A whole new ball game for the Dubs 

ALL roads will lead to Croke Park this Sunday for what promises to be a mouth-watering All-Ireland Senior Football clash between Dublin and Tyrone. 

Jim Gavin’s star-studded team will, of course, be aiming to take another giant step towards the three-in-a-row and keep Sam in the capital.

However, standing in their way is Mickey Harte’s Tyrone who will present a formidable task for the Boys in Blue. 

It’s fair to say that the All-Ireland champions haven’t been tested since the beginning of their 2017 campaign when they made that rare excursion outside the Pale to take on Carlow in their first match in Leinster. 

The main talking point after that match was, not the scoreline of course, but THAT Diarmuid Connolly incident for which the St Vincent’s star paid the ultimate price

?? a 12-week suspension.

Connolly is available again which is great news for Dublin fans who realise that every piece of arsenal in the team’s armoury will be needed to overcome Tyrone and book a place in the All-Ireland final on the third Sunday in September.

Following that opener, Dublin racked up three more sizeable victories against Westmeath (Leinster semi final), Kildare (Leinster final) and Monaghan (All-Ireland quarter final).

This Sunday it will be a whole new ball, though, and ardent Dublin supporters will hardly need reminding that our last defeat in the championship came at the semi-final stage in 2014.

On that occasion Dublin were ambushed by another Northern team

?? Jim McGuinness’s Donegal. Could it be another county from Ulster that finally dethrones the Dubs?

The Ulster championship is much more competitive than the Leinster championship, though, and Tyrone came through it in impressive fashion seeing off Derry, Donegal and Down before hammering Armagh in an extremely one-sided quarter final.

Dublin and Tyrone fixtures have mostly been tense affairs and on Sunday expect no different. Older fans will remember the battle in Croke Park in the 1995 All-Ireland final when Dublin defeated the Red Hand County 1-10 to 0-12 to lift Sam. A similar result this Sunday will do nicely!

Meanwhile, the Dublin senior women’s team also have a big match this weekend. Mick Bohan’s charges take on Kerry in the TG4 All-Ireland football semi finals on Saturday, August 26. 

Dublin comfortably dispatched Waterford in the quarter final (2-15 to 1-7) and will relish another battle with The Kingdom.  

Dublin captain Sinéad Aherne led the way with 1-9 and St Sylvester’s star Nicole Owens weighed in with 1-4. Dublin lifted the Brendan Martin Cup in 2010 but have suffered heartbreak at the hands of Cork in the last three finals (2014, 2015 and 2016). Can this be their year?