Relegation pressure is all on us, admits Daly
Galway vs Cork, Kilkenny vs Waterford, Offaly vs Tipperary – dead ducks all of them, nothing of any significance to be decided.
Parnell Park, on the other hand, very different scenario. It’s not been a good year for Limerick on or off the field, what with the dragged-out well-documented player/management standoff that has seen them contest this league with practically an entirely new squad from 2009 – but this one game could turn everything right around.
They are not expected to win (even if they did give Offaly a serious fright last time out), but if Limerick do what they have so far failed to do this competitive season and win a game, then they will leapfrog Dublin in the table, and the Metropolitans, not Limerick, will be relegated. Pressure on Dublin then? You could say that, says manager Anthony Daly.
“Definitely, a certain amount. Limerick will feel they have a great chance, they’d obviously have targeted this game and the Offaly match as the two they could win, and they nearly managed it in Offaly – we have to deal with that now, try to get the right result.”
Scoring difference doesn’t come into it. And if it did? Given that Dublin already have two points in the bag after a big win over Tipperary already in the league, and a much better scoring differential than Limerick (-20 as opposed to -56), then this match too would be a dead duck, absolutely no chance that Limerick would beat Dublin by the requisite minimum 19 points to overtake them in the table. Unfair on Dublin? Perhaps, but that’s just the way it is, reckons Daly.
“Because I’ve known it’s been there from the start it’s not an issue, but if the idea was to get rid of dead rubbers, I’m not sure that it’s working. There are pros and cons either way, but with score difference it means every score counts; whether you’re winning or losing – even if you’re being hammered – you have to keep performing. That’s what we tried to do, to play to the death in every game.”
They started out badly, Dublin, went to Waterford for the first round and were trimmed, 4-13 to 0-12, revenge for the Decies after Dublin’s win last year, but thereafter they were competitive in every game, beating Tipperary and running Cork, Kilkenny and Galway close. Most disappointing for their manager, however, was the seven-point loss to Offaly.
“I could put the Waterford game down to maybe being rusty, first day out, and I take my own portion of the blame for that. Waterford were fired up for us, were ready after the league match last year, but the Tullamore match – we were supposed to win that but no-one told Offaly, and they wouldn’t be used to losing to Dublin at home anyway.
“In the other matches we were competitive to the end, but against Offaly, I think our fellas took the eye off the ball after beating Tipp and that was very disappointing.”
Dublin regrouped after that loss, however, and though they didn’t win another game, Daly still feels that overall, it hasn’t been a bad campaign.
“It was an up and down league, we’ve suffered a bit from inconsistency, but I would say we’ve learned more from the league this year than we did last year. We had the big three (Kilkenny, Cork, Tipperary) at home, Waterford, Offaly and Galway away – no easy match there. I think we caught Galway last year, beat them by 12 points in Parnell Park, but how realistic was that? They only got to Dublin about one o’clock that day, Cappataggle were in the All-Ireland intermediate final and some fellas were on the bus from quarter to seven that morning. That match in Salthill last Sunday week, even though we lost (by two points), was an awful lot better for us, we learned a lot more; you see players in a real competitive game, a tight tough battle. I really felt we were going to get something out of it, but it was not to be. If we had got the draw in that one you wouldn’t be talking to me this week. But, that’s the situation in which we find ourselves, and we certainly don’t want to go down to Division Two.”
Pressure game, then, but most of that pressure on Dublin.
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