WHEN WICKLOW QUALIFIED to play Dublin in the 2018 Leinster SFC, it wasn’t so much a case of who would win, as how much Dublin would win by.
Bookmakers saddled Dublin with a 22-point handicap, effectively giving Wicklow a 22-point head start in market terms. So how much do you think Dublin won by? 23 points of course.
That’s the force of nature that Jim Gavin had at his fingertips at the time.
Dublin put 4-25 on the board that day and in an apparent act of mercy in the post-match interview with Wicklow manager John Evans, one reporter suggested that conceding no goals in the second half was a positive to take away from the bludgeoning.
The game was played in Portlaoise, a decision that angered Wicklow but which was made to accommodate the extra 5,000 or so fans that were accommodated at O’Moore Park.
By the time they next met in the championship, exactly 12 months ago, a lot had changed.
Dublin were much more vulnerable for starters and Wicklow more emboldened, partly because of the progress they’d made under Oisín McConville but also because they were actually allowed to enjoy home advantage in Aughrim.
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And it didn’t go anything like the 2018 encounter when Brian Fenton and Michael Darragh Macauley – two players that finished with three Footballer of the Year awards between them – had locked down the Dublin midfield.
Fenton scored 1-3 that afternoon in 2018. Dean Rock, another generational performer, grabbed a goal as well. Jonny Cooper and James McCarthy patrolled a defence that also included Michael Fitzsimons and Philly McMahon. Stephen Cluxton was in goals.
Seven years on, with an hour or so played, Dublin led Wicklow in the 2025 instalment by just five points, despite playing with the wind in that period. Wicklow kicked themselves for drilling six wides and dropping two score attempts short when a more clinical team would have turned the screw. Dublin won by nine in the end.
Meath weren’t as profligate and finally took down the Dubs in the next game. A year on, and with Dublin now fresh off relegation from Division 1, they’ll make the exact same trek down the M11, turning off at Rathnew and passing through Glenealy and Rathdrum again on their way to Aughrim for the exact same fixture, a Sunday afternoon Leinster SFC quarter-final.
Wicklow manager Oisin McConville. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Wicklow are still 11/1 outsiders, with 20 places separating them in National League terms, but if you’re McConville, you really couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to pull off one of the great championship upsets.
Wicklow have a game behind them for starters, beating Carlow by 11 points last weekend despite a fairly middle-of-the-road performance. Home advantage is hugely significant too. The old ‘Aughrim is a difficult place to play’ refrain had turned into a pretty jaded cliche before McConville arrived, propped up by outlier results like Rathnew defeating a St Vincent’s side that included a certain Ger Brennan in the 2017 Leinster club SFC.
But across this season so far, and last year, it genuinely has been their fortress. Of Wicklow’s 10 League and Championship games there in that period, they’ve won eight and drawn one. One of those was the big Tailteann Cup win over strong favourites Westmeath. The only loss was to Dublin.
Dublin midfielder Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne this week recalled how the venue felt like a ‘cauldron’ when they arrived there on an unseasonably hot day last year.
Then there’s Dublin’s difficulties. Their manager Brennan is banned following the 12-week suspension proposed for his altercation with the member of Galway’s backroom team in Dublin’s last league game.
Dublin were at least able to confirm a squad for the championship on Wednesday evening. The callow looking 39-man group was notable for the absence of Lorcan O’Dell, who started three league games this season as well as four of last year’s championship matches.
Páidí White, Liam Smith, Fiachra Potts, James McCormack, Tim Deering, Cian Dunne, Seán Guiden, Eoin Kennedy, Jack Lundy and Josh Bannon are all unfamiliar names, to neutrals at least, and are entirely new to the championship scene.
Which, of course, has been Brennan’s brief, to oversee a period of transition and to effectively build a brand new group.
Dublin's Paddy Small in action against Wicklow last year. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
And so far in 2026, he has used 56 different players in competitive games and handed out 11 League debuts. But it remains a work in progress.
McConville is further down the tracks with his Wicklow group. And he will surely tell them just before they hit the Echelon Park pitch on Sunday that they will never have a better opportunity to score a landmark win against an old enemy that has been humiliating them in games like these for decades.
“The one thing I said to the boys last year was, Dublin are going to score heavily against us – but they’re also going to offer us up opportunities and I think that’s the difference between the Dublin now and the Dublin of the past,” said McConville. “They will offer us up opportunities.”
Wicklow’s cause isn’t helped by the absence of their best defender, Malachy Stone. The Tailteann Cup All-Star broke a bone in his hand at training last Tuesday night. Full-forward Kevin Quinn got injured in that session too.
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“JP Nolan’s been out for seven weeks and Darragh Fee broke his shoulder in the early part of the Longford game in the league,” added McConville. “In fairness to the lads that came in against Carlow, they all stepped up.”
Clearly, stepping up against Dublin is a lot different to doing it against Carlow. Dublin still have golden era performers dotted throughout their team and have pulled through stiffer tests than facing a Division 4 side away from home. But it’s a bona fide banana skin fixture all the same.
“I think it’s mouthwatering because I think of the occasion and I think of how much the players are going to get out of it,” said McConville. “But we have to turn up ready. We have to turn up ready to be in a fight. If we don’t, then the score could be anything.”
