Key elements to watch for as the Allianz National Football League kicks off this weekend
By Peter McNamara
Losing to Longford in the semi-final of the O’Byrne Cup went down like a lead balloon within the Dublin camp.
No disrespect to Longford however, Dublin were miffed at their performance, one which yielded a miserly 0-7 in open play.
Can anybody remember when last Dublin managed just 0-9 in total in any match in any competition?
With that in mind, you can rest assured Dublin’s attitude will be spot on for their League opener against Kerry.
And particularly that of the players who appreciate that showing their worth against the likes of the Kingdom should not go unnoticed.
There has been a lot of talk recently about Con O’Callaghan among others.
However, players such as Tomás Brady will equally feel they can raise an eyebrow or two courtesy of an eye-catching performance.
Brady began the loss to Longford at wing-forward and chipped in with 0-1.
The Na Fianna operator is equally adept at midfield and so will probably drop in as a third man in the middle-third in periods of this game too, especially given the potential dominance of David Moran and Johnny Buckley in that sector.
Opportunity knocks for Brady and co.
Peadar Healy, for his first League game in charge of Cork, has named Daniel Goulding, Peter Kelleher and Brian Hurley in his inside line to meet Mayo at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday.
And the dynamic of this front-line of attack could give the westerners’ a plethora of problems on Leeside.
Éire Óg’s Goulding has been performing thus far this season as if he has something to prove.
For the record, he absolutely does not have anything to prove at this level.
However, his displays in the McGrath Cup suggest Goulding could have an incredibly productive League campaign from a scoring perspective in particular.
Kelleher, a youngster from Kilmichael, should act as a perfect focal point of said forward line.
Kelleher’s found the net in the pre-season tournament and his aerial ability may ensure the Rebels are extremely direct on Sunday.
He is a solid operator and will be determined to utilise this opportunity to the best of his ability, obviously.
Hurley, too, has thrived in the secondary competition before, most notably in the 2014 campaign and will be eager to enjoy Cork’s opener.
As a trio, though, there is balance in this line.
If there is one man in Croke Park on Saturday night hell-bent on driving into proceedings it’ll surely be Darran O’Sullivan.
The Glenbeigh-Glencar clubman has been named at No 11 by Éamonn Fitzmaurice and his pace will trouble Dublin.
Essentially, O’Sullivan was under-utilised in a sense last season and will feel the need to hit the ground running at headquarters.
What will be most interesting though is how he dovetails with Tommy Walsh, named at full-forward.
If, and this is a big if, Fitzmaurice intends to primarily situate Walsh in this position in 2016 then we may see O’Sullivan dropping into areas whereby he can send diagonal balls in the direction of the Kerins O’Rahilly’s attacker.
O’Sullivan has the scope and knack of bombing testing deliveries into the heart of any defence with accuracy and menace and we may see this tactic implemented by the Kingdom on this occasion.
Additionally, we are all aware of how effective O’Sullivan is when careering towards the posts via darting runs centrally.
Flanked by Stephen O’Brien and the irrepressible Donnchadh Walsh, O’Sullivan should be given licence to roam, especially allowing for the energy his wing-forwards possess in spades.
