'That Jim Gavin aura is gone' - Kevin McStay on Dublin downturn in wake of loss to Armagh

It may be the first weekend of the Allianz Football League and a few players were missing, but the manner in which Armagh turned over Dublin at Croke Park on Saturday night did raise a few eyebrows.

Dessie Farrell's side come into an intriguing 2022 as they look to bounce back immediately after their domination of the All-Ireland Championship was brought to an end by Mayo in the last year's semi-final.

The question marks are there and for The Sunday Game analyst Kevin McStay, while the result was not "seismic" per se, it's a clear case that they are no longer as far ahead of the pack as they had been over the previous decade.

"When you look at not once-offs or two-offs, but when you look at the trend, it's fairly obvious that Dublin have - I won't say stagnated - but there are four or five teams getting close to them," he said on the RTÉ GAA Podcast on Monday.

"I used this word a lot last year on this podcast: Aura. The idea that they're going to win no matter what... that's gone now. There's no question about that."

McStay added that even with more front-line players to return, the cloak of invincibility is no longer as tightly wrapped around their shoulders.

"Even when they bring back James McCarthy, Jonny Cooper and Con O'Callaghan, that Jim Gavin aura is gone," he said.

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McStay, who also praised Armagh and pointed to their depth given that Niall Grimley and Stefan Campbell did not start, said it was "amazing" when one realises that it was Dublin's first back-to-back defeats at Croke Park in 12 years with a tough fixture in Kerry to come straight after.

"There's no consistency at the moment," the former Mayo and Roscommon