I would be expect Dublin to beat any of the above, possibly with the exception of Galway.
Anyway - time will tell.
probably fair, but thats because even now its a three horse race.
Anyway - the wider point I made earlier still stands. Football is just not competitive. There are, each year, only two or three teams capable of winning. Leinster isnt a proper competition. IMHO even a weak Dublin team is ahead of the rest of the province, last year was an outlier but I still think thats true. Dublin beath Louth easily, will do same with Westmeath and then same again with Louth. Its just not worth going to watch. Lets revisit this after they play Louth and Westmeath.
The hurling on the other hand….
It's a one horse race me thinks , Kerry are up there on there own , 87 Munster titles now that's what you would call , " it's not a proper competition" .
But us winning a load of Leinster titles in a row makes people complain but they all ignore Munster
What winds me up whatever about Dublin’s lack of two pointers . Why don’t they get ball into the forwards quicker and run with the ball? That to me is when Dublin look dangerous. Running at teams get Bugler on the ball, Basquel.
Instead they seem to focus on defensive structure, and do loads of sideways and backwards stuff. It’s starting to annoy me at this stage. Because it seems to be a definite pattern. I wonder is it a planned tactic or is it the players afraid to take any risks ?
Its a low risk keep possession tactic with Dublin. There afraid of turnovers.
ah no, I think Armagh could beat them, possibly Donegal also.
No one beating that Kerry team 😞
Donegal will beat them in next round.
I say that as a Kerry man.
Too many players injured or not match fit.
Donegal are at peak condition except maybe Langan.
Kerry might beat them later in the summer if they get players back and fit. That's assuming they get through. Lots of potential banana skins en route.
Hey, only Dublin cute hoorism is allowed on this thread.
Nobody stopping that Kerry team this year , in a knock out game that matters .
We'll have to wait and see I guess but if I was a betting man, I'd put a big bet on Donegal in next game.
Easy money.
Donegal are at peak condition with no injuries and have 3 weeks of training and preparation.
Kerry might be a different proposition later in the summer though but there's no guarantee that injured players will be back and they won't have enough time to get fit.
As i said in games that matter , no one will touch Kerry, they have the squad to deal with injuries, Sam is staying in Kerry, if your a betting man bet big on Kerry winning the All Ireland .
According to Boylesports, Football & Hurling are similarly competitive:
Kerry 13/8
Donegal 9/2
Armagh 11/2
Galway 11/1
Dublin 12/1
Limerick 11/10
Cork 9/4
Galway 7/1
Clare 11/1
Tipperary 12/1
Will Dublin be feeling the pressure in this Leinster final - expected to win etc? Westmeath won't have any expectations from the general GAA fan anyway.
I was having a look at the Dublin team that lost to Westmeath in that Leinster QF 2004.
Bryan Murphy
Barry Cahill, Paddy Christie, Paul Griffin
Shane Ryan, Darren Magee, Peadar Andrews
Ciaran Whelan (captain), Darren Homan
Conal Keaney, Bryan Cullen (0-1), Colin Moran (0-1)
Alan Brogan (0-4), Jason Sherlock (0-4), Senan Connell (0-2, 2f)
Subs used: Ray Cosgrove for Keaney; Coman Goggins for Homan (inj.); Declan Lally for Cullen; Tomás Quinn for Moran.
:-:
Sure Dublin had a Kerryman in goal - that was a bad omen for a start!
All the same I was thinking if that Dublin line up played the current Dublin team. That 04 team would beat the 26 team. Would clean them out in midfield.
Blast from the past. Shane Ryan , the man who could run all day and past anyone but couldnt shoot. I used to goto Parnell park when you could watch the dubs train and I could never understand why the Dublin management didn’t work on a strategy to always have somebody near the end of Shane Ryan’s runs to get the ball off him to shoot.
He could run through entire teams like Jack McCaffrey. Whelan arguably the best player of his generation to not win an AI. Cosgrave never recovered from that miss (was it Tyrone ?)
