McEniff feels Dublin need to raise game

Former Donegal manager Brian McEniff believes Dublin still have plenty of work to do if they are to reach the All-Ireland Football Championship final.

McEniff praised the Dubs for recovering from a poor performance against Wexford and the loss to Meath in the Leinster Senior Championship.

Dublin will tackle Cork after seeing off Tyrone on Saturday and McEniff warns there is still a long road ahead for Pat Gilroy's men.

McEniff told Morning Ireland: ‘It is amazing. They’re physically very strong. I actually observed them in the tunnel beforehand last weekend and I was quite amazed at the size of the team. They are playing with a swagger that wasn’t there before for some time.

‘They’ve a lot of things to tidy up on though as they are giving away a lot of frees and conceding very easy scores. That is something they have to tidy up on as against a team of the calibre of Cork that won’t do.’

McEniff believes the Red Hand will bounce back from the defeat, despite an aging squad.

Asked whether the loss could trigger a number of retirements, McEniff feels Brian Dooher may have played his last inter-county tie.

‘Brian Dooher may be the one that will go because he had a lot of injuries over a period of time.

‘Tyrone amassed 17 wides and that is a lot of wides.

‘That is not like Tyrone generally and if you take it that Eoin Mulligan and Martin Penrose amassed 10 of the 13 points and they scored three points in the last 20 minutes.

‘But Tyrone are far from gone. If you take the provincial championship situation it seems to be creating difficulty. It is something that the Association will have to look at from a provincial Championship point of view.’

Kerry were the other big name to exit the Championship.

Tomas O Se and Paul Galvin were suspended for the surprise defeat to Down after receiving bans from the Central Competitions Control Committee.

Earlier this season there was controversy over whether the media had influenced the GAA over the incidents and McEniff has sympathy for Jack O’Connor

‘I can understand his frustration because Kerry are Kerry and over the last number of years they’ve amassed five All-Irelands.

‘They are constantly in the limelight and that is costing them because other counties are not being penalised to the same degree.

‘Both Kerry lads can put up their hands and say they were entitled to get suspensions but it is the constant exposure.’

Kildare have bounced back from a early defeat in Leinster to finally reach a last-four Championship encounter.

McEniff believes they are very much in contention to lift the Sam Maguire trophy.

‘They’ve moved into the semi-finals nice and quietly, amassing some great scores. They went down to Derry the previous week and racked up a great score.

'They’re an awesome force. They have a very good bench and their work-rate and fitness levels are to be seen to be believed.’