Given their massive pool of players, that they have only one All-Ireland from the last 24 years, that they probably should have made last year's final, the annual hype, and so on, is it not time for Paul Caffrey to go all the way with Dublin?

"Well that's a long-winded question," said the Dublin manager at yesterday's championship launch. "Do I think we're capable of winning the All-Ireland? Absolutely. I think we have a good-enough squad. But all our eyes are on June the third. I was here in recent weeks and both Kildare and Meath have been putting in quality performances, so looking beyond that is just foolish.

"They'll have played already when they meet us, and that is a huge advantage. It's a very dangerous time for us, coming in cold. And you could easily get a shock in Leinster this year.

"But we want to make progress, and I think a sustained campaign, towards Sam, would do that.

"I believe we have the squad to do that. I don't think this team has hit a peak yet, and I'd be disappointed if they had. We have played some very good patches of football over the last summer or two, and the key for us . . . is to do that for longer in matches."

Dublin's championship preparations have yet to begin in earnest as players have been back with their clubs for the past two weeks. But they'll play a challenge with Galway on the May bank holiday and play Derry on May 19th, and after that it's all about beginning the defence of their Leinster title in Croke Park on June 3rd.

"Whoever comes out of that Kildare-Meath game will present a huge challenge," said Caffrey. "But there are two ways of winning the All-Ireland: front door and back door. We did have some very tough matches in Leinster last year: the Laois game, where we performed very well; the Longford game. Every championship game is a test.

"We've some extra experience, and players take more on board. And we did blood a lot of players during the league, and a lot of those are in the picture going forward.

"And in spells of games we played some fantastic football.

"We would have liked some more consistent performances, but we've lots to build on, and it showed areas where we still need to work on.

"We lost a few close games, then had a very disappointing game in Donegal. But it was the most hotly contested league I was ever involved in.

"Even our match against Limerick was like championship fitness levels. Hopefully that has left us in better shape for the championship."