Dublin can win another All-Ireland - insists shooting star
Sean Bugler believes Ger Brennan’s new-look Dublin can win the All-Ireland. The versatile forward, a central figure when Dublin last lifted Sam under Dessie Farrell in 2023, has bought fully into Brennan’s reboot.And even if the League table suggests turbulence — one win from three in Division One — Bugler insists the bigger picture is clearer inside the camp than it is outside. This is not decline, he says. It is recalibration.Last year Dublin lost their Leinster crown for the first time in 15 seasons and drifted through a second summer without Sam Maguire. For most counties, that would qualify as respectable. For Dublin, it was a tremor. Now Ger Brennan is on the sideline and the reset button has been pressed. But Brennan bristles at one particular word.Transition. He doesn’t like that word because it suggests you can’t win. And this new generation of Dubs HAVE confidence.Bugler says: “We fully believe we can win an All-Ireland this year. As a group, we all believe it. We’ve new lads coming in, finding their feet, really pushing on. Joe Quigley comes on at the weekend, makes his debut, scores a goal and wins the game for us against Monaghan. That’s what we’re building. We know the potential that’s in there. It’s about showing it week in, week out.”Consistency. That’s the word Bugler returns to. Not legacy. Not history.Consistency.Division One has become a bear pit. The margins microscopic. Dublin glanced at the table this week and saw congestion everywhere — teams stacked on two or three points, the middle ground shifting with every result. “One win and you’re right up there,” Bugler says. “But we’re focused on Championship. The League is about performances, about ironing things out. Our main eye is on the summer.”That summer gaze is deliberate. Brennan has used the League as a laboratory, testing combinations, handing out debuts, subtly reminding decorated veterans that CVs count for nothing. After the Mayo defeat, Brennan publicly warned that no player should feel safe, no matter what medals lie in their drawer. James McCarthy, watching from the outside, suggested Brennan was “ratting a few cages”.Inside the camp, the cages rattled exactly as intended. “It’s a clean slate,” Bugler says. “The management team don’t really care who you are. You need to be performing week in, week out to get a starting jersey. That’s good. There’s a nice bit of bite and aggression in training now.”He pauses. “Ger didn’t mean anything bad by it. He just wants the best out of the group. It was a wake-up call. Even for myself. For the senior lads. We have to set the standard. The new lads are looking at us. If we drop it, everything drops.”Bugler has been around long enough to understand how quickly standards erode. He joined the panel in 2018, made his first start in 2019 and when Dublin reclaimed Sam in 2023 he became one of Farrell’s trusted men. But trust, in Brennan’s Dublin, must be renewed weekly.And rightly so because the wound that still smarts in the Dublin dressing room is Meath.Last year’s Leinster defeat was seismic. Dublin do not lose in Leinster. Or at least, they hadn’t for a decade and a half. Bugler was injured that day but felt the blow just the same.“It was a killer,” he admits. “I felt the group was in a really good place. To lose to Meath is never enjoyable.“It was a wake-up call. You have to be on your game. Louth are coming strong. Meath are going well. Kildare too. Nothing is guaranteed now. We’ll be aiming to win Leinster this year and we won’t take anything for granted.” The Galway game that followed Meath became a line in the sand. Three or four sharp weeks of training. Standards lifted. Edges sharpened.That edge has carried into this League campaign, even if the results have lagged behind the intent. Donegal. Mayo. Defeats that revealed flaws. Then Monaghan last Saturday — tight, scrappy, imperfect.But two points. “In Division One, two points are hard earned,” Bugler says. “We were happy with certain aspects. But there’s loads to clean up.” Shot efficiency in the first half was below par. Monaghan found joy around Dublin’s kickout in the second. Brennan has clipped those moments and fed them back into training.That is the League’s purpose.Now comes Kerry at Croke Park this Saturday.“They’re All-Ireland champions for a reason,” Bugler says of Kerry. “Unbelievable footballers all over the pitch. Around the middle third, athletically they’re very strong.” He references the growing impact of the two-pointer — Kerry embraced it on the biggest day last July. “They went after it and nailed them in the final. The rest of us are chasing them.”There is no false modesty in that assessment. Dublin understand the hierarchy. They also believe it is temporary. “There’s a nice rivalry there,” Bugler says. “It’s carried on the last number of years. We’re buzzing for Saturday.”Buzzing. It sounds simple. But in February, with the league table congested and new faces bedding in, buzz matters. Because this Dublin does not see itself as fading. Bugler talks about potential not as a vague promise but as a responsibility.“You need to show it week in, week out,” he says again. That is the task now. Not reminiscing about 2023. Not mourning Leinster 2025. Not fearing Kerry 2026. But making their own history.Dublin vs Kerry, Croke Park, this Saturday at 7pm. Tickets available from gaa.ieClick here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond.
