Current Longford manager and former Dublin midfielder Jack Sheedy says moving Dublin out of Croke Park for provincial championship games would re-energise Leinster.
It's an old chestnut at this stage, an issue which surfaces every few months - possibly due to the blatant unfairness of the current system. It is now nine years since Dublin played a championship match outside of Jones' Road. You can read about that here.
Sheedy says that Dublin players and supporters would welcome the move more than anyone.
Sheedy played for Dublin in the early 90s, a period when the Dubs secured four Leinster titles in a row (92-95), albeit in a much less emphatic manner than the 2011-14 crop. Back then, Dublin frequently left the environs of Croke Park.
He told Martin Breheny in the Irish Independent:
I was on teams that played at various venues around Leinster and the lads always enjoyed it immensely.. It was great to pull into Tullamore, Portlaoise, Wexford or wherever and see the Dublin supporters crowding along the streets.
Dublin have won nine of the last ten Leinster championships and trends at underage level indicate their dominance will become even more pronounced in the next few years.
Sheedy contends that smaller teams in Leinster, many of who seem cowed when taking on the Dubs in Croker and have shipped unmerciful beatings as a result, would attack the fixture with much more confidence if it took place in their own ground.
