The pros and cons of bringing the Dubs on the road

While the Dublin footballers have played Leinster Championship games away from Croke Park in recent seasons, Saturday's trip to face Kildare at UPMC Nowlan Park will be the first time they've played a Sam Maguire match out of the Jones Road venue since August 2019.

It's now an annual discussion about whether the Dubs are playing at GAA HQ too often - including home games in the Allianz League - and how much playing at the stadium, which will always host the All-Ireland final, and semi-finals, is worth to the team.

Critics argue that it's plainly true that familiarity with a venue is an advantage across elite sports and that therefore, by playing there more often than other counties, it's obvious that Dublin have an advantage over other sides.

Defenders of the Dubs argue that other counties play in Croke Park regularly and that there weren't many arguing that it was an advantage to the Metropolitans between 1996 and 2010, when they failed to win a single All-Ireland.

Similarly, it has yet to manifest itself for the county's hurlers, who couldn't hold on to a 12-point advantage over Galway there last Sunday.

Speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, former Tyrone footballer Enda McGinley suggested that sometimes familiarity with a venue can be a disadvantage for a team, citing teams regularly coming to play in Clones in the Ulster SFC.

"For the likes of Tyrone, and the likes of myself, given the choice, even if it was Monaghan you were playing, you'd far rather play them in Clones than Healy Park," he began.

"We're all so used to Clones, playing there is like a home venue. I always thought it was a real disadvantage for Monaghan because everyone gets to play there.

"Clones is any Ulster team's home ground, or it certainly feels like that."