Ross Munnelly and Gareth Dillon from the side which narrowly edged out Wicklow last month.

Colm Begley returns and Conor Meredith is introduced at midfield along Brendan Quigley.

The result from Nowlan Park is unlikely to look any different than it would have done on Jones’ Road.

Team News


Dublin: S Cluxton; P McMahon, J Cooper, D Byrne; J McCarthy, C O’Sullivan, J Small; B Fenton, MD Macauley; P Flynn, D Rock, C Kilkenny; K McManamon, D Connolly, B Brogan


Laois: G Brody; P Cotter, M Timmons, D O’Connor; C Begley, D Strong, S Attride; C Meredith, B Quigley; G Dillon, J O’Loughlin, P Cahillane; G Walsh, E O’Carroll, D Kingston