Jack O'Connor's column:The worry for Dublin is they may have perfected their physical style a year too late

On the train journey to Dublin for the 2004 All-Ireland final I casually asked Pat Flanagan, our team trainer, how close to the peak of physical maturity our team was. Pat said that on a scale of one to 10 we had arrived at seven. For a moment I thought Pat was testing my nerves for his own amusement. He shook his head. I said, "Pat, when will we get to 10?"

We'd done a rigorous weight-training programme all year and we were at seven! Pat said it would take another two years to get full benefit. Subsequent events proved Pat right.

I thought of Pat and that conversation at the weekend when I watched Laois and Dublin. I know Liam Kearns is a big believer in the benefit of weights work and Laois have taken to the gym in earnest this year. There were rumours seeping out of the county of a new physicality to Laois football. On Sunday, however, they were up against a team two or three years ahead of them in the physical stakes.

Dublin are now a powerful, athletic team and use their muscle to their advantage. The sure sign a team has pumped a lot of weights is when you see players relishing the physical stuff. Bryan Cullen and Shane Ryan and others are now looking to put in big hits and legitimately nail guys. Nothing wears the opposition down quicker as a game develops.

Early on Laois used their speed and mobility to escape Dublin's clutches but when it got to the hand-to-hand stuff Dublin's power paid dividends. Even the Dublin shirts, with the navy patches on the shoulders, enhance the impression of huge power.

Interestingly, when Kearns was in Limerick he produced a physical team, but there he had a hard core of big men like John Galvin, John Quane, Jason Stokes, Stephen Lucey, John McCarthy. They were naturally able to impose their physicality. Outside of Tom Kelly and Darren Rooney he doesn't really have the physical advantages with Laois. Padraig Clancy and Brendan Quigley are big men but as of yet they don't have the power of a Ryan or a Ciarán Whelan.

So on Sunday the Laois forwards were pushed farther out the field and nothing that was going to the inside line was sticking. As a result the game just lost its shape in the second half as Laois just ran with the ball from wherever they found it. It often ended up with a Laois wing back taking a pot-shot as his team lost shape.

Dublin are now in a very strong position. They have a better team than when they started the championship. They have stopped the silly rotating of the forwards and abandoned the pre-game theatrics in front of The Hill. They have had four games of varying intensity in front of 80,000 people and seem to appreciate the flip side of the pressure they play under in the city is that they get more game time in Croke Park than anybody else.

Including the floodlit game with Tyrone, when Dublin play the All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park in a few weeks' time it will be their 10th big game in front of a full house at headquarters in two seasons. The more you get to do a task under pressure the less daunting it becomes.

Dublin are very at home in Croke Park. No wonder they don't do the league well. What must a rainy Sunday afternoon in Ballybofey feel like to lads who are used to plugging into the electricity of Croker.

They have a lot of players going well right now. Goals are the life force for Dublin teams and the three they scored on Sunday were good team goals.

This is the key to Dublin because up to now they have been very individualistic in the forwards.

Tyrone's trademark is that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If Dublin can get that equation right they will be a very serious proposition.

Alan Brogan is a good example. He is a key player for Dublin. His display against Mayo in last year's semi-final was as exciting any by an individual I have ever seen in Croke Park.

There are times, however, when he looks like he is just playing it off the cuff. That is fine when it keeps the opposition guessing. The problem is that he keeps some of his team-mates guessing too.

The main man in the forward line sets the tone and Brogan has to add that team element to his individual brilliance.

That's what makes the Gooch the genius he is. He is first and foremost a team player. When Brogan gets as much of a kick out of making a score as getting one then he will be the real deal.

Conal Keaney has really developed this year. He is now a strong ball winner, he can score and he proved on Sunday with his assists for the goals that he can create as well.

Young Brogan (Bernard) and Mark Vaughan are exciting additions to a forward line that is being supplied with huge amounts of ball from a dominant midfield. At one stage on Sunday the possession ratio was an astonishing 75 to 25 in Dublin's favour.

Yet for all that dominance Dublin still have vulnerabilities. The worry is they may have perfected their physical style of play a year too late.

Laois had a very small inside line on Sunday yet Ross McConnell, who looks like an excellent ball player generally, was caught badly for the Laois goal off a high ball. Against Meath the same thing happened a few times to himself and David Henry.

The game has been changed by the success of Kieran Donaghy last year. Laois, for instance, might have been wise to sacrifice one of their big men from the middle as a target man up front on Sunday.

Monaghan threw Vincent Corey up into the full-forward spot at half-time against Tyrone in Clones on Sunday and he caused massive trouble.

More and more teams are seeing the futility of trying to thread the ball with mazy passes through a bulked-up defence when a good early ball will do more damage.

The worry for Dublin is that the rest of the championship is littered with big full forwards, most notably Donaghy, Michael Cussen and Enda Muldoon.

Now the three in a row in Leinster is out of the way Dublin can get down to business though. Sunday's final was only a sideshow and Paul "Pillar" Caffrey will be very pleased his team have come out of there with the momentum building. Will the obsession and hunger of 12 long years be enough to bring them to the starting blocks in September?

Sin í an ceist.