SEáN CAVANAGH: IT MAY BE TIME TO TAKE DUBLIN OUT OF LEINSTER CHAMPIONSHIP

Seán Cavanagh has suggested it may be time to take Dublin out of the Leinster senior football championship, given their total domination of what he labelled a “pitiful” eastern province.

Tyrone’s three-time All-Ireland winner was scathing in his assessment of Meath’s latest collapse to the Sky Blue behemoth, in yesterday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final. But he also stressed that it was part of a trend that has seen all competitiveness erased from a once-fiercely contested championship.

"Meath showed no belief, you never felt like Meath were ever in the game," he said on last night’s Sunday Game.

"I know you say they were competitive for 40 minutes - no, they weren't. Well, I didn’t feel they were, I thought they were gone after 15.

"It almost feels as if it’s getting worse. It’s pitiful, the Leinster championship at this stage, there’s no competitiveness. You almost start to ask what’s the point?

"Offaly had a great win (on Saturday night), but they go on to play Dublin now and you feel sorry for them because no one has a chance."

Dublin had won their previous eight SFC contests against Meath by an average margin of 11.5 points; yesterday they went even further, eventually cantering home by 3-19 to 0-12.

But Colm O’Rourke’s Royals are scarcely the outlier. Dublin have won 13 consecutive Leinster titles, and 18 of the last 19. Their last defeat in the province was a 5-9 to 0-13 tanking by Meath in 2010 – a semi-final result that seemed surreal at the time now reads like a truly bizarre happening from a different era.

Hence the need, Cavanagh suggested, for a drastic solution.

"You look at what they’ve done in hurling and you start to think, okay, the Leinster championship might be a great championship if Dublin weren’t there," he told RTÉ viewers.

"Maybe if they were in Munster or they were in Ulster or Connacht, at least we’d have a championship.

"It just feels that in such a condensed season we spend so much time, precious time, in championship mode playing games that are non-events – and today typified that."

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2024-04-15T08:25:10Z dg43tfdfdgfd