Former Dublin goalkeeper John O'Leary spoke to Kieran Cunningham in today's Irish Daily Star, where he argued that Dublin's dominance of the Leinster Championship owes more to the limitations of their opponents than to any financial and geographical advantages enjoyed by Dublin.
Instead, O'Leary argues that it is the fault of Dublin's opponents in Leinster for failing to remain competitive. He says that the teams should be more focussed on their own work rather than consistently complaining about the advantages enjoyed by Dublin, that: "everyone blames Dublin for the demise of the Leinster Championship, but it's not Dublin's fault. It's the quality of the opposition.
Everyone blames Dublin for the demise of the Leinster Championship, but it's not Dublin's fault. It's the quality of the opposition...
At the end of the day, it's about what you do with them at underage, with clubs and development squads.
To give an indication of the capital's absurd provincial dominance, Dublin have won ten of the last eleven Leinster titles and won their three games in last year's competition by an aggregate of 59 points, scoring 11-56 and conceding just 0-30.
A scan at the National League tables further confirms the poor quality of opposition in Leinster: Dublin will be the only Leinster side in Division One next year, with the nearest sides being Meath and Louth, who are currently propping up Division Two.
O'Leary also disregarded the population advantage Dublin enjoys over the rest of the country, saying that "Dublin still had a big population when they weren't winning anything".
Given the considerable resources available to Dublin to plough into underage development relative to those available to rival Leinster counties, we feel that many will disagree with O'Leary's analysis. In addition to their greater sponsorship potential - an income estimated at €1 million annually - last year Dublin received a massive 47% of the €1.46 million the GAA doled out as grants under the heading of Games Development.
When asked by Cunningham whether Dublin would soon get sick of winning everything, O'Leary replied with a smirk:
I'd turn the question the other way, are other counties getting bored losing?
You can read the interview in full in today's Irish Daily Star.
