Leinster six-in-a-row not a priority for Dubs’ manager Gilroy

DUBLIN have yet to begin their 2010 championship campaign, but manager Pat Gilroy has indicated that claiming a sixth provincial title on the trot is not a priority.

The St Vincent’s clubman yesterday named his starting 15 for Sunday’s Leinster opener against Wexford at Croke Park and has included five players making their starting championship debuts. Only seven of the players who started in last August’s defeat by Kerry have bridged that ten-month gap as Gilroy attempts to break August’s glass ceiling and deliver an All-Ireland title to the capital.

This clearly remains a Dublin side deep in transition and Gilroy admits that, while the changes are designed to scale the Hogan Stand steps in September, it could prevent them doing likewise come mid-July.

“It could happen. That’s not our intention. Our intention is to go out and win every game. With such a new team we really have to take it one step at a time. Our only focus since April 10 has been on the Wexford match.

“We’ve looked no further than that,” he insisted. “It’s a big challenge for a lot of the fellas. It’ll be the first time playing in Croke Park for a number of them and we have to see how they get on with it.”

Gilroy is adamant Dublin simply couldn’t justify a repeat of the selection that was trimmed so badly by Kerry in the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final.

“It didn’t work for us in terms of performances in the last two years to justify going with the same approach. We brought in a lot of new players this year. They performed quite well in the league but this is going to be a huge test for them.

“There’s a big difference between league and championship football and I think we saw that borne out last weekend.”

The five newcomers are Philly McMahon, Mick Fitzsimons, Niall Corkery, Cian O’Sullivan and Kevin McManamon and the first two of those will join number three Rory Carroll in a hugely inexperienced full-back line.

“We’ve been concentrating on improving the defensive side of our game and, maybe with a lot of these guys, that particular side of their game might be stronger than we’ve had in the past. That might be a trait that we’d put on all of those guys.”

Wexford manager Jason Ryan has already expressed his concerns over the new, rugged style which Dublin have supposedly embraced and Gilroy was asked if the less flamboyant boys in blue will go down well on the Hill this summer.

“I don’t know. You would have to ask them that question. There were decent crowds at our league matches and we seemed to be getting decent amounts of encouragement from the supporters in terms of the way we acquitted ourselves so I don’t think anyone would be happy for us to go out and concede huge scores again. We had to do something about that so we will take it as it comes.”

DUBLIN (SFC v Wexford): S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, Rory O’Carroll, P McMahon; D Bastick, C O’Sullivan, B Cahill; E Fennell, R McConnell; N Corkery, D Henry, P Flynn; C Keaney, B Brogan, K McManamon.