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'We have to turn up ready to be in a fight': The Dubs are in town and Wicklow set for the test
WHEN WICKLOW QUALIFIED to play Dublin in the 2018 Leinster SFC, it wasn’t so much a case of who would win, as how much Dublin would win by.
Bookmakers saddled Dublin with a 22-point handicap, effectively giving Wicklow a 22-point head start in market terms. So how much do you think Dublin won by? 23 points of course.
That’s the force of nature that Jim Gavin had at his fingertips at the time.
Dublin put 4-25 on the board that day and in an apparent act of mercy in the post-match interview with Wicklow manager John Evans, one reporter suggested that conceding no goals in the second half was a positive to take away from the bludgeoning.
The game was played in Portlaoise, a decision that angered Wicklow but which was made to accommodate the extra 5,000 or so fans that were accommodated at O’Moore Park.
By the time they next met in the championship, exactly 12 months ago, a lot had changed.
Dublin were much more vulnerable for starters and Wicklow more emboldened, partly because of the progress they’d made under Oisín McConville but also because they were actually allowed to enjoy home advantage in Aughrim.
And it didn’t go anything like the 2018 encounter when Brian Fenton and Michael Darragh Macauley – two players that finished with three Footballer of the Year awards between them – had locked down the Dublin midfield.
Fenton scored 1-3 that afternoon in 2018. Dean Rock, another generational performer, grabbed a goal as well. Jonny Cooper and James McCarthy patrolled a defence that also included Michael Fitzsimons and Philly McMahon. Stephen Cluxton was in goals.
Seven years on, with an hour or so played, Dublin led Wicklow in the 2025 instalment by just five points, despite playing with the wind in that period. Wicklow kicked themselves for drilling six wides and dropping two score attempts short when a more clinical team would have turned the screw. Dublin won by nine in the end.
Meath weren’t as profligate and finally took down the Dubs in the next game. A year on, and with Dublin now fresh off relegation from Division 1, they’ll make the exact same trek down the M11, turning off at Rathnew and passing through Glenealy and Rathdrum again on their way to Aughrim for the exact same fixture, a Sunday afternoon Leinster SFC quarter-final.
Wicklow are still 11/1 outsiders, with 20 places separating them in National League terms, but if you’re McConville, you really couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to pull off one of the great championship upsets.
Wicklow have a game behind them for starters, beating Carlow by 11 points last weekend despite a fairly middle-of-the-road performance. Home advantage is hugely significant too. The old ‘Aughrim is a difficult place to play’ refrain had turned into a pretty jaded cliche before McConville arrived, propped up by outlier results like Rathnew defeating a St Vincent’s side that included a certain Ger Brennan in the 2017 Leinster club SFC.
But across this season so far, and last year, it genuinely has been their fortress. Of Wicklow’s 10 League and Championship games there in that period, they’ve won eight and drawn one. One of those was the big Tailteann Cup win over strong favourites Westmeath. The only loss was to Dublin.
Dublin midfielder Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne this week recalled how the venue felt like a ‘cauldron’ when they arrived there on an unseasonably hot day last year.
Then there’s Dublin’s difficulties. Their manager Brennan is banned following the 12-week suspension proposed for his altercation with the member of Galway’s backroom team in Dublin’s last league game.
Dublin were at least able to confirm a squad for the championship on Wednesday evening. The callow looking 39-man group was notable for the absence of Lorcan O’Dell, who started three league games this season as well as four of last year’s championship matches.
Páidí White, Liam Smith, Fiachra Potts, James McCormack, Tim Deering, Cian Dunne, Seán Guiden, Eoin Kennedy, Jack Lundy and Josh Bannon are all unfamiliar names, to neutrals at least, and are entirely new to the championship scene.
Which, of course, has been Brennan’s brief, to oversee a period of transition and to effectively build a brand new group.
And so far in 2026, he has used 56 different players in competitive games and handed out 11 League debuts. But it remains a work in progress.
McConville is further down the tracks with his Wicklow group. And he will surely tell them just before they hit the Echelon Park pitch on Sunday that they will never have a better opportunity to score a landmark win against an old enemy that has been humiliating them in games like these for decades.
“The one thing I said to the boys last year was, Dublin are going to score heavily against us – but they’re also going to offer us up opportunities and I think that’s the difference between the Dublin now and the Dublin of the past,” said McConville. “They will offer us up opportunities.”
Wicklow’s cause isn’t helped by the absence of their best defender, Malachy Stone. The Tailteann Cup All-Star broke a bone in his hand at training last Tuesday night. Full-forward Kevin Quinn got injured in that session too.
“JP Nolan’s been out for seven weeks and Darragh Fee broke his shoulder in the early part of the Longford game in the league,” added McConville. “In fairness to the lads that came in against Carlow, they all stepped up.”
Clearly, stepping up against Dublin is a lot different to doing it against Carlow. Dublin still have golden era performers dotted throughout their team and have pulled through stiffer tests than facing a Division 4 side away from home. But it’s a bona fide banana skin fixture all the same.
“I think it’s mouthwatering because I think of the occasion and I think of how much the players are going to get out of it,” said McConville. “But we have to turn up ready. We have to turn up ready to be in a fight. If we don’t, then the score could be anything.”
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