Pictured is Allianz ambassador and former Dublin Gaelic Footballer, Michael Darragh MacAuley ahead of this weekend’s GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Dublin and Kerry. This summer, Allianz, as proud new sponsors of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, has been showcasing the Championship's all-encompassing nature and it’s direct connection to the Allianz Leagues by encouraging fans, coaches, volunteers and players to ‘Write Their Own Story’. Phot Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
By John Harrington
Former Dublin footballer, Michael Darragh MacAuley, says some of his former team-mates will be 'fighting in the dressing-room' for the responsiblity of marking Kerry star forward, David Clifford, in Sunday's All-Ireland SFC Final.
Michael Fitzsimons and Davy Byrne seem like the two most likely candidates for the job, and MacAuley believes both men would relish the challenge and are more than capable of rising to it.
"The pair of them will be tearing the hair out of each other to get to mark him, I'd say," says MacAuley. "They're both well able. On their day, they've marked all the best players over the last number of years. I certainly think that both of them are well able for him on the day. I'd back the lads to cause him serious trouble.
"David Clifford is a phenom these days but I think the big thing is that there's actually a hunger to mark David Clifford in the Dublin team.
"As a player I used a bsolutely love marking a big player for an opposition team and I'd love if he had a particularly good game the day before I played him. Like in a semi-final and I was marking him in a final.
"You like to hear people applauding the opposition before you go and play them. Now, David, does seem like a different ball game because he just brings an outrageous level of consistency. There really isn't peaks and troughs with him, he is operating at a high level consistently.
"But tt's a great challenge and that's really what you want. The lads will want this and they'll be fighting in the dressing-room over who gets to mark him."
David Clifford of Kerry in action against Michael Fitzsimons of Dublin during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
Dublin's panel depth this year is such that they had the luxury of springing multiple All-Star winning players like Ciaran Kilkenny, Jack McCaffrey, and Dean Rock from the bench in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Monaghan.
MacAuley is predicting a tight match on Sunday, but feels that greater bench impact will give Dessie Farrell's team an advantage.
“We have strong subs coming off the bench this year," he says. "It's a big one for us and a big focus will be put on lads doing a shift for however many minutes they can because for the first time in a number of years Dublin are extremely confident in their bench.
“As a player when you see lads like that coming on, you get an extra lift, and the second half is going to be interesting tomorrow. That's where it's going to be won.
“The Ciaran (Kilkenny) thing is interesting. Whether it's tactics or whatever it is. But you saw how hungry he was when he came on the last day. I haven't been speaking to Ciaran, but I know for a fact that he's not happy to be sitting on the bench. He's shown that, he showed it the last day.
“He came on and the went and he got that ball. The ball wasn't just kicked into his hand, he aggressively went after it. That was good to see.
“Sometimes there are serious positives from putting a player on the bench and see what reaction you get out of him. I think Ciaran spoke volumes the last day about how strong he was.
“He'll be definitely putting his hand up for selection, whether he starts or not we'll have to wait and see.”
