Tale of two counties: which Dublin will play against Kerry?

WHICH Dublin will be on show in Parnell Park against Kerry tomorrow in the third round of the NFL?

Will it be the side who harassed and overpowered League and All-Ireland champions Tyrone a fortnight ago in the campaign opener. Or could we see a reappearance of the misfiring outfit which failed so miserably to Mayo in Castlebar last week?

“There’s no one thing you could point at and say was the difference between the week before and last week,” selector Paul Caffrey admits.

“Obviously, only scoring three points was hugely disappointing, but it’s not a true reflection of where we are at. We deserved to be beaten. Mayo were the better team. But, it was a game in which we should easily have clocked up 1-6 or 1-7, even though that would not be good enough to win in the league. A bit of panic set in as the game went on.”

That panic seemed to spread through the ranks when the mighty Ciaran Whelan, who started with a stomach complaint, was forced off at half-time. And with him, it seems all hopes of a Dublin fightback.

“That’s the challenge that lies ahead,” Caffrey concurs. “They can’t be expecting Ciaran to do it for them every day. It was a very simple problem last week when he was unwell and had to come off, but I would hate to think that any time he is not playing, Dublin are not capable of winning!’’

Over-reliance on Whelan is just one complaint of many. More pressing is the continued quest for a free taker to step into the reliable boots of Charlie Redmond?

“Ray Cosgrove is practicing away and Mossie [Tomás Quinn] is handling the challenge. That is where it’s at. Nobody has the solution, to say ‘here’s a free-taker who is going to put over 80/90% of frees’.”

That Kerry provide the opposition tomorrow may heighten the expectation of the fans and increase the pressure for success. Caffrey disagrees.

“We’re not under pressure. From day one in Dublin, the pressure is what you let it be. We just have to do our job to the best of our ability and get on with it. Some days it goes better than other days. The whole trick of management is to lift it up and get it going again. Dublin supporters supporting the team is obviously better than them turning on the team.

“Let people be clear. We went down to Castlebar to win that game. We went down to perform well. We have to face the fact that we didn’t and the lads have to deal with the challenge of getting it right the next day.”

Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe is well aware of that potential backlash having watched highlights of the Dub’s dire fare out west.

“They missed a penalty, had a couple of shots at goal blocked,’’ he commented. “They didn’t deserve to be beaten by that margin. Mayo on the other hand seemed to be scoring freely.’’

O’Keeffe agrees the management would be happier putting out a full-strength squad. But, they must do without their Gaeltacht players due to their upcoming AIB club championship semi-final against St Brigids next weekend.

“While we are missing a number of players, it also means that we have the opportunity to run the rule over the panel in full. It will be an indicator of how players on the periphery can perform,’’ he added.

“What we want to do is to pin down a more consistent display through the full period of a game. But, that’s difficult until you have your full panel at your disposal.’’