Lee Keegan Has Little Sympathy For Dublin's Two-Year "Famine"

Dublin are All-Ireland champions once again, after victory in a gripping final against Kerry at Croke Park on Sunday.

Going into the game, the two teams were evenly matched, with Dublin seeking to topple the defending champions and return to the winners' circle.

After their run of six All-Ireland titles in a row from 2015 through 2020, Dublin went on to exit the All-Ireland at the semi-final stage in the following two seasons.

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Questions were asked of manager Dessie Farrell - questions he has now certainly answered with Sunday's victory - and of the team as a whole, as the GAA public wondered whether Dublin's time at the top was coming to an end.

Mayo legend Lee Keegan - who went toe-to-toe with the Dubs on many occasions during their run of dominance - has poked fun at Dublin's talk of a "famine" in the aftermath of the game, suggesting that he has little sympathy for their tougher run of things over the past two seasons.

Dublin GAA: Lee Keegan has playful jab at Dubs for "two-year famine"

For Dublin, Sunday's victory marked a ninth All-Ireland title in 13 seasons, a remarkable achievement - especially with three players having been involved in each of those triumphs.

30 July 2023; Dublin nine time All-Ireland medal winners, from left, James McCarthy, Stephen Cluxton and Michael Fitzsimons celebrate after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Many players remarked on the fact that this year's success was the sweetest of the lot, with Dublin proving several doubters wrong this season, after back-to-back exits at the last four.

Lee Keegan, writing in his column for RTÉ Sport, joked that the Dublin players were unlikely to win much sympathy due to the brevity of their barren spell:

Listening to the various post-match interviews, it was clear the two semi-final losses in the past couple of season really hurt them. Combined with the need to protect their manager's honour, they were highly energised.

For a team associated with a near-robotic, process-driven mindset, it was a reminder that sometimes it helps to have a little extra desire and motivation in the tank.

Though I did have to laugh at some of the talk about this hard two years they've had. For enduring that two-year famine, they have all our sympathy.

There was a sense on Sunday afternoon that this could be the last hurrah for many of these Dublin players, with Dean Rock and James McCarthy among those to hint at retirement after claiming yet another All-Ireland medal.

If McCarthy were to be joined in retirement by Rock and the other two nine-time winners in Stephen Cluxton and Mick Fitzsimons, it would mark a huge blow to the depth of the Dublin squad - but Keegan believes that they would still beat "90%" of the teams in Ireland without those players.

Whether manager Dessie Farrell will stay on for another year is another potent question, but it seems clear that, at the very least, Dublin are back firing at the highest level. If they can maintain the level they achieved in 2023, it would be no surprise to see them back in Croke Park on the last weekend of July in 2024.