Round one is Dublin V Laois and Ger Brennan named a very experimental or Development panel side for his, with only one or two guys who were involved last year starting - here's the team: 

The game went ahead on what was a cold but sunny day, so the pitch had thawed out from the morning frost. Nice setup down there and the pitch was in pretty good condition so credit to the Laois club who where hosting the game.

Full-time score was: 

Some Action from the game:

Naill O'Callaghan's goal:

Deering's goal: 

Ger Brennan's thoughts on the game: 

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Full Highlights: 

Match Reports: 

You can read the official match report here.

Scorers

‍Dublin: N O’Callaghan 1-6 (3 P2); S Guiden (2f), C Burke (1 P2) 0-3 each; R Shaw, T Deering, E Kennedy 1-0 each; K Stephenson, J Lundy 0-1 apiece.

Laois: E O’Carroll 0-6 (1f); K Byrne 1-0; K Roche 0-3 (1 F2, 1 ’45); B Byrne, M Byron (F2) 0-2 each; B O’Connor, C Doyle (f), P O’Sullivan, C Dunne 0-1 apiece.

Dublin:

--- S Moloney;

E O’Callaghan, F Bruton, J Bannon;

P White, T Deering, R Shaw;

-- J Feehan, K Stephenson;

J McCormack, J Lundy, D Knight-Sands;

S Guiden, N O’Callaghan, C Chawke.

Subs: L Smith for Bruton (half-time), E Kennedy for Knight-Sands (half-time), C McCarville for Chawke (half-time), R O’Brien for Moloney (40), D Murphy for E O’Callaghan (40), D Kettle for Lundy (40), C Burke for Feehan (40), F Potts for Bannon (46), C Dunne for McCormack (46).

Laois: K Roche; C Gee, T Collins, B O’Connor; J Lacey, K Swayne, A McEvoy; R Tyrrell, C Heffernan; K Byrne, C Doyle, J Hogan; N Corbet, B Byrne, E O’Carroll. Subs: M Dempsey for Heffernan (half-time), M Byron for Roche (half-time), C Lee for Lacey (40), P O'Sullivan for Corbet (40), D Boland for Gee (46), C Dunne for O'Carroll (46), J Shelly for Hogan (56).

Referee: James Foley (Carlow).

My thoughts on the game:

I always think it's harder for lads to make a real impression when there are so many new faces playing together without some seasoned County players involved to hold things together.

The Dubs showed a great work rate throughout, which made Laois work to clear their lines.

Great pass inside by Lundy to someone (not sure who) who set up the first NOC goal.

Evan O'Carroll will be a big boost back for Laois after his cruciate injury

Chawke looked lively at times and McCormack as well.

Dubs were 7 to the goal down after the first 18 mins or so, against what looked like a stiff enough breeze

Shaw's goal was a little lucky, if nicely improvised. After he lost the ball, he kind of slaps it home from close range. He had a couple of good, strong runs and one great fetch as well.

Jack Feehan and Josh Bannon made a few good plays, and Sthphenson was also involved.

Great ball by Lundy again, threading through Tim Deering for the third goal, and Lundy had a hand in the 4th Goal as well. Even tho he was subbed on 40th min or so. He has to be worth another look, and if he goes as well again, to be on the league panel

Defence and midfield did well, a couple of guys with good pace.

Got a little bit scrappy at times in the second half, but NOC with two nice two pointers and one brilliant one, with the wind. Cylde Burke with a sweet 2-pointer as well.

All in all a decent performance, pitch was in very decent nick for the time of year, look forward to seeing who goes well next round now.

Feels like we have a lot of good players, a good few could probably be developed into county options potentially, but with the competition in Dublin, whether they'll get the chance is another story.

I think the Dubs now go on to face Kildare next weekend TBC

Ger has named the team to play Kildare on Saturdau Jan 10th

Unfortuntly after a good first half the dubs were well beaten by an impressive Kildare in the second half:

Match Report: 

Scorers – Dublin: C Burke 0-5 (2 P2); J McCarville 1-1; D Kettle 0-2; S Moloney (’45), R Shaw, E Kennedy, C Dolan, N O’Callaghan 0-1 apiece. Kildare: A Beirne 0-7 (1 F2, 1f, 1 ’45); J Harris (1 P2), B McLoughlin 0-3 each; H O’Neill 1-0; S Doran, D Swords, E Cully 0-2 each; K Feely, B Loakman, A Browne (f) 0-1 apiece.

Dublin:

------- S Moloney;

E O’Callaghan, L Smith, F Potts;

R Shaw, E O’Connor Flanagan, C Tyrrell;

-- E Kennedy, C Dunne;

C Dolan, J Lundy, C Burke;

J McCarville, N O’Callaghan, J Quigley.

Subs: J Feehan for O’Connor Flanagan (half-time), L Gifford for Quigley (half-time), S Kirwan for Smith (36), P Duffy for Dolan (46), D Kettle for N O’Callaghan (46), L O’Brien for McCarville (53), D Knight-Sands for Burke (53), F Bruton for Tyrrell (53).

Kildare: D Cordonnier; M Dempsey, P Spillane, H O’Neill; E Lawlor, B Byrne, D Crowley; K Feely, B Gibbons; B McLoughlin, A Beirne, L Killian; B Loakman, N Dolan, S Doran. Subs: D Swords for Killian (half-time), M Spillane for Dempsey (half-time), E Cully for Dolan (42), J Harris for Lawlor (42), R Fitzgerald for Spillane (42), E Bagnall for Beirne (46), A Browne for Loakman (53), A McNally for Byrne (61).  

Referee: Eamonn O’Connor (Offaly)

Official Match Report Here

ResDubs Thoughts: 

Really good first half from Dublin, but Kildare took over in the second half and played some really good football. Dubs just couldnt get back into the game against the stiff enough breeze at times conceding a few scores on the trot kicking out into the wind.

A pity in a way but with so many new guys playing it's hard to be too critical, it was used by Ger as a developement competiton which is fair enough.

A few players played well over the two games and will hope to be involved in the League panel at the end of the month. Nial O'Callaghan was very good in the first game kicking three superb 2-pointers. Clyde Burke did the same in the first half against Kildare, he looks to be a nice forward option and I really like the kick passing of Jack Lundy, i think he could develop into a very good playmaker. I'm sure there are more Ger will have learned about from these games.

Photos from the game