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Peter Sweeney

Peter Sweeney's Blog

Peter Sweeney is the Gaelic Games Correspondent with the Irish Daily Star Newspaper. He is a regular on television and radio and even though he isn't any good he still tries to play Gaelic football.

  • 21 Jun 2010

    Dublin’s Chances for the Semi Final

    DUBLIN’S five-year strangle-hold on the Leinster Senior Football Championship is likely to be broken at Croke Park next weekend. The Dubs haven’t been beaten by a team from the province since Westmeath pulled off a shock on June 6, 2004. read more

    DUBLIN’S five-year strangle-hold on the Leinster Senior Football Championship is likely to be broken at Croke Park next weekend.

    The Dubs haven’t been beaten by a team from the province since Westmeath pulled off a shock on June 6, 2004.

    But all good things must come to an end and on Sunday the Dubs appear to be heading towards an unhappy ending.

    And it’s not as if they aren’t well warned. Their performance against Wexford in the Leinster quarter-final was as poor as a Dublin team have produced in living memory.

    Meath needed a replay to see off a flaky Laois team on their side of the draw and the Royals have injury problems. But they do have excellent forwards, they have no fear of the sky blue jersey and they are due one over their neighbours.

    The Dublin-Meath rivalry is one of the spiciest in the GAA, but the men from the capital have had it all their own way for much of the past decade. In fact the Royals haven’t come out on top since 2001 and in that time they have drawn once and been beaten four times.

    Goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke is suspended following his red card at the weekend, but this opens the way up for the excellent Brendan Murphy between the posts. Injury will probably keep Mark Ward and Mickey Burke out too, but there are adequate replacements there.

    So, will the Dubs be as bad as they were the last day? Probably not. The pertinent question though, is, how much can they improve?

    Last Sunday week was a near-disaster and only for Wexford tied up completely they would have been out of the Championship.

    Players looked lost in the defensive system they were trying to play and manager Pat Gilroy had to turn to players many people had forgotten about to rescue the situation.

    The signs aren’t great. They will be better but given their last two Croke Park performances (and let’s not forget last year’s 17-point defeat to Kerry) hopes cannot be high.

    And if the Royals do come out on top, expect there to be blood.

    In 2008 Paul Caffrey fell on his sword following defeat to Tyrone and last August’s mauling by the Kingdom ended the inter-county football careers of Ciaran Whelan, Shane Ryan and Jason Sherlock for various reasons.
    Gilroy knows that defeat will cause the house to fall in around him and picking up the pieces this season will not be an easy task.

Home Away Date Time Venue
London Leitrim 03.06.2012 3:00 Ruislip
Longford Wexford 03.06.2012 2:00 Croke Park
Louth Dublin 03.06.2012 4:00 Croke Park
Clare Limerick 09.06.2012 7:00 Cusack Park, Ennis or Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

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Home Score Away Score Date Venue
Roscommon 0-10 Galway 3-15 20.05 Hyde Park
Cavan 1-10 Donegal 1-16 20.05 Kingspan Breffni Park
Limerick 2-12 Waterford 0-7 20.05 Gaelic Grounds, Limerick
Westmeath 0-14 Louth 2-9 20.05 Navan

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