Kerry await the victors on the third Sunday of September? Who wants to dethrone the Kingdom?
Mayo, vying to make their third All-Ireland final in four years. Dublin, on course for their third title in five years. The pair meet in the championship for the first time since the 2013 decider that finished with one point between them.
Who will prevail this weekend?
Conán Doherty says: Dublin
Before the championship started, I predicted Dublin to win the whole thing (really sticking the neck out there, like).
Why, I was asked.
Because they didn’t win it last year.
And it really is that simple.
Dublin have not only learned some valuable lessons from the 2014 campaign and have had four games to more or less test run their new wheels without any threat of going off road, but they now have a bite between their teeth again; a hunger that you really do not want the deadliest beast to ever have.
But the bear has been poked and now he has the smell of blood in his nostrils.
Mayo can hurt Dublin, they can trouble them and Aidan O’Shea’s ramrod performance on the edge of the Donegal square with the man mountain of Neil McGee hanging off him gives fresh hope that he can mix it with the best of them in the full forward line.
But you can see how strong the Dub backs are. Not even Seamus Quigley can swat them aside and when teams all through this championship have clearly been instructed not to fear the sky blue and to get at their men with adventure, they’ve just run into immovable objects that swallow up man and ball like clockwork.
Dublin’s system is slick and it is constantly energetic. In different sectors of the field, different lines spring into life.
Their full backs are protected. No-one’s being left out to dry on Johnny Cooper’s watch. There seems to be a permanent half back line there even when Jack McCaffrey or Cian O’Sullivan maraud forward and, without bringing every man back inside their 45′ – which they can do when they have to – opposition players are swarmed with sharp, intense bursts of tackling.
When players are pushed away from the 45′ and back into midfield, the half forwards are on red alert and they hit ball-carriers with another assault.
And, if Lee Keegan thinks he’ll get the same joy he did out of an uncharacteristically slack Donegal outfit, he can think again. Because Dublin players will run with him for the craic.
Then there’s Cluxton and Michael Darragh MacAuley and that ridiculous attack which encompasses maybe 11 genuine scoring threats at any time.
It’s fair to say that Tyrone might’ve beaten Kerry had Niall Morgan’s kicking been on point. His frees were wasteful and his kickouts were consistently putting the Ulster men under pressure and handing the champions points they didn’t need.
That just doesn’t happen with Stephen Cluxton. Morgan had instructions but Kerry countered them. You can’t do that with the Dublin goalkeeper because he’s playing the game two steps ahead of everyone else.
And he’s consistently giving his side the ball.
His side, incidentally, happen to be the best in the country.
Dublin have enough about them to counter Mayo. They’ll win more ball in midfield because of Cluxton, they’ll keep up with their runners and they’re more cautious minding their own back door.
That’s only one element of winning the game.
The other involves people we haven’t even mentioned yet. The other involves Diarmuid Connolly, Bernard Brogan and co.
And I just can’t see where Mayo can counter that.
Conor Heneghan of JOE.ie says: Mayo
Well I’m from Mayo, so I’m hardly going to say Dublin am I?
Truth be told, I have been feeling a little bit uneasy about this one all week and it’s more than just traditional big-match nerves.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Mayo lately and while I’m not at all concerned that the match is the subject of pretty much every conversation (nothing new there), the level of optimism has taken me aback.
Bar an exception or two, virtually everyone I’ve talked to thinks we’re going to win.
Against Dublin, who were being talked up as unbeatable not too long ago.
Against Dublin, who have scored 13-79 in four championship games, who have the best ‘keeper in the country, a tighter defence than last season and one of the savviest managers around.
Against Dublin, for whom Ciaran Kilkenny, Dean Rock, Bernard Brogan and the peerless Diarmuid Connolly are in the form of their lives, with top class options only itching to get their chance off the bench.
And there’s barely been a peep about them!
So yeah, I’d be a little bit worried that some of the confidence of my people is slightly misplaced but at the same time, I have absolute confidence that the people least likely to get carried away are the players themselves.
Not these players.
At the end of last year and the start of this one, a lot of Mayo fans would have feared a little for the future; it was only natural really.
James Horan was gone and you’d wonder how many times this group of players could go the well having gone so close and endured such heartbreak.
But then you remember that this is the most self-motivated and ambitious group of players to ever don the green and red jersey.
They’ve earned our trust and then some and maybe I shouldn’t be so concerned about the level of optimism as it’s because of them it exists in their first place.
I’ve heard talk that Mayo look like a team on a mission this year and I’m a little wary of it because what team isn’t, particularly at this stage of the Championship?
That said, their determination to win the big one does appear absolute and their cause is helped by the fact that so many of their big names appear to be in fine fettle indeed.
Keith Higgins and Lee Keegan are in top form, Tom Parsons and Seamus O’Shea have been outstanding in the middle of the park and elaboration is hardly needed on Aidan O’Shea’s displays at full-forward.
The lesser-heralded players, particularly the half-forward line of Diarmuid O’Connor, Kevin McLoughlin and Jason Doherty, have been excellent and the vast majority of the team know Croke Park like the back of their hand having played there so often in the last five years.
With any big game like this, there are so many variables that will go a long way to deciding the final outcome.
Can Mayo restrict the influence of Stephen Cluxton’s kickouts? Can they keep Dublin’s main men, particularly Connolly and Brogan, on a leash upfront?
Will Mayo dominate midfield? Will they play a sweeper and if so, will it be Barry Moran again given that Dublin’s attack is set-up a lot differently from Donegal’s?
How will Dublin cope with Aidan O’Shea? Will he stay put on the edge of the square?
So many questions and in fairness, that’s what sets it up to be a classic.
The match-ups will be crucial and if Lee Keegan and Diarmuid Connolly do go head to head (in their regular positions) then that battle will be worth the entrance fee alone.
If Mayo can avoid the concession of more than one goal and not let Cluxton run the game like he did in the 2013 All-Ireland Final then I’ve a feeling that we just might do it.
Then watch us get carried away all over again.
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