Dean Rock: Win over Armagh will make Dublin 'massive All-Ireland contenders'

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

A victory for Dublin over All-Ireland champions Armagh in Croke Park on Sunday will make them 'massive All-Ireland contenders', says Dean Rock.
Both teams are coming off All-Ireland SFC Round 1 victories and Dublin's all-time record scorer Rock believes Dublin will be in the top three should they back up their win over Galway in Pearse Stadium last Saturday week.
'Galway would never have been a team that Dublin would have feared, particularly in recent years. Of course, they had the win last year but Dublin's record over Galway has been quite good and a lot of those players would have played against Galway quite regularly.
'I was quite confident that they would go down there and get a result. But the big thing for Dublin is consistency this year, so that would be the big question mark going into the Armagh game. If Dublin were to back that up with another win, then you're really thinking of Dublin as massive, massive All-Ireland contenders."
Eight-time All-Ireland SFC winner Rock imagines Armagh will embrace returning to GAA HQ having won there three times last summer.
'Coming back to Croke Park is a great opportunity for them to really cement their stamp on things and acknowledge themselves as being All-Ireland champions. If they go up to Croke Park and beat Dublin, it'd be a big statement for them.
'In many ways, it's very strange for All-Ireland champions to be completely written off, or not really talked about as in the top maybe three or four teams. They're kind of maybe just a little bit outside that in many people's eyes, but their squad has probably developed a little bit throughout the league as well.'
It's 10 years since the infamous Armagh-Dublin challenge game in DCU, in which Rock's Ballymun Kickhams club-mate Davy Byrne received a broken nose following an altercation with an opponent.
Both teams received €6,500 fines and then GAA director general Páraic Duffy criticised them for their omerta as the Central Competitions Control Committee tried unsuccessfully to get to the bottom of the matter.
Rock wasn't involved in the game but was there and heard the ruckus before he saw it.
'We had played a couple of days previous in the Leinster final. We had guys who didn't get enough minutes and squad players who were identified to play that game.
'I was doing some frees and we were doing some small bit of a skill session at the time, and then there were a few roars, and then a jog and a sprint up to see what was going on.'
Both managers Jim Gavin and Kieran McGeeney attempted to draw a line under the incident. Practice games between the counties have become more regular since McGeeney's former Na Fianna team-mate Dessie Farrell took over Dublin.
'In the last couple of years, there could have been six, seven challenge matches against Armagh,' Rock reports. 'So, there would be a lot of familiarity there and understanding with each other. There has been probably kind of a healthy rivalry in many ways built up, not in competitive games, but off the field and different things.'
Rock hails his close friend Ciarán Kilkenny's display in Salthill as one of his finest for the county. "It was probably up there with his 2019 All-Ireland final replay performance. That's probably been one of his better games since then.
'Ciarán would have a lot of family in Galway as well and he has probably always played well against Galway. There are always certain teams that you really play well against and there's extra meaning behind that as well with close family down there and close ties.
'He would obviously have been hugely disappointed with the Meath game and the question marks that were out there about the team and maybe even him himself. He was immense and it was more just his work-rate off the ball in terms of identifying danger and doubling up on Shane Walsh a couple of times.
'He was actually on Paul Conroy for large periods of it and I don't think Paul Conroy really got a kick of the ball. He's [Kilkenny] a fantastic player and it just goes to show there's still plenty of football left in him."
Analysing the new rules, Rock likes a lot of them but has reservations for the punishment for a foul after a kick-out mark and believes the two-point free is 'a bit generous'. He says: 'I don't think a lot of the fouls warrant two-points if it makes sense.'
*Dean Rock was promoting EirGrid's 'Community Heroes' campaign. Ireland's national grid operator is shining a spotlight on the volunteers who power the GAA community across the country.