Kieran Donaghy and Kevin McManamon
Saturday, January 30
Allianz Football League Division 1
Dublin v Kerry, Croke Park, 7pm - Live on Setanta
The 2016 Allianz Football League swings into action with the by now traditional meeting of Kerry and Dublin under the lights in Croke Park.
Just four months after Dublin secured Sam Maguire with a 0-12 to 0-9 win on a soggy day in Dublin 3, it’s back to the same venue once again, though this time the stakes are not quite as high and many of the protagonists in the drama will have changed.
Dublin have celebrated their All-Ireland win long and hard, but as the saying goes, you are only All-Ireland champions for three months and once the year turns the slate is clean and the slog begins once again.
This time last year, Kerry were the champions and Dublin were the challengers, ravenous after their crown had been taken off them the year before. As champions once again, Dublin are the team everyone will want to beat in any competition they meet, starting with Kerry on Saturday night.
Kerry include eight of the side that started the All-Ireland final last September. Brian Ó Beaglaoich, who won an All-Ireland minor medal in 2014, is handed his Allianz League debut at corner back, while Philip O’Connor gets his first League start at corner forward, having come off the bench in the competition a number of times last year.
James O’Donoghue, Colm Cooper, Paul and Mikey Geaney, and Anthony Maher all underwent surgery in the close season and are out of action at the moment, while Paul Galvin has now officially retired and captain Bryan Sheehan is focused on club duties with St Mary’s.
The inclusion of Tommy Walsh at full-forward is a significant one – if anything can be deemed significant this early in the season – as the former AFL man struggled to fit in last year and the manager may look to utilise his physical gifts on the edge of the square from the off.
The Dubs are without a host of their All-Ireland heroes – Alan Brogan has retired, while Brian Fenton, Kevin McManamaon and Paul Flynn are all ruled out of the opening rounds with various injury issues. Rory O'Carroll's departure for a year of travel will also mean that Jim Gavin will have to audition for a new full-back in the early rounds, while Eoghan O’Gara’s continuing recovery from a cruciate knee injury means he is unlikely to see any game time until March at the earliest.
Both sides are missing significant firepower and have been under strength in pre-season. Dublin opened their O’Byrne Cup with a heavy defeat to Wexford and then beat IT Carlow and DCU before losing to Longford by 1-12 to 1-9 in the semi-finals of the competition, a 30-point swing from when the sides met in the Leinster Championship last summer.
Kerry, meanwhile, fielded a shadow side in their opening game against Clare having just returned from a team holiday and paid the price, before recovering to record a 0-16 to 0-10 win over Tipperary, a game in which Barry John Keane and Tommy Walsh thrived, while Philip O’Connor clearly caught Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s eye with two smart points from play.
Neither side will be anywhere near full tilt on Saturday night, but having suffered a third straight championship defeat to Dublin for the first time in their history in the All-Ireland final, Kerry will be determined not to let the rivalry continue to tilt alarmingly towards the capital.
And yet, when Kieran Donaghy was asked during the week if Dublin’s pre-eminence in the rivalry concerned him, he was definitive in his answer. “It is something I would have preferred hadn't happened, that they won three in a row. But does it concern me? No, it doesn't.”
If Kerry want to win the All-Ireland title in 2016, it is generally accepted that they will have to beat Dublin somewhere along the way, and what better way to set their stall out for the new season than with a win over the champions on their home patch.
KERRY: Brendan Kealy; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Mark Griffin, Shane Enright; Paul Murphy, Killian Young, Fionn Fitzgerald; David Moran, Johnny Buckley; Stephen O’Brien, Darran O’Sullivan, Donnchadh Walsh; Barry John Keane, Tommy Walsh, Phillip O’Connor.
DUBLIN: TBC
