Dublin legend Ciaran Whelan believes his fellow countymen face a massive task against in-form Tyrone next weekend – but that Pat Gilroy’s men have nothing to lose going into the All-Ireland quarter-final test.
Following a 12-point Leinster semi-final defeat to Meath last month, the Dubs have bounced back with wins over Tipperary, Armagh and Louth in the qualifiers to book a place in the last eight.
That progress has given them momentum ahead of the All-Ireland quarter-finals, but a game against three-time All-Ireland champions Tyrone raises the bar once again.
In his latest Gaelic football column for JOE, Whelan wrote, “If this is to be Dublin’s year, they’re going to have to do it the hard way, as they’ll have to beat Tyrone and probably Cork to get to an All-Ireland final.
“Tyrone were very impressive against Monaghan so it’s a difficult draw but Dublin have nothing to lose. Two years ago we went into the quarter-finals after winning the Leinster title and Tyrone had struggled through the qualifiers. We went in as favourites on that occasion so the roles are slightly reversed now.
“Dublin are going to be massive underdogs, so they can just go out and give it a lash and see what happens … But you have to put things in context. They’ve beaten a Louth team who weren’t really at the races after the manner of their Leinster final defeat. Apart from that they’ve only beaten Armagh, Tipperary and Wexford in the championship in 2010, so hopefully we won’t see any of the hype which usually attaches itself to Dublin at this time of year.”
For the rest of this week’s column, in which Ciaran urges the GAA to change the qualifier system in the interests of fairness and discusses the rest of the quarter-final draw, click here.
