DUBLIN DEFENDER CIAN O’Sullivan insists there is no danger of Jim Gavin’s side getting carried away with themselves, the pain of defeat isn’t that distant a memory just yet.
The Dubs won their 17th successive Leinster championship game when they comfortably dispatched old foes Meath by 10 points last weekend, to reach their 11th provincial final in 12 years.
Their 17 July date with Westmeath, a repeat of last year’s Leinster decider, is widely expected to be another double-digit victory for Dublin who are priced at 1/100 to prevail at Croke Park. But O’Sullivan, 28, has little time for the opinions of those outside the camp, he knows how quickly perceived football empires can crumble.
“It’s a great time to be playing football with Dublin but we’re conscious that it won’t last forever,” O’Sullivan said.
“These things come in ebbs and flows and teams have their peaks and troughs, Armagh in the early noughties, Tyrone teams … and Tyrone are definitely not gone, they’re as strong as ever this year and you see Kerry winning a rake of All-Irelands in the noughties.
We’ve won three in the last five years which is absolutely outstanding. It’s a great time to be playing football for Dublin and I’m very fortunate.
“But we’re very conscious of the bad days we’ve had behind and they’re a constant reminder of the reality of sport and that there are no guarantees.
“I remember my first year playing on the Dublin team. We got to an All-Ireland quarter-final against Kerry in 2009 and we got beaten by 17 points.
“Two years later we were lifting Sam in 2011. In such a short space of time things changed and it’s something we’re very conscious of in the Dublin team, that sport is very fickle.
“You could be on top of the hill, the king of the hill one week, and the next week the whole thing could fall asunder.”
The Leinster football championship, and the Dubs’ dominance of it, has come in for particular criticism in recent years; it’s regularly used as a core pillar in the argument of those calling for a complete restructure of the championship.
In the lead-up to last weekend’s clash, we were regularly reminded of the enthralling four-game saga between Dublin and Meath 25 years ago, days that appear more unlikely to return with each pummelling the Royals receive.
They may be neighbours but these days the two sides operate in different dimensions; the Dubs have won the last three clashes by an average of 10 points, causing some to speculate, particularly as the sport goes from strength to strength in the capital, that the rivalry is dying. But O’Sullivan doesn’t agree.
“That rivalry will reignite over years. I know at underage level we enjoyed some very good battles with Meath and we had some strong battles with Meath over the last couple of years.
“They have the likes of Cillian O’Sullivan making the step up and coming through and I have no doubt in the next couple of years that they’ll be a force to be reckoned with and that we’ll have some of those epic battles.”
As for their performance in the semi-final, the Kilmacud Crokes man was pleased with his side’s first-half showing but felt they lacked a bit of edge in the second period.
“I suppose the first half was quite a good half of football I’d say from a spectators’ perspective. It was a close game. I felt the intensity out there.
In the second half the game just seemed to go down a couple of paces, it was quite a flat performance from probably both sets of teams.
“From our perspective we’d be unhappy with aspects of the second half. By and large we got a performance against Meath though, so on balance, we’re very happy with how we’re doing.
“That’s all we can do, build on that performance the next day.
“Hopefully if we win, we’re into an All-Ireland quarter-final. It’s scary how fast this season is going. It feels like we’re coming out of pre-season yet we’re into a Leinster final already.”
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