The Dublin players were still in their dressing room after Sunday’s latest Leinster SFC demolition job when Dessie Farrell started talking about the bigger picture.
Referencing the progress made by ‘new managers’ this season, presumably Mickey Harte with Derry and Jim McGuinness with Donegal, the Dublin chief spoke of the All-Ireland bar being raised considerably.
“The competition this year generally is much stiffer than it was last year,” claimed Farrell.
“I’ve seen a big improvement in the standard of the competition, in terms of what other teams are doing. It comes from new managers in different counties and managers who have been there already who have evolved their teams’ performance to another level.”
Attacker Paddy Small, held in reserve for Sunday’s 20-point Leinster semi-final defeat of Offaly, securing a final clash with Louth, agreed that standards have risen.
“I’d echo Dessie’s point, for sure,” said Small who was promoting Insomnia’s new five-year partnership with the GAA/GPA.
“The standard across the country has certainly gone up. There are loads of different counties that have raised their heads and put themselves right in the mix, and then other counties who would have been considered stalwarts in terms of competing for championships.
“So what we did last year, although we got over the line, it isn’t going to be enough this year and we’re well aware of that.
“Your Derrys and Kerrys, they’re phenomenal teams, amazingly coached, a lot of talent, so we’re going to need to be at our best to compete in those games.”
In the meantime, Dublin will be expected to take care of Louth on Sunday week and to collect a 14th consecutive Leinster title.
It’s a tie that will pit two Dublin legends against eachother on the sideline; Farrell and former defender Ger Brennan who took over from Harte in Louth.
“Playing for my club Ballymun Kickhams, Ger was very much a stalwart at centre-back for St Vincent’s and Ger and Vincent’s would have prevented us from winning a lot of championships,” said Small.
“He was an absolutely brilliant player, who I would have faced a lot of times, very smart and intelligent.”
Small himself is keen to be involved on May 12.
In his seventh season with Dublin, the younger brother of half-back John has found it a frustrating stop/start experience.
He has made 46 league and Championship appearances but while he started every Championship game in 2020 and 2021, and kicked 1-1 in last year’s All-Ireland final defeat of Kerry, injuries have been a constant problem.
“Hamstring injuries,” he explained. “I’ve accumulated 15, 20-plus hamstring tears over the last five or so years.
“There’s a couple of Grade Threes in there as well. That’s been the injury that has plagued me the most, especially when it becomes chronic it can be quite challenging.
“It’s a responsibility on us, as players, to make sure that when we do come back, we’re coming back in even better shape, that we’ve worked on something that we mightn’t have had the opportunity to when we were on the pitch. Just making sure you’re really resilient in those moments, that’s super important.”