Dubs’ Quinn keen to kick on after injury heartbreak
The St Vincent’s man sat out the entire Allianz NFL campaign after breaking a metatarsal bone while training on a beach last January.
It’s the second year in a row his Championship preparations have been hindered by injury though he’s taking the positives from the latest break which has recharged his batteries.
In fact, the man who famously scored the winning point in the 2005 Leinster final against Laois, kick-starting a five-in-a-row of provincial successes, says he’s never felt as fresh and is raring to go again.
Asked if he believes he can start against Wexford, Quinn said: “I’d like to think so, yeah. I’ve been pushing on in training and playing well. Obviously I’ve been playing catch up to everyone that’s played in the league.
“There’s guys with good league campaigns behind them. They’ve had this year and I haven’t so it’s up to me to catch up and try and show what I can do.
“But I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I had something to offer. I’d like to think I’ll be pushing hard for a place.”
Quinn was among five Dublin footballers at Parnell Park yesterday for the announcement of a new one-year boot deal for the team with adidas.
The fact that he was joined by Philly McMahon, Paul Flynn, Kevin Nolan and Ross McConnell at the launch reflected changing times and the influence that relatively inexperienced Championship campaigners will have on the panel this summer. In the current regime under boss Pat Gilroy, reputations and past performances clearly count for nothing.
“Obviously some of the faces have changed and I suppose the mentality of the whole thing has as well,” continued Quinn, who watched Dublin win five of their seven league games.
“We always liked to think we worked hard and always put in everything we had. But I suppose the game plan was much more tackle orientated this year.
“In some of the games we went slightly (too) defensive in our game plan and things like that, other times some of the guys were getting isolated up front on their own. So that would have all been new to us.
“It takes a bit of getting used to. That was probably one of the focuses, that we could be adaptable to different game plans, depending on what was needed.”
As far as Quinn is concerned, change was vital after back-to-back All-Ireland hammerings from Kerry and Tyrone.
“I think we were maybe a bit naive in the past where we have gone in with our game plan thinking, ‘Right, this is going to work and that is it’, but it hasn’t worked. So maybe we have to show that if a certain day dictates that we need to play a certain style of play, that we are able to do it. It is Plan B, maybe Plan C compared to before when we went in thinking, ‘We are going to play this way and that is it’.”
Quinn admits he was also keeping a close eye on Wexford’s league progress with Jason Ryan’s team apparently turning the corner on a disastrous 2009 season by finishing joint top of Division Three.
“I think they have probably been focusing on this date all year,” said the All-Ireland club title winner.
“That’s something we have to be ready for. If they beat us then it sets them up for the whole year. They are going to empty the tank and we have to be ready for it.”
Meanwhile, Gilroy has opted to hold off on finalising a Championship panel due to a number of injuries and will instead retain an open ended panel throughout the summer.
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