GAA Digest: Dublin sees off Meath challenge

Dublin captain Bryan Cullen has issued an All-Ireland title defense rallying cry in the wake of his team’s latest Leinster final success.

Cullen led by example as Dublin held off a late Meath revival before sealing their expected 2-13 to 1-13 win over their neighbors at Croke Park on Sunday.

Ahead by 10 points at one stage, Dublin did let the Royals back into it in a poor final quarter, but Cullen believes there is more to come from this team ahead of the All-Ireland quarterfinals.

He said afterwards, “I see it as a stepping stone, to be honest with you. We always said we wanted to be back in the All-Ireland quarterfinal.

“We always wanted to go the most direct route possible so we are happy enough. I don’t really count

Leinster medals. I’d be disappointed not to have more of a return in an All-Ireland level, to be honest with you.”

Cullen was quick to praise Meath for their efforts on the day.

He added, “We would have liked to have closed it out a little bit better but all credit to Meath. It would have been easy for them to put their heads down but they kept at us and showed great spirit.

Meath boss Seamus McEnaney insisted afterwards that his team will be ready to face Laois in the qualifiers on Saturday.

“There’s a myth or fact or whatever about this six-day turnaround, but I can tell you one thing this group of players is going to test that,” he said.
 
DONGEAL players and management have set their sights on the All-Ireland title after securing back to back Ulster titles with Sunday’s 2-18 to 0-13 win over Down in Clones.

Manager Jim McGuinness said after the emphatic victory, “You have to believe that you can win the All-Ireland title, of course you do. If you didn’t believe it there would be no point even entering the competition.

“So you do believe you can win it, but we’ve never gone for that. We didn’t believe at the start of the year that we were going to win Ulster.”

Down boss James McCartan knows it will be difficult to pick his team up for Saturday’s All-Ireland football qualifier against Tipperary.

He said, “The six-day turnaround is well documented, not too many people agree with it and they’ve agreed to change it for next year. That might come a bit too late for us, but we’ve six days to turn around a disappointed dressing room.”
 
Kerry Wins
COLM Gooch Cooper is convinced Kerry are ready to make a real charge at the All-Ireland football title after seeing off the Tyrone challenge in Killarney last Saturday night by a score of 1-16 to 1-6.
The win marked Kerry’s first victory over a Tyrone side managed by Mickey Harte and avenged a series of recent defeats to the Ulstermen.

Clare are next up for the Kingdom in the fourth round of the All-Ireland qualifiers this Saturday night, with Cooper adamant his team have turned their season around after exiting the Munster championship at the hands of Cork.

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Nster.com