Whelan says Gilroy erred with changes

FORMER Dublin captain, Ciarán Whelan, has criticised Pat Gilroy for abandoning his experimental defensive system and leaving his players ill-prepared for Sunday’s Leinster semi-final against Meath.

The Dublin boss had attempted to radically overhaul the side’s style during this year’s league and met with some success.

However, there was no sign of any so-called defensive blanket three days ago thanks to the tribulations of their opening win over Wexford, and Meath duly tore through an inexperienced back line to claim five goals.

While Whelan doesn’t believe the 11-point margin of defeat was a fair reflection of the game, he had no dispute with the result and claims the players were left in an unenviable situation by the team management.

“I feel for the players,” Whelan said in his column for the Joe.ie website.

“They’re going to get a lot of the criticism and I don’t think that’s fair on them, because I don’t think they were prepared for it.”

Though Dublin shaded the midfield battle, their back line “fell to pieces”, according to Whelan. The two-time All-Star was critical of the decision to omit David Henry and believes Gilroy should have employed the team captain as a sweeper.

“Tactically, it was a strange day for Dublin and they didn’t get it right. A lot of people – including myself – had suggested that the defensive system hadn’t worked against Wexford but this was a complete change in both system and personnel.

“The way the team is set up doesn’t just happen on the day, or in the week before the game. You’ve worked for nine, 10 months preparing a particular system, so it’s strange to change something drastically at short notice.

“When you do that, it can be no surprise if things don’t work out.”

Dublin have the opportunity to make amends against John Evans’ Tipperary in Croke Park on Saturday week but Whelan insists Gilroy has some crucial decisions to make.

“ I don’t think there are many strong teams in the qualifiers outside of perhaps Armagh, Down and Cork,” said Whelan who played in 2004 when Dublin last faced the qualifiers.

“So, if Dublin can regroup and get a decent draw, they could well play themselves back to Croke Park. But it depends on a lot of things – the draw, morale in the dressing room and the ability of Pat Gilroy to keep that morale up.”