Pat Gilroy insists Dublin will be taking their Division 1 campaign as seriously as last year, starting this evening against Kerry in Croke Park.
The All-Ireland champions went undefeated in the league proper last season, finishing top of the table and only losing their 100% record away to Galway when they drew in their last round game having already qualified for the final.
Gilroy won’t be compensating for any hangover from last September. Asked if the league means the same as last year, he said: "It does for us. You’ve so few competitive games.
"In our first year we played a lot of challenge matches. To be honest, we didn’t really get any benefit out of them. We really haven’t played any (since) after the month of January.
"It means that those (league) games are the games that prepare you for the championship and there are things you’ll try and do to bring into the championship. It’s very important because you only have those six or seven games to hone your system with the resources you have to play."
The St Vincent’s man goes into his fourth league campaign as manager knowing neither Dublin nor Kerry, who won five Allianz FL games on the trot in 2011, don’t have to be as impressive as last year to stand a chance of reaching the final.
With the introduction of semi-finals, things have become easier although it’s not something he is happy with.
"I suppose when you have a league with the number of teams that are in it, you’ll get to the point where there’s only one team who will have nothing.
"You’ll either get relegated or you’ll be in the semi-final. The last game could come down to either winning it to make a semi-final or losing it to be relegated. I find that difficult to work out in terms of making a league feel like a league. Semi-finals and a final are grand for championship but for a league I don’t think it’s needed as much."
Gilroy has seen no indications yet that Dublin are dragging their heels after their post-September celebrations.
The players’ appetite for the 6am and evening training sessions has been extremely positive, he reports.
"I suppose in your head you were saying it’s probably going to take a little time to get them back focusing on things but I suppose if I look back at last year when we had our early morning sessions there would have been the odd fella late and the odd fella who slept it out.
"Nobody missed anything this year. People were there early and the application then when they were there at all the sessions has been very encouraging.
"There was no need to get a big stick and get them going. They did it themselves which was very impressive."
As the county v college debate has come to the fore, Gilroy supports the continuing presence of third level teams in the inter-county pre-season competitions.
"I think it’s important for the profile of the games in colleges as well. I know when I was in college, there wasn’t that much emphasis placed on Gaelic. That has grown since those days. Now, there’s some sort of balance to be struck,’’ Gilroy said.
"I’m not sure it’s good for fellas who are 27 or 28 to still be playing college football. That’s probably not benefitting either player or college or profile. So that aspect of it needs to be looked at. But I think for young lads of 19 and 20, it’s a great place for them to cut their teeth. It’s probably as close to the standard of inter-county as you can get."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, February 04, 2012
