Dublin eager to get back to business
How easy it is to forget now that it was the men from the capital and not Tyrone who approached that game so beefed up on confidence and with the odds seemingly stacked in their favour. Few saw them losing. None by 12 points.
A wrecking ball has been let loose on Dublin since. Paul Caffrey and his management team have been replaced by Pat Gilroy’s brains trust and only seven of the side that started that All-Ireland quarter-final will do so again on Sunday against Meath.
Even the jerseys have changed. The similarity between the new strip and that of those other sky blue underachievers at Manchester City Football Club may be a coincidence but some would say it is an apt one.
Last summer’s defeat to Mickey Harte’s men finally laid bare all the limitations that kept Dublin at arm’s length from ultimate success but Barry Cahill is adamant that the squad has left that crushing disappointment behind.
“Losing any game is disappointing but (especially) a championship game at Croke Park. Being knocked out by Tyrone in the quarter-final, and I suppose the manner of it as well really hurt. I mean, the game was won with 25 minutes left. It was very hard to take.
“It was very disappointing because we felt our preparation was very good. We won another Leinster title by beating Wexford convincingly in the final. It did take a good few weeks to get over that (loss).”
The healing process only really began in November and December when Gilroy and his staff entered the scene. Their arrival finally allowed the players to shake off their disappointments and turn towards the season to come.
“Once January came it was all gone. Done and dusted. I don’t think you can look back negatively on things like that. “You’ve just got to look forward and try to learn from those defeats and hopefully it’ll stand to us on Sunday.”
There is a body of opinion out there that Dublin would be benefit from losing their provincial crown and taking a detour through the back door.
The reasoning? In each of the last four seasons, the Dubs have cut a swathe through the province only to come up short in either the All-Ireland quarter-finals or the last four.
The conclusion year after year is that they have reached the latter stages of the competition undercooked after their exertions, or lack of, in Leinster
But Cahill is having none of it.
The St Brigid’s defender has taken both routes since claiming his first Leinster medal in 2002. Dublin were forced onto the more circuitous approach over the next two years and failed to do any better than they have since.
“I definitely think (Leinster) is the best route to get to an All-Ireland quarter-final. The losers on Sunday will have to play four, maybe five games to get to a quarter-final added to the fact that Dublin perform well in Croke Park.
“During the qualifiers we might have to play down the country and we struggled sometimes playing away from Croke Park. From our point of view we’re definitely looking to put in a good performance and then try to get to another Leinster final.”
First up Sunday are their old friends from Meath. The rivalry has been one of the GAA’s most fascinating in the last 25 years but it is one that seems to have lost some of its allure in recent times. The sides have been drawn together just twice in Leinster in the last six seasons and, though the Royals have been more than competitive both times, their last win over the capital side was back in 2001.
So, is the rivalry still has keen? “I’d say it is, I’ve been involved in a good few Dublin/Meath games over the years and even growing up in the 80s or 90s there was a lot of matches that you would have went to as a kid or seen on the telly.
“It’s similar to Cork/Kerry, Galway/Mayo, Tyrone/Armagh. There’s a healthy respect there between Dublin and Meath. Form and favourites tags or anything like that go out the window when Dublin are playing Meath. It’s just a case of who performs and who handles it best on the day.”
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