Mick Bohan’s Dubs look stronger than ever this year – Lyndsey Davey

Dublin have been moving ominously, beating both Mayo and Kildare in their All-Ireland group stage clashes and will return to action on Saturday week when they face Galway in an All-Ireland quarter-final at Parnell Park.

And Davey points out that with the return of some important players, not least Sinéad Goldrick, who has been playing in the AFLW in recent seasons, Dublin are in rude health.

“With Dublin this year, they seem stronger than ever,” Davey said. “They were very lucky getting Sinéad Goldrick back. Olwen Carey is back in the fold. Jess Tobin is back from doing her cruciate last year, so they have gone from strength to strength.”

Davey pointed to Kerry – who were beaten in the last two All-Ireland finals – as another side capable of going all the way, while Armagh also impressed her this season, though, she describes the loss of Aimee Mackin to a knee injury as “monumental”.

Bohan guided Dublin to a fifth All-Ireland title during his reign in 2023, with Davey labelling last year’s win as one of his “biggest achievements”.

“I think no one gave them a chance last year. At the beginning of the year, no one thought they’d be in contention, but they were so smart in how they planned the year, they just timed it to perfection.

“It was probably one of Mick’s biggest achievements, what he did with the team last year. And again Sami [Dowling S&C coach] has the girls back in again and they seem to be stronger and fitter than ever and will be serious contenders this year again.”

Some 34 Irish players are set to play in this year’s AFLW competition. To this point, Australian clubs have been open to accommodating players who wanted to play both codes, but Davey isn’t sure how much longer that will last.

“I said this years ago that it was always going to come to a point where girls were going to have to choose. And are you going to lose them from the game if they decide [to go]?

“I can understand the opportunity. I think if I was offered that and was 10 years younger, you’d 100pc see the attraction to go.

“At the moment, it hasn’t been as damaging, look at Jen Dunne, she still came back to play. Vikki [Wall] is different, she went off to the rugby. Aimee Mackin and Bláithín were over. Imagine the likes of them not playing with Armagh if they weren’t allowed.

“If you were to miss all those players not playing championship here, it would be an awful loss to our game,” concluded Davey.