Nine out of 10 Leinster titles is no trend. It’s not part of the so-called cyclical nature of football in the province. There’s permanency to it.
Jim Gavin talks about swings and roundabouts but here lies further evidence of Dublin being light years ahead of their neighbouring counties. Of course, Gavin's mantra will never change. Every game on its merits.
“This thing goes in cycles,” he said. “I experienced a downward cycle myself as a player. Like other football trends it will swing the other way soon.”
But a trend is change in a general direction. In the history of the Leinster Championship, dating back to 1891, Dublin have never been so dominant. “That is true,” Gavin conceded. “But it is not always going to be that way, that’s all I am saying.”
Mooted overhaul
Despite the 2-13 to 0-6 annihilation, Westmeath manager
Tom Cribbin
is not willing to embrace the mooted overhaul in championship structures.
“I don’t want second tier competitions set up for us,” said Cribbin. “This is what you live for. All my players were really thrilled with getting up here and playing in Croke Park. The rest of us have to get up to Dublin. They set the standards. There is no point making excuses.”
Can you see a Leinster county becoming a genuine rival to Dublin in the next ten years?
“Without a doubt. Kildare are after winning a couple of (minor) Leinsters in the last few years. That’s where you have to start. I know they are doing huge work at underage and we are already doing that in Westmeath with our infrastructures, to make sure our young teams are on the right path. There is no quick fix to get up to that level. It takes time.”
A valid point was made about how to stop Dublin.
Westmeath and their 0-6 total here is comparable to Donegal in the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final. The Donegal side that overemphasised the nullification of Dublin’s attack a year before they perfected their own masterplan.
To stop any great attacking side requires a fluid defensive, counterattacking approach. Only that causes doubt in the ranks of superior opponents. Doubt leads to panic and that’s the greatest leveller.
Westmeath have only spent a fortnight mimicking the ever evolving modern blanket defence systems.
“Yeah, without a doubt,” said Cribbin when asked if his team’s defensive performance in the first half proved the All-Ireland is by no means a foregone conclusion.
“Look, all the teams playing in Division One haven’t gone putting this system together for no specific reason. You have no choice against Dublin. They have so much collective pace and power. Even their young players, they are very composed on the ball. Very, very quick, it’s not just fitness or size, they have an awful lot of natural pace.
“We weren’t counter attacking at the pace I would have liked because of the intensity of our tackling.”
That was where Westmeath faltered. Six shots fell short of Stephen Cluxton’s crossbar in the opening 35 minutes.
“We knew if we got the game plan right on the day and didn’t concede goals, keep them to 12 or 13 points and got a goal or two we might rob it.”
Stealing it from Dublin. That’s the current trend.
