'Consistency is key' for All-Ireland contenders

With the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship now into straight knockout territory, eight-time All-Ireland winner Philly McMahon feels “consistency is key” in the race for Sam Maguire.

The former Dublin defender will watch his county take on Donegal at Croke Park on Sunday [13:15 BST] with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs, and while they go in as underdogs, they face a side that has endured patch form in the championship.

Following a shock exit from the Ulsster Championship at the hands of Down, Jim McGuinness’ men turned on the style in the All-Ireland SFC Round One game away to Kerry, only to be caught again on home turf in the next round by Cork.

The Dubs lost a Leinster final to Westmeath and then fell to Louth – whom they beat in a provincial semi-final – in the opening round of the All-Ireland series before bouncing back with victory over Cavan.

Between the provincial and All-Ireland championships, there are no undefeated teams .

For Donegal, pre-championship favourites, their up and down form has been something of a surprise, but McMahon feels the jeopardy of elimination may help them refocus.

“They are still a strong outfit with a lot of quality,” McMahon told BBC Sport NI’s Mark Sidebottom.

“They still went to Killarney and beat Kerry, so if they get past Dublin and a good draw in a quarter-final, they’re still where they want to be.

“Their standards are still high. They are inconsistent but still know what works for them, so if they can iron out the issues and wheat’s not working for them, they are still a danger and have nothing to fear.

“They’ve lost to teams who were underdogs, but have nobody to fear at the top table and maybe that is what they need in terms of motivation because the games they have lost, maybe they haven’t got that.”

In the wake of victory over Cavan, Dublin manager Ger Brennan called for this Round Three clash to be played in the more intimate surroundings of Parnell Park, which Dublin last used in the football championship back in 2004 against London.

Such a scenario was unthinkable during McMahon’s playing career when Dublin fans packed out Croke Park, but with attendances dwindling following the end of the county’s run of nine All-Ireland titles in 12 years, he feels moving this crunch clash to the 8,500-capacity Donnycarney venue “may have given Dublin that little bit of an edge”.

However, Croke Park it is with a much greater attendance expected than the 16,160 who showed up for the Louth game.

‘GAA must look at severity of bans’

Dublin were boosted against Cavan by the return of Brennan from his 12-week suspension following an incident with Galway strength and conditioning coach Cian Breathnach McGinn during a league game in March.

Brennan’s return is a “great lift” according to his former teammate who now hopes that will translate into “a bounce against Donegal”.

While much debate surrounded the severity of the suspension, with the issue reopened when Donegal boss McGuinness escaped with no sanction from the game against Kerry when appearing to push midfielder Diarmuid O’Connor as tempers flared at half-time in Killarney.

However, McMahon feels the Donegal boss receiving no punishment “isn’t the problem here”, but Brennan’s ban was “too harsh”.

“There should be separate punishments for the harshness of the incident.

“I certainly don’t want Jim McGuinness punished for what he did because there are people on the pitch doing the same thing but getting less for the incidents they are involved in.

“People are getting distracted by, ‘Ger got this so Jim McGuinness should get it’, rather than ‘let’s look at the ruling and make sure there are two different levels to the punishment’.”

‘King Con’ central to Dublin hopes

Donegal midfielder Ciaran Thompson has not featured since hobbling out of last year’s All-Ireland final defeat by Kerry which was a “huge loss” according to McMahon.

“He was so potent last year with the two-pointers coming in off his left.

“He’s a tidy footballer, so it’s not like Donegal needed the added strength and bonus of him being there, but they have a really good goalkeeper, strong defensive structure and potent going forward.

“Having that mix is no different to a Kerry or Armagh, so that’s why they are up there at the top.”

While Thompson’s recovery from an ACL injury is almost complete, Dublin have had their own recent boost with Con O’Callaghan shaking off a hamstring issue and while his impact will be key to Dublin’s hopes this week, McMahon insists the Cuala man will need a strong supporting cast.

“Con has struggled with injuries over the last couple of years that have impacted his performance levels and impacted Dublin.

“He is one piece of the puzzle but the others around him need to step up like Cormac Costello, Niall Scully and Brian Howard.

“Con is important but there are others around him who are going to need a high performance against Donegal.”