It will be a different story when killjoy extraordinaire Cian O’Sullivan returns to the Dublin team, but Croke Park was Niall Sludden’s playground on Saturday night.
The former Under-21 star is entering his second full season in the Tyrone senior set-up and he certainly looks at at the heart of the Red Hand attack.
A centre-back by trade at underage, the Dromore man lined out with number 11 on his back for the 1-7 to 0-10 draw with the All-Ireland champions and lit up a sodden Headquarters with an energetic, bustling performance that has us struggling for an adequate description.
Two points in the first half and a third after the break saw Sludden deservedly earn the man of the match award following a 70 minutes that saw him repeatedly pin back his ears and run at the heart of the Dublin defence.
His second point, admittedly with the wind at his back, was a phenomenal effort – picking up the ball inside his own 65′, Sludden saw a gap down the middle of the expansive Croke Park pitch, hit the after burners and left a trail of blue in his wake before splitting the posts from 35 yards.
It was a performance that had the lads salivating on the GAA Hour. Even if it did cause a little bit of an argument about how best to describe the Red Hand star.
“I thought he was very unlucky not to get an All-Star last year, he was that good. He is just a little whippet,” said Conan Doherty, before host Colm Parkinson interrupted him.
“Now, sorry to pull you up on this. I could not believe… I went up to a Tyrone press day last year and I stood beside that Sludden,” said Parkinson.
“That Sludden is a beast. I’m telling you, he actually togs out a lot smaller than he is. He is a monster of a man, I’m telling you. I’m sorry, I had to pick you up on it. He is not a whippet, I’m a whippet!” added the whippet-like Parkinson.
“He’s a little monster of a man, I mean the way he gets around the pitch. He finds these pockets of space and he goes for them like his life depends on them,” replied Doherty.
Whatever you want the call him, he’s good.
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