I'm not sure if they have deteriorated or not. On the one hand they are more dependent on Niall now than they ever were, while they are a small team with one or two comparitavely weak positions, however the addition of Mark Dunne at midfield has been huge. his recruitment has essentially added two players in the sense that he is the fielding midfielder that they never had, while his presence allows Alan McNamee to play his more natural game of dropping deep, reading the play and hoovering up a lot of loose stuff.Bord na Mona man wrote: Footballing ability wise Rhode, were more than good enough to win the All Ireland that year, I don't think they are quite as strong this time, but they have a decent chance in the Leinster final.
The reason I wouldn't rule them out is that the players that are underperforming are, in most cases, proven footballers who have it in them to be a lot better. For example, if I was to pick three lads who played a quite peripheral role on Sunday, I'd name Niall Darby, Paschal Kelleghan and Eoghan Byrne. They didn't do anything hugely wrong, but they weren't really that influential. Up until last Sunday, I'd have said that Anton wasn't playing a big part in games either, but I felt that he was a lot better this week. There's no reason why some or all of those lads can't do the same against Kilmacud.
It certainly wouldn't be fair to ask any more of Niall - that man is really on fire right now. Devastating stuff.