Longford senior football manager Jack Sheedy has again called on the Leinster Council to make Dublin to play more games away from Croke Park.
Sheedy’s Longford side put in a stirring fightback performance to claim a 0-16 to 0-13 victory over Offaly in their Leinster Senior Football Championship first-round tie at O’Connor Park in Tullamore on Saturday.
That result earned Longford a quarter-final with Dublin at Croke Park but Sheedy believes that it’s high-time that the league champions were made to play outside of Dublin 3.
Sheedy, who won four Leinster titles and an All-Ireland medal during his time as a Dublin player told RTÉ Sport: “I really think that Dublin should be taken out of Croke Park but that’s an issue for the Leinster Council.
“I know that Jim [Gavin] and Mike Deegan and the players would be happy to go outside Croke Park. They would have no fear because they have that strength within their squad.
“I think it would be far more beneficial both for Dublin and the game in Leinster. We’re looking at Leinster for the last 10 years probably and Dublin have been untouchable since Westmeath beat us back in 2004.
“It would be beneficial for the game, I think it would be better to have Dublin out of Croke Park and I think it would create a slightly more level playing field.”
Sheedy did, however, acknowledge the financial realities that have kept Dublin in headquarters during the Leinster Championships but believes that could be offset but the attraction and novelty of having them on the road.
“[Dublin] are the standard bearers, they’re the Manchester United of Gaelic football in terms of the attraction that they bring to the game and to have that going around the province is a fantastic seller for all the kids not just in terms of Dublin but in the provincial venues.
“Everybody loves to see Dublin coming because they bring a fanfare and a bit of razzmatazz to the occasion on match days.
“We’re realistic too, there’s a financial aspect to it that the majority of grounds outside of Croke Park can’t cater to the travelling numbers.
"If Dublin did go to Tullamore or Navan or Portlaoise, they would bring 30,000 perhaps 40,000 and most of the stadiums can’t cater for that.”
"We’re going to have a good cut at this’ and see where it takes us"
Sheedy’s thoughts now turn to trying to plot a major upset against the Dubs and while he believes he has a few tricks up his sleeves, the Longford manager ruled out wholesale changes to the way his side play.
“There are more experienced managers that me who have tried valiantly and failed to get the tactics right against Dublin. It’s all well thinking about strategy and tactics but you have to have the resources to do that too.
“To do what Donegal do for instance, that takes a long time and in a period of two weeks between now and the 31st that’s not a realistic time to be able to put something into place that’s drastically removed from what we’ve done all year.
“We do what we do and it we try to do it to the best of our ability so that’s all we can concern ourselves with really. If you wanted to set-up a strategy or tactic to stop Dublin, you’d have to have 15 players equally as good as you have in Dublin.
“We’ll try to get our house in order, we’ll try and get all our skill-sets right and get our heads in a place where we say ‘right, we’re going to have a good cut at this’ and see where it takes us.”
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