WE thought way back then, a day or two before Jason Sherlock stepped deep into the Meath defence for the first time, that we'd never see the poor little fella ever again. We thought he'd make a run for it and be last seen scampering over some low wall. Sherlock, in that Leinster final back in 1995, was due to meet up with Colm Coyle, of all people. Enough said!

"He doesn't have a clue, not an earthly idea of what's about to happen to him," one old, retired Meath footballer suggested quite assertively. The rest of us, like an untidy group of Tony Soprano's best buddies, nodded in agreement. "Poor little guy," added somebody else, half-sympathetically.

"Think anyone's told him anything?"

"Nah!"

"Half-time? Think he'll still be there at half-time?" I was asked. And then it began, a bit like an auction in reverse actually, and the exact departure time of the boy they had not even started calling Jayo started to go through the floor.

"Ten minutes into the second-half. Gone!!!"

"Dunno, doubtful."

"Half-time!!"

"Five minutes before half-time!"

It was at 20 minutes into the first half, finally, that I thought it a good idea to slap down my £20 note, and that was the last I saw of it.

Calling him 'Jayo' anymore is almost disrespectful. Sherlock's an old footballer. And an old man in a strange place. He's the central playmaker and the most effusive presence on this Dublin team and it looks that if Dublin are to win the All Ireland title less than three months from now, he more than anybody else in blue needs to remain healthy and every bit as alert as he has been through the first half of 2008.

At the same time, if Dublin fail en route, his career will be over. The day Paul Caffrey goes, Jason Sherlock will be best advised to ask him to keep the door open. A new manager will not accommodate the boy from the mid-90s. He'd be mad to.

Ciaran Whelan might think of calling it quits, but the new man will want Whelan to stick around for a year or two at least. Caffrey's successor will wish to rid himself of a few of the other characters who have been hanging around the Dublin dressing-room but it's hard to determine who might be forced to go with Sherlock. It's mighty hard to distinguish between good young footballers and completely dead wood when looking through this Dublin squad.

Anyhow, we're getting way ahead of ourselves this morning. Everything has been playing out quite nicely around the Dublin team over the last few weeks, and there is no reason to suspect that Dublin will not be a very strong number two seed for the All Ireland title once the provincial finals have all been completed. Given the way things are slowly unravelling for Pat O'Shea, through the outlandish suspension of Paul Galvin, the creaking limbs of Darragh O Sé and the unfortunate injury to Declan O'Sullivan, Dublin might even be moved up to the number one seed position by the close of July.

Right now, Dublin have a clear enough view of Sam Maguire. They can retain their Leinster title by defeating Louth, Westmeath and Wexford. This looks like it might just be a Leinster title which is too damn easy.

After that, Dublin have someone from the quagmire of this year's qualifiers. They've got the Ulster champs (or someone else with sticky, heavy feet who has journeyed through the qualifiers) in the All Ireland semis, and then it's Galway or Kerry, probably, in the All Ireland final. All of this is not all that daunting, provided Dublin don't end up meeting Tyrone. This Dublin team does not need to meet a refuelled, God-fearing and Mickey Harte-fearing Tyrone team sometime around early August. That apart, if Dublin stay house-bound in Croker, you've got to really like Sherlock's chances of book-ending his career with All Ireland titles.

Sherlock has grown into Gaelic football's greatest living and still playing ambassador. He's a model 'professional' in his attitude and appearance and general demeanour, on and off the field. Sherlock gives the impression of truly believing that this can be a big, winning year. Obviously, he doesn't look over his shoulder all that often!

If he did, he'd see that Caffrey and his hefty army of lieutenants have failed to build a defence which can be described as hard-nosed. Collie Moran, Bryan Cullen and Barry Cahill in the half-back line are fine and dandy footballers, but where's the Conor Gormley or the Aidan O'Mahony here? The closest Caffrey has to a centre-back of this nature and attitude is Paul Casey and he's been dropped for this afternoon's game after one too many iffy performances on the wing. Casey, or even Shane Ryan (left), might fit the bill for Dublin at number six.

At number three, Ross McConnell is still learning the tricks of the trade and while he is a brilliantly talented footballer – and solid and dependable as a young man – he could do with two experienced, crusty old heads either side of him. Instead, here we've got David Henry, who is the man to do a job – but hardly the job of two men! And Stephen O'Shaughnessy, who is the tightest man-marker in the whole county but not a free spirit who is adept at covering empty spaces.

This Dublin defence, as a concoction, gets curiouser and curiouser. We'll find out something more about the Dublin defence a few hours from now, that's for sure. They are facing one of the tightest and tidiest football teams in the country, and Westmeath take expert care in ensuring Dessie Dolan and Denn is Glennon up front get the supply and quality of ball which they need.

Dolan and Glennon, on a good day, are the ultimate test for any full-back line. Croke Park is the perfect theatre for a pair like this. Glennon's great pace and daring and Dolan's ever-lasting confidence with either foot at any time of the day or night will certainly tell us all a thing or two more about this Dublin defence in the making. And then of course, if Dublin do make it to a Leinster final, Matty Forde will also make or break at least one individual in the same defence.

The next 140 minutes, if Dublin do take on Westmeath and Wexford back-to-back, will be fiercely tricky and awkward at times. Dublin need to show the height of respect to both opponents. To advance in the direction of an All Ireland title, Dublin eventually need to take both games by the throat. Alan Brogan and his colleagues need to be ruthless and cold-blooded, and the defence needs to be able to survive and prosper from the experience of both games.

Dublin must also inject a pace and furious nature into both contests. Westmeath did not overly impress too many people in defeating Longford and Offaly in their earlier rounds. And while Wexford played a very composed and perfectly fluent brand of football the length of the field last Sunday, and worked the ball quite magnificently up the field all through the second half, there is no doubt that in the process they were still playing Division Three football of the highest possible quality.

The person whom Paul Caffrey depends upon most to ensure that Dublin play Division One rather than Division Three football over the next few weeks, is Jason Sherlock himself. He has neither the time nor the interest in fooling himself. At centre-forward, he is expertly placed to have his finger on the pulse of the next 140 minutes of football in Leinster.

He also, of course, is positioned in the number 11 jersey to serve as a poised distributor of the ball, and also to act as back-up to Brogan, Conal Keaney and Mossy Quinn in the scoring stakes. On multiple fronts, he is central now to this team and whatever awaits Dublin round-by-round this summer.

However, Westmeath can see that, and so too can Wexford. If Sherlock is shut down, who else can hold Dublin together? It's not Whelan. And it's not Alan Brogan either. Brogan is more than capable of playing an expert role in the middle third of the field, but if Dublin extract him from their full-forward line they will be severely weakening their own scoring potential.

On Jason Sherlock's shoulders it rests. To think that at the start of this season a great many people closely surrounding this Dublin team genuinely doubted if Jason Sherlock would be able to claim a place on the starting 15.

lhayes@tribune.ie