Dublin fired up on home front

Dublin v Roscommon: This is a game with enough characters and sub-plots to interest film director Robert Altman. There are men burdened with their present and their past, and even those in search of a little vengeance. What Altman might call a psychological thriller.

However, one character who will not be involved from the start is Roscommon forward Frankie Dolan, who has been sensationally dropped.

Despite being one the stars of last year's championship, when he scored 25 points in two matches, Dolan has suffered a significant deterioration in form this year. He didn't reappear for the second half of the Connacht final defeat to Mayo after scoring just one point.

Manager Tom Carr showed his ruthless streak late on Thursday night by dropping four regulars in total from the starting 15. Along with Dolan, Karol Mannion, John Nolan and John Tiernan are on the bench.

Ger Heneghan, who replaced Dolan against Mayo, comes in at corner forward, while Nigel Dineen takes the number 14 jersey ahead of Mannion.

The other changes see Ray Cox (brother of Gary) and Eamon Towey added to the defensive lines with David Casey moving to midfield to allow Stephen Lohan to be redeployed at left-half forward.

In a way, the football championship still hasn't been shaken up like it was in Croke Park back on June 6th.

Dublin slowly crumbled under the Westmeath onslaught and were sent into the great unknown. Westmeath took strength and are Leinster champions. Nothing was less expected this season.

Roscommon have a more recent shadow from under which they must emerge. Two weeks ago they went to Castlebar primed for a 12-round contest for the Connacht title. Instead they were knocked out cold in the opening rounds, allowing Mayo to coast towards the provincial crown.

Neither Carr nor Dublin manager Tommy Lyons has apparently been bothered by the talk of job security or lack thereof in the context of tomorrow's result. But they know as well as anyone where they stand. In front of a full house, then, both teams will play to save their season. It's win or bust.

After three games down on qualifier avenue Dublin have been bent back into shape and will arrive not too unlike the team that last played in Croke Park: fit, confident, and believing they can win again. Their game against Longford in Portlaoise two weeks ago wasn't the finished article but it wasn't far off.

They've got a settled look in the back six, with Coman Goggins playing with all his old fire and Bryan Cullen quietly becoming the pillar at centre back.

Darren Magee has brought fresh mobility to midfield and up front, Ciarán Whelan is happily shaking around Alan Brogan and Jason Sherlock.

Senan Connell is back where he belongs on the wing and there's a certain Ian Robertson and Dessie Farrell in the mix.

In other words, there's been some swallowing of pride. But they've something of a pattern to go with that and against Longford they slung together some of the best moves seen from a Dublin team in quite a while, scoring 1-17 in the process.

As is now the trend, Lyons has selected his team but kept word of it within the panel.

Without any injury problems (bar Colin Moran's long-term absence), few if any changes are expected from the Longford game.

Shane Ryan might get the nod ahead of Paul Casey in the defence and don't rule out Ray Cosgrove's appearance either, but none of the changes will be significant in terms of the new establishment.

Robertson and Farrell are sure to figure at some stage and Conal Keaney is another new option among the reserves.

The big problem for Roscommon will be coping with Dublin's rediscovered fire-power in the front line, with Brogan and Sherlock certain to use every inch of the seamless Croke Park surface to their advantage.

They will score, and score often, and Roscommon will find that hard to match.

If Stephen O'Neill and Casey get their foot in at midfield then Roscommon will find some foundation for their own game plan, and that should keep it close.

Yet Dublin have endured more to get here and the resulting desire remains strong enough to carry them further.