Three league defeats from four has marked a tricky start for Dublin manager Ger Brennan, but the lack of new faces emerging from the shadows is of greater concern, says former player Ciarán Whelan.
On Saturday night Kerry arrested their poor run of results away to the metropolitans with a comfortable six-point victory at Croke Park.
In truth, the margin flattered the hosts, who laboured for large parts, with a Ó Cofaigh Byrne goal five minutes from time putting a better gloss on the scoreline.
The result means the Dubs join winless Monaghan in the Division 1 relegation zone and Brennan's rebuilding job after the departure of some of their greatest servants continues.
Brennan has insisted that his primary concern over the course of the league campaign is to unearth new players, with more than 130 players evaluated prior to Christmas in a number of trials.
Whelan was involved in those trials to scout talent across the county, one of four managers of development teams assembled, and while the two-time All-Star believes there are quality players to choose from, replacing what has gone before them is an almost impossible task.
Even allowing for that, the league thus far hasn’t shed any further light on whether the Dubs will be an improved outfit from the one that relinquished its Leinster domination and bowed out meekly at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage.
"Ger has to find players, he’s lost so much talent," Whelan told the RTÉ GAA podcast. "There are a lot of quality players at the same level.
"You are hoping that some of those players will step through. The disappointment so far this year is that we are not here talking about a couple of new Dublin players. That is the underlying concern. That’s where the challenge lies for Ger.
"I am on record, going back a few years ago, that we didn’t have Con O’Callaghans, Jack McCaffreys, coming through."
Reflecting on the loss to Kerry, Whelan admitted it was tough viewing in a game that lacked any real atmosphere.
"It was a difficult watch, very slow paced game, probably a terrible spectacle for the 25,000 that went in there," he said.
"It lacked atmosphere. That is something further down the line, that if the attendances are not there, they are going to have to look at it.
"I thought at times there was a lack of energy, particularly in attack. They didn’t put pace into the attack, they didn’t attack from deep," adding that while the late goal injected some hope – it reduced the gap to three points – a positive result would have been "daylight robbery" on the overall balance of play.
"Ger will want to get the level of performance higher."
Watch Kildare v Meath in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 6.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Allianz League Sunday from 9.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
