Ciaran Whelan sees a “slightly dangerous narrative” having developed ahead of this weekend’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Dublin and Monaghan.

The two sides meet tomorrow evening at Croke Park (5.30pm) with the Dubs rated as 1/8 favourites to see off the Farney men and advance toward their first Sam Maguire Cup decider since 2020.

Speaking on the RTE GAA podcast, former Dublin midfielder Whelan hopes that Dessie Farrell’s men can bring the same level of intensity that they applied against Mayo in the second-half of their quarter-final victory.

"Monaghan are coming down the road being written off in all quarters. It's a slightly dangerous narrative,”

"You could get a little carried away by Dublin’s third-quarter performance [against Mayo] and Kerry’s blitzing of Tyrone and lead yourself to think that both teams are back at a level that’s so far ahead of everybody else.

"Certainly, you feel if they bring the level they brought the last day, you’re expecting both of them to win.

"But Dublin have had some patchy performances. There were still a lot of question marks at half-time the last day. You’re hoping they would bring the same level of intensity and with the experience of the team that they’re at that level.”

He added: “They probably will drop down a couple of percentage but it’s an All-Ireland semi-final, they’ve lost the last two, I think they’ll use that as a big crutch to say let’s not slip up a third year in a row. Let’s focus on Monaghan."

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