Whelan tips Dublin for All-Ireland glory

Dublin legend Ciaran Whelan has tipped his county to go on and win the All-Ireland on the back of their performance against Tyrone at the weekend.

The Dubs were massive underdogs going into the clash against the Ulster champions, but emerged as five point winners after an extremely disciplined performance and will now face Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park on 22 August.

And after a weekend of shocks at Croke Park, which also saw reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry dumped out of the championship by Down, Whelan believes that Dublin are the best placed of the four remaining teams to go on and land the Sam Maguire.

In his latest Gaelic football column for JOE, Whelan wrote, “On the basis of the weekend’s performances, the way Dublin are playing, they’re going to be very difficult to beat.

“It’s wide open at this stage, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the Dubs might go on and win the All-Ireland. Their defensive system looks to me like it’s instinctive; it’s not that it happens one day and doesn’t happen the next. Their football isn’t easy on the eye all the time, but they’re going to be very hard to beat.”

Whelan also praised the role of Pat Gilroy for the reversal in Dublin’s fortunes after the manager had come in for heavy criticism for the team’s style of play earlier in the year.

“Myself and many others probably doubted the direction the team was taking earlier in the year, but you have to hand it to Pat Gilroy, he deserves the credit.

“He’s proved everybody wrong and has developed a system to play against the top teams. It worked and now it’s onwards and upwards for Dublin.”

For the rest of this week’s column, in which Ciarán discusses all the weekend’s action and urges the GAA to review the format of the provincial championships, click here.