Dubs look to answer the Roar for Four
THE ROAR for four will be deafening when Jim Gavin’s troops take to the Croke Park pitch for this Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final against Tyrone.
The three-in-a-row champions will be looking to maintain their remarkable run that has seen the Sam Maguire taken to Dublin five times since 2011.
Templeogue Synge Street's Niall Scully
While they will be favourites to bring it home again this weekend, Tyrone will be hungry for an All-Ireland upset.
Certainly there is no shortage of motivation for Mickey Harte’s men with a desire to atone for their 12-point hammering by the Blues in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final stoking the flames of intent.
They did run Dublin a lot closer when they met again in this year’s Super 8s in July, going down by just three points despite pressing heavily late on.
The deficit might have been even smaller had Ronan O’Neill been more accurate with the late free won by Tiernan McCann.
Nevertheless, Tyrone will be encouraged by this performance and will feel they can serve up a big surprise in the All-Ireland showpiece.
Dublin’s strength ’n’ depth has been key to their success in recent years and it is sure to prove an important factor again as they look to extend their unbeaten run in championship football that stretches back to 2014.
In their 1-24 to 2-12 victory over Galway in the penultimate rounds, both Cormac Costello and St Jude’s man Kevin McManamon fired over five points between them after being sprung from the bench.
It is that ability to replace quality with quality that has kept Dublin apart from the chasing pack and could again prove the decisive factor in Sunday’s decider.
Templeogue Synge Street’s Niall Scully has enjoyed a very good campaign this year, bagging his first championship goal when he registered a well-taken brace against Donegal in the Super 8s.
They were crucial scores for the Blues who were struggling to shake off a tenacious Donegal in that fixture from which the holders emerged 2-15 to 0-16 winners.
Another player who will be hoping to figure strongly this weekend is Ballyboden St Enda’s midfielder Michael Darragh Macauley.
The 2013 Footballer of the Year has been in and out of the starting line-up in recent games this season, but provides Dublin with a physical presence and huge impetus to their attack.
While they have been run close by the likes of Donegal and Tyrone this summer, Dublin have weathered these tests and many believe they can do it again.
Tyrone, however, are capable of causing some serious problems for Dublin with players the calibre of Mattie Donnelly, Peter Harte, Lee Brennan and Niall Sludden.
Chalking up some 16 goals and 154 points over their nine outings in the championship this season underscores Tyrone’s attacking potential.
They do have some of that experience necessary for a big day like this with the likes of Colm Cavanagh having helped the O’Neill County to All-Ireland success in 2008.
Defender Cathal McCarron was also part of that squad, but an untimely knee injury has effectively ruled him out for this weekend.
Dublin have demonstrated impressive flair and true grit when called for this season.
An 18-point demolition of Laois saw them complete their march to an eighth Leinster Championship title in succession back in June and they have continued to clear every hurdle en route to the final.
They boast quality in every position on the pitch and another boost for Gavin will be the availability of defender Cian O’Sullivan who took a knock and had to be withdrawn in the first half of their semi-final against Galway.
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