It’s still all to play for, insists Pillar

WE saw Paul ‘Pillar’ Caffrey for the first time when he emerged from the Dublin dressing room shortly after yesterday’s game in Croke Park.

The Dublin manager watched the game from the Hogan Stand, having been handed a one-match sideline ban following his minor confrontation with then Mayo coach John

Morrisson before the start of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

When he was asked about the referee’s decisions to disallow the ‘goal’ scored by Graham Geraghty and not to award the Meathman a penalty, he was insistent that the referee was right. “Television replays will show that they were fairly clear-cut decisions,’’ he commented.

Questioned later, he agreed that the view from the stand had been ‘very clear.’ “You ‘do’ see more and I would be very clear-cut on the decisions. I thought the referee did a fine job on it.’’

“If Caffrey had a regret about the outcome, he didn’t show it. And, from a brief comment he made on this issue, he didn’t give any indication about how he really felt at the final whistle. His team survived the game — “we weren’t beat,’’ — so it was a question of ‘tempering’ his disappointment with the result.

“It was a fantastic game in terms of what both teams brought to the table,’’ he said. ‘‘Maybe it’s the start of a renewed rivalry between Dublin and Meath.

“It was our first game in eight weeks. I was very pleased with the battling qualities out there. Let’s see what happens the next day.’’

Caffrey acknowledged that the fact of not having a preliminary game ‘was always going to be a factor.’ However, while this game would undoubtedly benefit his team, he had no doubt that it would ‘bring Meath on’ too. “It’s all to play for going forward. There was a lot of heart shown by the Dublin players.’’

And yet, when asked if he had expected Meath to ‘throw the kitchen sink’ at them, he said that he expected Dublin to do this.

But, he wasn’t complaining. Again, he remarked on the game. “It was a fantastic game, great intensity.’’

He politely dismissed a reporter who asked if he thought that the game ‘might have been going’ his team’s way when they opened up an early five points lead.

“When the referee blows the final whistle, that’s when you want to be five points ahead,’’ he responded.

Meanwhile, he didn’t rule out the possibility of Jason Sherlock, Kevin Bonner and Niall O’Shea being fit for the replay.