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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Eamon Doggett

Westmeath's James Dolan suggests that Dublin be taken out of Leinster Championship

Westmeath player James Dolan has suggested that Dublin should be excluded from the Leinster Championship after their 21 point win over Meath in Saturday's final.

It was a tenth Leinster title in a row for Dublin who were in a different league to the Royals at Croke Park.

And now Dolan, whose Westmeath outfit were on the wrong end of their own Dublin hammering this month, thinks something has to change.

He wrote on Twitter: "Give Dublin a bye into the super 8's next year and let the rest of us fight it out for Leinster. Dublin are in a league of their own! They do this to every team in the country bar 2 or 3."

It was tweet that divided opinion with many agreeing with Dolan, while others believe the onus should be on Leinster counties like Westmeath to step up to Dublin's standards.

Dublin legend Ciaran Whelan thought last night's facile final was a big concern for the game.

"They have their opponents psychologically smashed," Whelan said on RTÉ Sport.

"They (the Leinster counties) don't believe they can take on Dublin. It's a huge task. They're beat before they arrive here. Dublin are so far ahead.

"It's worrying for the game because we're looking for entertainment. If you had 50,000 here tonight, half of them would probably be gone home at half-time.

"You worry that no one is putting their hands up to chase them down. 

"At minor level, Meath have comprehensively beaten Dublin a few times over the last few years. So you would be expecting that some of these counties would be beginning to close the gap. 

"It's not happening, and it's worrying. 

"At the end of the day, sport is about entertainment. And while Dublin were fantastic tonight, does it really give us an entertaining night? Probably not."

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