Two-time All-Star winner Ciaran Whelan feels that the continued expansion of Dublin’s "super clubs" will end up being damaging to Gaelic games in the capital in the long run.

This Sunday sees Kilmacud Crokes and Na Fianna clashing in the county senior hurling championship final – a week on from the two clubs’ meeting in the senior football championship decider.

Speaking on the RTE GAA podcast this week, Whelan said that encroachment has become a worrying trend that is damaging smaller clubs in the capital.

"It is a big frustration for smaller clubs in Dublin," said the Raheny clubman. "The likes of Kilmacud have a massive catchment area on the southside, and it's purely a numbers game.

"If you compare that to the northside where you've got Scoil Uí Chonaill, O'Toole's, Clontarf, Raheny, Craobh Chiaráin, St Vincent's, Na Fianna, Whitehall, Erin's Isle, Ballymun - all within a five-mile radius.

"There's a significant amount of clubs on the northside and the criticism the smaller clubs would have is that some of the larger clubs are starting to encroach on their patch.

"Depending on where lads are going to schools, the bigger clubs will hold that pull on the players because there's that better chance of success. That would be one of the criticisms aimed at Na Fianna, that they would have encroached on other team's patches around the northside, and other clubs are in decline because of it.

"It is a worrying trend, and definitely the gap is becoming bigger between some of the top clubs and the weaker clubs. There's a huge contrast, I've always felt, between the standard of Division 1 and Division 2, in terms of football.

"I can't really comment on hurling, per se, but it is a concern."

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