Sir, – The advantages which the Dublin senior football team enjoys over other counties, as perceived by Eugene Tannam (Gaelic football, October 4th), do not stand up to even cursory inspection. If it was the case that population, support and finance were the dominant factors in achieving sporting success on the field, then why is it that Kilkenny, with a population considerably smaller than even Mayo, has won the All-Ireland senior hurling championship on 36 occasions against Dublin's six titles?
Dublin’s last senior hurling title was in 1938 while Joe Louis was world heavyweight champion, Franco was in the thick of the Spanish civil war and Dr Douglas Hyde had become the first president of Ireland. Also, the last time Dublin had a busy first Sunday in September was in 1961 when they lost in the decider to Tipperary, another sparsely populated county. Since Dublin’s last victory in 1938, Kilkenny has lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup no fewer that 25 times. One Dublin senior hurling title in 78 years tells its own story. It’s a story that should start alarm bells ringing in Croke Park. – Yours, etc,
TOM COOPER,
Templeogue, Dublin 6W.
A chara, — Now that we have scraped back-to-back All-Irelands by the narrowest of margins, Eugene Tannam (calls for my county to be broken up into three teams.
I wonder what state Kerry football would be in today if the Kingdom had been similarly partitioned following its (second) four-in-a-row in 1981?
Every team has its crests and waves. We will lose a match some day, I promise! – Is mise,
Dr GARETH P KEELEY,
Grenoble, France.