Feeling the blues: Can Dessie Farrell lift Dublin out of its slump?
It’s a strange kind of crisis that puts pressure on a manager for failing to win a football All-Ireland, but the collapse in Dublin’s form has been abrupt and shocking, and as a consequence the pressure is building on Dessie Farrell and his team.
It's easy to forget it now, but at around 6.40pm on Saturday, August 14 — a little more than six months ago — Dublin seemed to be comfortably on course for their seventh Sam Maguire in a row.
They were six points up against Mayo at half-time and cruising. The transition from the all-conquering manager Jim Gavin to his replacement Dessie Farrell seemed to have been a titanic success.
Then something happened that has left ...
