County Pulse · Senior Football · 2026
Dublin
Leinster · NFL Division 1 (relegated) · Ger Brennan (1st yr) · Last All-Ireland 2023
A dynasty recalibrating in public. Relegated from Division 1, a second straight year without Leinster, and a provincial run with manager Ger Brennan banned from the line. The scoring engine is two men deep, and in their two biggest games they posted 0-20 and 0-26, without a single goal.
Form →
NFL D1
Relegated
7th of 8
Leinster QF
Wicklow
W +2
Leinster SF
Louth
W +10
Leinster F
Westmeath
L −8 · AET
Sam Maguire R1
Louth
L -3
20.7
Avg scored
(season · 10 games)
(season · 10 games)
20.7
Avg conceded
(season · 10 games)
(season · 10 games)
7 / 10
Games with a goal
(6 NFL · 1 champ)
(6 NFL · 1 champ)
2-28
Top scorer · season
(P. Small, 34 pts)
(P. Small, 34 pts)
24
Scorers used
(season)
(season)
21
Two-point scores
(15 NFL · 6 champ)
(15 NFL · 6 champ)
01
Where the scores come from
Goal = 3 · two-pointer = 2 · point = 1Scoring source by game (points)
Goals
Two-pointers
Single points & frees
The read: Dublin's threat is overwhelmingly point-based, and notably quiet from the new two-point arc. Across the three championship games they landed just six two-point scores (3 · 1 · 2), and in the final Westmeath out-kicked them from range, three to two. Goals were rarer still: their only championship goals came against Wicklow.
The goal problem
0
goals in the semi-final and final combined, Dublin's two highest-stakes games. They scored 0-20 to beat Louth and 0-26 in the final and still lost, undone by Westmeath's 2-28.
Goals for / against · championship
2 scored
4 conceded
02
The scoring engine
Season totals · 10 played games (7 NFL · 3 Leinster)Top scorers
Three forwards, a wide spread. Paddy Small leads the season on 2-28 (34 pts) and is the only player to start every game; Bugler and Costello sit on 24 each. Costello is the placed-ball taker but only emerged as a scoring force in the championship knockouts (0-10 in the semi, 0-8 in the final). Eleven different Dublin players have hit a two-point score, which is unusual, most counties run their range-kicking through two or three.
Scoring spread, Leinster final (0-26)
11 different scorers, which looks healthy, but Costello alone hit 8 of the 26 (31%), and nobody else managed more than three. A wide, shallow spread with no goal threat is a profile that piles on points without ever breaking a game open.
03
Results in 2026
Men's senior football04
Squad & rotation
Season-wide · NFL R1–R7 + Leinster QF/SF/F + Sam Maguire R139
Players used (season)
4
Ever-present starters
10
Started all three Leinster games
0
Changes SF → final
Rotation matrix, started · benched · missed
Started
Off the bench
Not in squad
Right column: starts / games played
Verified absences & injuries
Con O'Callaghan
Hamstring · missed SF & final
P. Ó Cofaigh Byrne
Injured in final (16')
Eoin Murchan
Out of side after QF
O'Callaghan's hamstring and Ó Cofaigh Byrne's in-game injury are confirmed in the Dublin GAA / press reporting. Murchan started the QF then left the matchday squad entirely. National reports also listed Colm Basquel and Lee Gannon as injured for the semi-final; the county reports don't specify, so they're noted rather than asserted.
The rotation story: across an 11-game stretch, seven NFL Division 1 rounds, three Leinster knockouts and the Sam Maguire opener, four players started every game (Byrne, Doran, Scully, Small). That's the spine. The mid-season shake-up between Leinster QF and SF saw five starters making way (O'Callaghan, Murchan, Páidí White, McEneaney and Lahiff) as Theo Clancy and Ciarán Kilkenny came in and Costello, MacMahon and Ó Cofaigh Byrne were promoted from the bench. Dean Rock then named an unchanged fifteen for the final. The R1 v Louth column flips three more starters back in, Comerford, Murchan briefly, and McEneaney recalled, alongside O'Callaghan's first start since the QF.
05
Discipline
The manager watched the championship from the stand
Ger Brennan was sent off for a physical altercation with a Galway backroom member in the final-round league game on 22 March, the same defeat that relegated Dublin. The resulting 12-week ban was upheld at every level (Central Hearings Committee, Central Appeals Committee, Disputes Resolution Authority), ruling him out of all of Leinster and Dublin's Sam Maguire opener. Selector Dean Rock has been in interim charge.
Sanction12-week ban (manager)
OriginStraight red v Galway, 22 Mar
Games missedAll of Leinster + AI Rd 1
Galway coach8-week ban
Player card data, awaiting compilation. Per-game yellow/red counts for the panel aren't yet wired from a verified source, so they're left blank rather than estimated. The Brennan sanction is the season's defining disciplinary event.
06
Trajectory
Leinster Championship
'24Won a 14th consecutive Leinster titleChampions
'25Semi-final loss to Meath, the run endsSF exit
'26Final loss to Westmeath, after extra timeRunners-up
Allianz League status
'24Division 1, league finalistsTop tier
'25Division 1, retained statusTop tier
'26Bottom two, relegated to Division 2Demoted