No Armagh
Armagh 2002 AI SF - I remember after one AI club final back when it was on St Patricks Day. We wandered out on the pitch having a look at the perspective in Croke Park. My auld fella (who is not a Dub) had great craic finding the spot where Cosgrave missed the free from. I said "Jayus how did he miss that?" And the auld fella said "I think you can see the post still shaking".
Sorry, I won’t bring it up again Ray…
yes but you forgot they beat Galway dublin and Kerry in championship last year , I think it will be a while before another team does that
I have a suspicion that a lot of people are overplaying how good Louth are, fair enough tgey won Leinster last year, mostly though some dubious calls on day by referee, who let’s face it were always going to get 50:50 after 2010 especially playing Meath and Meath team being very young and naive, they rely on a lot of place balls and if they don’t get rub of green off refs they usually are in trouble to score much. They still haven’t beaten a county that’s top8 in championship over the past 3 seasons.
No havent forgotten that; however two of those were not knockout games so personally I just dont think they matter hugely.
Just as probably Westmeath beating Meath in Leinster doesnt matter hugely.
The Galway game was a big scalp, but I think the way they were beaten by Donegal after that was equally an indicator of where they are.
In a wider sense, thats kind of the problem with the football championship - there are too many games that really dont matter, they arent part of a league format (like say in the hurling), they arent knockout…what are they.
In the hurling - if Offaly beats Wexford, or if Clare beats Tipp - hypothetically, those are really really big results in the context of who makes an all Ireland semi final. In football, if Westmeath beats Meath……. yeah great for Westmeath but for Meath its doesnt really matter. Just as for Kerry when they lost to Meath last year.
Ok thats all fair.
But when I say competitive - what I mean is, there are more competitive games AND they are games of consequence. Take Waterford; they are nowhere near the top of that list but
(i) they have been really competitive in every game they've played; they lost to last years all Ireland champs by a point.
(ii) More to the point, every game they play matters.
Thats not true of the football championship, until much later in the competition.
In fact, going back to it - the odds in the hurling reflect the games that have happened already. Cork and Limerick are favourites because they are winning out in Munster. And Galway third, because they beat Kilkenny.
Tipp are all Ireland champs, but they are 5th favourites because they lost to Cork. They have much harder route now. (I cant work out though why Clare are ahead of them though).
Whereas in football, the top 5 list is as it was at the start of the year. Donegal are second favourites, they've lost a game but it made no difference to their odds. If they lose to Kerry they will still be second favourites then. Likewise Galway.
So I think those odds dont tell the full picture. If you looked at the odds for hurling at the start of the championship, thats not how it would have looked (well i dont think anyway - stand to be corrected).
No hurling discussion here at all….?
Not sure your point here really stacks up - Limerick lost to Cork and are still almost even money favourites sure.
IMO, both championships have a couple of teams who can realistically win it and also a decent chunk of other teams who are unlikely to win it but could easily take out one of the favourites
Here is some for ya. GAA mammy’s GAA pedigree is integral to Dublin hurling !
I just found out that John Heslin will be back on the Westmeath panel before the Leinster Final.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2026/0512/1573047-heslin-set-for-dramatic-westmeath-return-reports/
No need for Westmeath to take it that seriously, give us a chance !
Heslin thing is crazy stuff smells of panic and no faith in their subs. Dublin will win by 10 points heslin or no heslin
Brian Fenton (who knows Heslin from UCD) has a theory that Heslin won’t play any part in the Final. But that Heslin is being used to replicate Con O’Callaghan in training -
https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2026/0513/1573182-fenton-suspects-heslin-helping-westmeath-to-prep-for-con/
“Immediately the thing that comes to mind with John Heslin is maybe they brought him in to replicate a Dublin player. Maybe they brought him in because he's big and strong and powerful to replicate a potential Con O'Callaghan or something like that. Just something different.”
There was little pressure in those games, the two games that really mattered they lost especially not beating Louth,Donegal was a step up even if they were well beaten but they should have had enough to get over Louth who were or are not a great team by any means .
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