by Paddy Hickey
Longford manager Denis Connerton has described Dublin as the "Real Madrid of football" ahead of his side's forthcoming Leinster semi-final clash.
Of course, the Spanish giants claimed their third Champions' League title in a row, and their 13th success overall, when they defeated Liverpool 3-1 in the recent final of the competition.
And in the wake of their shock quarter-final win over Meath, Longford face the intimidating task of having to square up to Jim Gavin's all-conquering charges at Croke Park on Sunday.
"Dublin are probably one of the greatest teams of this era or any other era," said Connerton when asked about the quality of the team his troops are set to face this weekend.
"And, as far as I can see, they are the Real Madrid of football.
"And you can only stand back and admire the way their brilliant manager, Jim Gavin, is able to let players go from the set-up and bring new players in, and still ensure that the transition is so smooth.
"So we know that we are up against it on Sunday, and that it's a daunting task for any side to have to go to Croke Park and face the All-Ireland champions, who, of course, are going for their fourth All-Ireland title on the trot," added the Longford boss.
And while he was obviously delighted with plotting the dumping of the Royals out of the provincial competition, Connerton insists that his side must considerably improve on their performance against Andy McEntee's charges to have any chance of putting it up to the Dubs.
"We made far too many unforced errors, particularly in the way we frequently turned over the ball during both halves, in the game against Meath," he recalled on the quarter-final contest.
"If we are going to repeat the same mistakes, we may not as well go up to Croke Park on Sunday because Dublin will simply run through us if we keep handing them the ball.
"As everybody knows, the Dublin team possess serious pace and they have the ability to take full advantage of any mistakes that we make during the match.
"Playing down the scale in Division Three, we've got away a lot of the time without being punished when we make mistakes, but it will be a different matter for us playing against the top team in the country.
"As well, Dublin showed in the game against Wicklow that they don't take any opposition lightly, so I'm sure they will also adopt a very serious and methodical approach against us.
"But despite the enormity of the task, our lads are really looking forward to playing the All-Ireland champions, and a lot of them have the experience of playing in Croke Park when we played Dublin in the 2015 Leinster Championship, and playing in the 2010 and 2015 Leinster minor finals," added Connerton.
And a major boost for the Rathcline clubman is that long-term injury victims Liam Connerton, the manager's son, and Sean McCormack will be available for selection, having proved their fitness after coming on as subs near the end of the Meath game.
McCormack, who sustained a quad setback in the second round League game against Derry in February, scored the clinching point in the 0-16 to 0-14 win over the visiting side.
And fellow forward Connerton ruptured both the cruciate and medial ligament in his knee last September, and incidentally underwent surgery on the same day and at the same hospital, Santry Sports Clinic, as Dublin ace Jack McCaffrey who suffered a similar injury.
"Since the Meath game both Sean and Liam have made great advances in their fitness and their football sharpness," revealed Connerton on the attacking duo."
"So they will in contention for places on the team which we may not finalise until Sunday when we see how lads are going in the warm-up before the match.
"The re-availability of Sean and Liam will provide us with a bit of a selection headache, but it's a selection headache I'd love to have before every match."
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