No All Ireland in Caffrey's Dubs

Back from a few days away in Donegal but the shadow boxing in the championship has all but come to an end and at last we are getting a clearer picture of who will be in the mix come the end of the season.
Watched the Dubs with great interest yesterday and it's clear that they are struggling despite pulling the game out of the fire against Westmeath in the second half.
I think if anything Dublin have gone backwards this season.
Paul Caffrey should have called it a day at the start of the year and on the evidence of everything I have seen so far I still believe he made the wrong decision to give it one more year.
The Dublin defence is there for the taking by any good attack.
Westmeath were almost totally reliant on Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon to do the damage and if they had have had a little more composure in the team they would have seen Dublin off.
For all the hype about Bryan Cullen's performance yesterday I wasn't over impressed with his defending and he is not the answer at centre half back.
The full back line were almost taken to the cleaners in the first 20 minutes and midfield is still a weakness. Neither Whelan or Shane Ryan have a 70 minute game in them, and Eamon Fennell has promise but not much more.
Up front Alan Brogan was exposed as being very limited by the tight marking of John Keane and while Brogan will always give you 100 per cent it's not enough at the top level, I think he is hugely over rated.
Jayo still shows the odd flash of brilliance but he's not capable of conducting the orchestra from centre three quarters, he couldn't do it when he was younger and fitter and he can't do it now at the top level.
He should at this stage of his career be an impact sub or be playing as close to goal as possible where his intelligence and craft can still unlock a defence.
Mossie Quinn and Colm Keaney are average players and struggle against packed defences and for the life of me I just don't see an All Ireland in this team.
And as for Caffrey himself he seems to lack the tactical nous of the top managers and you get the feeling with Dublin that unless they run all over the top of with you with strength and fitness that there isn't an awful lot more.
They should still win Leinster but Wexford will give them a run for their money.

Dolan's class stands out from the pack

The Leinster game tonight between Offaly and Westmeath probably says everything about the state of the game in the province.
The first half was dreadful, error ridden and the some of the shooting was simply awful.
Westmeath have been criticised too of late for playing the 'Ulster' way.
That's about the fact tht they bring players back behind the ball in a effort to deny their opponents' space.
I have to laugh at the purists getting on their high horse about this type of football.
To me it's very simple, when you lose the ball you work hard to get it back again making it as difficult as possible for the opposition to score against you.
If this type of tactic was simply negative then I would be among the first to condemn it.
However, the best sides in Ulster, and now also Kerry and others, also know that by dropping players back that there are more opportunities for good half backs to break forward and for clever players like McGuigan, Dooher, Galvin and Brosnan to carry the ball forward.
The so-called Ulster style only works too when you have good forwards who can do the business.
Tyrone had Canavan, O'Neill and Mulligan up front while Armagh had Clarke, McDonnell and Marsden. As for the Kingdom Donaghy, the Gooch, Mike Frank and a choice of two to three others was also very tasty.
There is no substitute for class no matter how hard or how ugly you work and tonight Westmeath's Dessie Dolan stood out from the pack.
He took three points from play in the second half which were out of the top drawer helping his side draw away from Offaly at a crucial stage of the game.
Westmeath are an honest, hard working team which play to their strengths.
They are lacking in class however apart from Dolan but their high energy game will make them hard to beat.
They would probably relish the challenge of playing the Dubs in the semis as a match against the Metropolitans is always a big occasion.
Although the city side will be favourites to win tomorrow Louth will fancy their chances of putting it up to a weakened Dublin team.
If Louth can come through Westmeath would fancy their chances of a second Leinster title.

Faithful captain should get on with the job

Offaly captain Ger Rafferty has had a go at the county's football supporters before today's Leinster quarter final with Westmeath.
I think it all sounds a little pathetic going on about the so-called supporters and about how few actually travelled earlier in the year to their games against Antrim and others.
All a bit reminiscent of John Maughan giving out about the Roscommon support earlier in the year just before he resigned.
Fans are entitled to be critical of their county team, just because we desperately want them to win doesn't mean that we have to have no negative opinions about how they are playing.
Offaly football has gone backwards since Seamus Darby's late goal ended Kerry's five in a row dreams back in 1982 and the county has had little to cheer about other than a Leinster title win 11 years ago,
Football has been eclipsed by hurling in the Faithful County and despite what Ger Rafferty might feel about how the team is playing I think they might be in for even more criticism after tonight's game against Westmeath.
Ger should concentrate on getting the best out of his team mates rather than wasting time complaining that the fans are not happy with the football they are playing.
Go on Ger, give them something to cheer about.