Diarmuid Connolly urges Dublin to prove they're still contenders with back-to-back statement wins

The Irish Sun

21-05-2025

AFTER a few weeks on the ropes, Dublin came out swinging in Salthill.
But Diarmuid Connolly has warned that
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Dublin legend and Boylesport ambassador Diarmuid Connolly insists Dessie Farrell's side beat Armagh to prove they're back
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Dublin bounced back against Galway after a shock defeat to Meath
Having been
Still, Connolly insists that their recovery must be validated when they host Sam Maguire holders
He said: 'It's an absolute unknown for Dublin.
'We don't know whether they can put back-to-back performances together.
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'We haven't seen it over the last three or four years.
'It was a good performance on Saturday against Galway.
'But if they don't back it up in two weeks' time, there will still be huge question marks about them.'
Despite running out nine-point winners, Dublin were unconvincing in their Leinster quarter-final win against Wicklow.
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Their shortcomings, however, were exposed next time out by Meath, who were full value for their 0-23 to 1-16 victory after giving themselves the platform of a 12-point interval advantage.
Speaking in his role as a BoyleSports ambassador, Dublin-native Connolly admitted: 'I think everybody from Dublin was worried.
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'The league was kind of stop-start for them and they didn't have any real stand-out performances.
'They went down to Wicklow and didn't perform either and Dessie Farrell alluded to it after that game — that they were struggling for numbers, that the squad depth wasn't there, injuries were a problem, and then we saw what happened against Meath.
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'They didn't have the personnel to come off the bench so rightly everybody was looking at Galway as red-hot favourites. They won Connacht, as everyone thought they might have done,.
'And Dublin went up needing a reaction — and that's what they got.
'They got a huge reaction from that Leinster semi-final defeat to Meath and I suppose for the squad and for Dessie Farrell, that's what he wanted to see. All the big players stood up.
'But they also found a couple of guys that people were questioning over the league campaign and over the Leinster campaign.
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'They've been questioning are they good enough to play for this Dublin side.
'I think to a man, a lot of them stood up there in Galway on Saturday.
'I'm not getting carried away and I can imagine Dessie Farrell's not getting carried away with one decent performance.
'And I think Galway totally under-performed as well on the day.'
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Connolly cited the stark contrast in Dublin's 'energy levels' when asked to explain the gulf in the quality of the performances they produced against Meath and Galway.
Con O'Callaghan, Cormac Costello, Colm Basquel, Theo Clancy, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Killian McGinnis and Lorcan O'Dell were all name-checked by the former Dubs forward.
KILKENNY CLASS
But he reserved special praise for Ciarán Kilkenny, who led the way with a man-of-the-match display as Dublin continue to adapt to life without legendary figures such as Brian Fenton and James McCarthy.
Connolly said: 'Maybe it took a Galway to get these players up for it.
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'Especially the senior guys, who, for me, have been under-performing.
'Obviously with the middle changing so much, James and Fenton have been there season after season after season and there's a completely new midfield this year.
'They've taken time to bed in but for me, Kilkenny set the tone from the start.
'Any time any of their big players got the ball, he was there swarming.'
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Asked if this was the Castleknock man's best performance in a Dublin shirt, Connolly replied: 'Certainly leadership-wise, yeah. I suppose a lot of the ball goes through Ciarán when he does play.
"But it's not the balls that he had in his hands, it was the stuff he did off the ball for me that was huge.
'I remember with 50-odd minutes on the clock, Shane Walsh gets a ball up on the wing and he's the first man to make contact with him.
'He pushed him out over the line and won the ball back for Dublin.
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'And in that subsequent play, he went up and kicked a score.
'That's huge. The energy a turnover gives your team is massive but then to get up the field and kick the ball over the bar in the same play was unbelievable.
'It probably wasn't his best game for Dublin as in skill-wise or even possession-wise, but his overall leadership was absolutely second to none really and it gave Dublin the impetus to go after Galway.'
With at least five more Championship games still to play if they are to land the ultimate prize, Connolly is keen to see new heroes emerge for Dublin.
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The campaign will resume on June 1 against an Armagh side whose All-Ireland title defence begins at home to Derry this Saturday.
The six-time Sam Maguire winner said: 'I think that win will get them a quarter-final, but again, three games from there can make or break your season.
'There would be massive question marks for me whether Dublin can put three back-to-back performances together, but that's the challenge they have.
'Hopefully we can see one or two of these guys that are on the fringe make themselves household names over the summer.
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'For their own campaign this year, if they have ambitions to go on and win Sam Maguire, this needs to be a statement game for them.
'They need to put back-to-back results together.
'Even if they don't get the win, they need to put a performance together and then they'll know exactly where they're at going forward.'
l DIARMUID CONNOLLY is an ambassador for BoyleSports, who are paying out early if your team goes seven points ahead – even if they draw or lose
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