I was watching Meath’s win over Dublin and thinking of Elon Musk. Bear with me, now. The longer the game went on and the more Meath were able to get wired into Dublin, the more it felt to me like Jim Gavin has basically done a similar thing to football as Musk has been doing for Trump. He has gone in with a wrecking ball and removed all the control that was in the thing before.
Not great for government, fair enough. But just the ticket for the state football was in.
All those coaches who spent years trying to come up with new ways of holding on to the ball, keeping possession and not taking risks – they don’t know what’s hit them. In one fell swoop their control is gone. The FRC rules are telling them that they’re going to have to come up with some new way of justifying their existence or they’ll get shown the door. And some of them are being very slow to react.
When Dublin were at their best they were all about control. Everything started with Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs – he took them quick, he took them short, he never worried about distance. All he cared about was possession. Every team that tried to beat Dublin knew they needed to get him flustered at least once in the game – remember when Kerry did it in the run-up to half-time in the 2016 semi-final? He was rarely caught like that again.
But with the new rules you can do it. Meath had the wind in the first half so they kept shooting. And they rattled Cluxton early so they kept squeezing up and giving him nothing to hit. Cluxton had no control. Which meant that Dublin had no control.
Up until last year Brian Fenton or James McCarthy would take it upon themselves to get control. I still think Fenton would have been made for this new game. As Meath were running riot in that first half on Sunday, Dublin badly needed one of their midfielders to give Cluxton a safety net. One good catch can lift a siege. But they had nobody to take control.
Then you had the Croke Park factor. Or the lack of a Croke Park factor. There were only 10,000 or so in Portlaoise but they made a much bigger noise than they would have in Croke Park. And when it became obvious that Meath were starting to run up a big total the crowd were able to get into it. That atmosphere matters – don’t let anybody tell you it doesn’t. Whatever it does to your psyche you fight that bit harder for the ball when the roar is on your side.
The question now is what it means for the Dubs over the rest of the season. Take nothing away from Meath – this was a mighty result and a great day for the parish (the parish being the rest of Ireland outside the M50). But let’s not be silly about it either – Dublin are the most interesting thing to focus on this week.
I still think they’re contenders for the All-Ireland. There’s a few reasons for this. First off, they have the players. We can spend all day pointing to the fellas they don’t have but those lads don’t matter now. All that matters is who they have, in comparison to what else is around. If there was one standout team then you’d go, ‘Right so, the Dubs are gone.’ But there isn’t. Seven teams are 20-1 or shorter for Sam Maguire.
Secondly, it’s still so early. This is the last day of April. The past two seasons of this championship structure have shown us that everything before the end of June is like the first circuit of the Grand National. This is all just jockeying for position before the real stuff starts. The All-Ireland quarter-finals are 8½ weeks away – is anyone really saying that Dublin won’t be in them?
Thirdly, their form in Croke Park this year has been very good. They beat Mayo, Derry and Galway there during the league. Whatever you think about the first two, Galway played some good stuff in Croke Park that night and gave Dublin a very physical test. The Dubs came through it by playing fast, attractive football.
Croke Park is a different place to play football than everywhere else in the country. The ball moves faster on that pitch, and the three big stands give the field a bit of shelter from the wind. You’re still going to be able to kick two-pointers from distance in Croke Park – probably even more so as the weather gets warmer. But you will see far fewer of these games where one team is building a lead with the wind and then defending it in the second half.
The All-Ireland will boil down to three games in five weeks in Croke Park. I can’t see any way that Dublin aren’t there for the first one of them at least. Let’s say they get the likes of Seán Bugler and Eoin Murchan back. Seán McMahon and Cian Murphy are established defenders at this stage who missed the game on Sunday. Maybe even young Lee Gannon gets back for some bit of the summer. And by then John Small will have the match fitness to play a full 70 minutes.
Bit by bit Dessie Farrell will be getting more players into the team who will take responsibility, who have experience and who know Croke Park like the back of their hand. They won’t be lumping everything on the shoulders of Ciarán Kilkenny and Con O’Callaghan.
With everybody fit they’re still a serious outfit. As the weeks pass they should be able to adapt to a game that has less control in it. Because what comes to the fore in a game of chaos? Basic skills and decision-making. They’re definitely capable of competing in that arena.
I’m not saying Dublin are going to win Sam Maguire. But the way people have been talking about them since Sunday, it’s as if they’re dead in the water. I don’t buy that for a second.
