GAELIC GAMES:THE SPRING of Keats and Wordsworth never dawned like this. With light shows and pyrotechnics, with the Rubberbandits in full cry and a couple of abseilers descending from the top of the Hogan Stand to present the match ball to the referee.
When Tyrone line up against Kildare at 5pm, winter talk will melt away and we’ll turn our lonely eyes to the games again. A double-header in Croke Park with Dublin v Kerry topping the bill fairly knocks rows over payments to managers in to a cocked hat.
If the weather doesn’t take too much umbrage, the GAA are expecting somewhere in the region of 45,000 through the stiles. Mossy Quinn was smiling yesterday when he pointed out that for much of his time in a Dublin jersey, the season has been kicked off with a game against the All-Ireland champions of the day. We can take it that Dublin will enjoy the role reversal.
Pat Gilroy and Jack O’Connor have both picked more or less the best teams available to them. Dublin will start eight of the team that faced the flag for the anthems last September and Kerry – who are short the Dr Crokes contingent – will field seven. Plus Paul Galvin, Séamus Scanlon and Seán O’Sullivan, All-Ireland winners all three.
There’s youth in the Kerry ranks as well, with Peter Crowley, Shane Enright and Brian Maguire freshening up their defence.
“We’re playing as strong a team as we can play,” said Gilroy yesterday. “I wouldn’t be surprised at how strong Kerry’s is. They played a strong team against us last year and they have done over the last while. Teams in general try to put out a strong team with a mix of younger guys with them as well, which I think they have done.
“It’s important not to put out a completely inexperienced team because it’s probably hard on the younger fella if he’s not surrounded by people who know what’s going on. You get a better look at young fellas if they have that bit of experience around them and I think that’s what Kerry are doing.”
Dublin come into the league bouncing. Despite no return just yet for either Alan or Bernard Brogan, they’re still able to field a full-forward line of Quinn, Eoghan O’Gara and Diarmuid Connolly.
With Craig Dias their only newbie and four of the All Ireland-winning six starting at the back (five of seven if you include Stephen Cluxton), chances are they’ll have a little more fluidity about them than Kerry. Gilroy has been pleasantly surprised by how his players have slipped back into Spartan mode since Christmas.
“I suppose in your head you were saying it’s probably going to take a little to get them back focusing on things but I suppose if I look back at last year when we had our early morning sessions there would have been the odd fella late and the odd fella who slept it out. Nobody missed anything this year. People were there early and the application when they were there at all the sessions has been very encouraging.
“There was no need to get a big stick and get them going, they did it themselves, which was very impressive. I genuinely thought we would have to do a fair bit to get the heads back. I think a big part of that has been the fellas who weren’t playing have been clearly tipping away, doing a bit of work themselves. And because they came back in good shape so they were pushing on the standard so the guys that had the jerseys last year knew there was serious competition for my place.”
The first game sees two sides meet who have probably the best pre-season form in the country to shout about, with Tyrone and Kildare unbeaten in the McKenna and O’Byrne Cups respectively. Although Kieran McGeeney’s side have looked formidable these past few weeks, they have struggled to find a way to collar Tyrone when they’ve met in recent times.
For a team with designs on a big year, there’s probably no better time to start.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, R OCarroll, P McMahon; J McCarthy , G Brennan , C Dias; R McConnell, MD Macauley; P Brogan, K McManamon, B Cullen; D Connolly, E O’Gara, T Quinn.
KERRY: B Kealy; S Enright, M Ó Sé, P Crowley; T Ó Sé, K Young, B Maguire; S Scanlon, B Sheehan; P Galvin, D O’Sullivan, S O’Sullivan; J O’Donoghue, K Donaghy (capt), BJ Keane
