Dublin and Galway to put final defeats behind them in delayed decider

• Published date: 19 December 2020
• Date: 19 December 2020

Yet those were his remarkable figures and when he struck his 10th goal, 11 minutes into the All-Ireland final against Cork, it looked like a matchwinner too.

Even at that early stage in the final, Dublin led 1-6 to no score but just seven minutes later Cork were somehow back level and the Munster champions went on to win by nine, a 17-point swing on the scoreboard.

A week and a half later, Archer reported that he was 'still not fully over it'.

It's 16 months and two birthdays later now and he's back in another under-20 final, one of only two Dubliners from last year's team - Brian O'Leary is the other - to return.

Marked man

For all kinds of reasons, not least his status as reigning under-20 player of the year, Archer has been a marked man in 2020 though his 1-23 return so far represents decent scoring.

"Last year was an outlier," said Tom Gray, Archer's Dublin manager then and now. "Leaving aside points for a moment, he scored eight, nine, 10 goals last year. No player is going to score that in football terms in a championship, it's very, very unusual in this day and age, particularly when he's going to be heavily marked.

"He's developed other aspects of his game in terms of his work rate and his assists and so on. So we're very happy with how Ciarán has developed again this year. It was never going to be the same in 2020 as it was in 2019 for him."

Truth be told, Mark Lavin and Lorcan O'Dell have been as influential up front for Dublin this year as Archer, with O'Leary's 1-1 in the semi-final against Tyrone the decisive blows in a tense arm wrestle. There is Luke Swan too, the dual player with power beyond his age, for Galway to contend with.

Dublin actually beat Galway in last year's semi-final, 2-14 to 1-10, with Archer sniping 2-6 though Gray is dismissive of the significance of that result or of the subsequent final loss.

"Absolutely no significance whatsoever," said Gray. "Clearly for Brian O'Leary and Ciarán Archer who played in the final, and one or two others who were...