Shane Ryan has backed his former Dublin football team-mates to make a big impact in this year's championship.

The 2008 All-Star, who has quit Pat Gilroy's squad to play out the remainder of his inter-county career with the Dublin hurlers, believes the reigning Leinster champions have the talent to challenge for All-Ireland honours, despite last year's 17-point drubbing at the hands of Kerry.

"I spoke to my uncle Paddy Gogarty over Christmas and he won a few All-Irelands with Dublin the 70's and they came from absolutely nowhere in '73 to win the All-Ireland in '74," Ryan told the Irish Daily Mirror.

"When you look at teams that are at that low ebb and go to the top, Dublin are not that low. There are quality players there and they just need the bit of luck that we haven't had over the last few years.

"An awful lot of successful teams will always have the spine of an experienced team and then you get the freshness of new players coming in. There was a good few new players blooded last year, the likes of Paul Flynn, Ger Brennan coming into the team and they've got a year's experience under their belts now and maybe a bit of new freshness with other fellas coming in.

"There's still a lot of quality there and I'd still be confident they could do a lot of damage in the championship."

Ryan admits that he faces a big challenge to regain his hurling sharpness after an eight-year break from the small ball code.

"It'll be a big challenge but that's why you play the game, for the challenge," he added.

"The challenge at this stage is to try to get up to speed with every other player and that's still a bit away I think. It's a very young squad and that's one of the positives they have. They're not lacking in confidence."



Sure do they not say this every year since 96?

Dellboypolecat (Tyrone) - Posts: 15069 - 11/01/2010 19:09:48    530297

ye and i am sure tyrone where saying that for 125 years and only winning 3 all irelands

delboydub (Dublin) - Posts: 665 - 11/01/2010 19:58:49    530343

Delboy takes on Delboy. Schizophrenia?

omaghredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 3656 - 11/01/2010 20:05:43    530351

Dublin for sam if Cavan don't win it!

beer baron (Cavan) - Posts: 3916 - 11/01/2010 20:17:35    530369

beer baron
County: Cavan
Posts: 2648

530369
Dublin for sam if Cavan don't win it!

lol..

Dellboypolecat (Tyrone) - Posts: 15069 - 11/01/2010 20:23:10    530375

11/01/2010 20:05:43
omaghredhand
County: Tyrone
Posts: 1089

530351
Delboy takes on Delboy. Schizophrenia?
_________

Wait til ta32 gets involved.

nocky (Wexford) - Posts: 2059 - 11/01/2010 20:27:22    530383

here we go , the dubs are back,lol.

ta32 (Tyrone) - Posts: 4907 - 11/01/2010 20:58:32    530443

a big year 4 the dubs is winning leinster, god love them

ta32 (Tyrone) - Posts: 4907 - 11/01/2010 20:59:40    530446

Ah yes! The usual Tyrone bitterness! A sad little bunch really!

PJ (None) - Posts: 2288 - 12/01/2010 09:40:49    530598

Snide remarks aside, dbpc is right, Dublin players do say it every year
But we got to stay optimistic regardless of how the last 2 years have panned out
No point in Shane coming out saying we're rubbish and we're never going to win another Sam
Its a soundbite interview in January, wouldn't read too much into it

NavyNBlue (Dublin) - Posts: 1357 - 12/01/2010 10:19:51    530620

Can't see us doing much this year. Hope Shane is right but I'm not convinced......

dubupnorth (Dublin) - Posts: 1897 - 12/01/2010 10:33:28    530628

Down for the Anglo-celt!!!

Down_man94 (Down) - Posts: 90 - 12/01/2010 10:33:54    530630

omaghredhand
County: Tyrone
Posts: 1090

530351 Delboy takes on Delboy. Schizophrenia
-------------------------
My money's on Delboy!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 12/01/2010 12:53:17    530773

Cant see it this year in all honesty but they still have 4 years left of my 5 year plan to win it, and I hope they do..............so long as its not at our expense!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 12/01/2010 12:55:19    530776

In fairness to Ryan he was hardly gonna come out and predict a bad year for them so who knows what he really thinks. On an aside, I admire the way he was brave enough to walk away from football, after the humiliating way he was treated last year, to take up hurling. Hope it works out well for him...

Blue.Steel (Longford) - Posts: 138 - 12/01/2010 15:00:21    530909

PJ
County: All
Posts: 1539

530598
Ah yes! The usual Tyrone bitterness! A sad little bunch really

No not sad but why dont dublin buckle down this year without interviews and try and get up there again and claim sam.

Dellboypolecat (Tyrone) - Posts: 15069 - 12/01/2010 15:12:17    530927

us in dublin see gaa a little bit bigger than just one or two teams delllboy and when we sit back and have a look at it we had a great year we only had one bad defeat and we get over that as for interviews well i think that is the pot calling the kettle black there coming from someone from tyrone

hipster (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 12/01/2010 16:55:23    531101

hipster

You see that is where your wrong tyrone players are not in the paper everyday of nearly every week like dublin players and that is a fact .

Dellboypolecat (Tyrone) - Posts: 15069 - 12/01/2010 16:58:09    531105

Sorry but where does Ryan actually predict this will be a big year for the Dubs. Actual quotes are "There's still a lot of quality there and I'd still be confident they could do a lot of damage in the championship." He's hardly predicting Sam is coming back to the capital. Another example of the press or Dellboy in this case hyping up the hype

bubba83 (Dublin) - Posts: 333 - 12/01/2010 17:15:41    531144

The season hasn't yet started and already some Dubs are threatening to do X, Y and Z. Will they NEVER learn to just shut up, get down to basics and let the Dublin team find it's own level? This has gone on for years and is the biggest obstacle to Dublin getting anywhere because inevitably some Dublin players and fans start believing the overhype and get caught up in the media circus that follows. Then when the traditional fall and hammerings come from better teams the Dubs all look at each other in disbelief and ask "Doh, what happened der" as the newspapers and media laugh all the way to big sales and TV ratings boasted by naive Dublin fans. The same thing is starting to happen with the Dublin hurling team now.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9825 - 12/01/2010 17:22:37    531157