Duff: Rebels must not show fear

CORK and Dublin don’t share much in the way of recent championship history but John O’Leary is more qualified than most when it comes to untangling the few strands that drew the counties together twice in 1983 and once again 12 years later.

All three games have been exhumed for close inspection in recent days and any number of the participants have already regaled us with engaging tales, most notably about the second game down by the Lee 27 years ago.

O’Leary and Ciarán Duff added liberally to that treasure trove at a function specially arranged by Dublin’s chief sponsors yesterday but, as with all events from the dim and not-so-distant past, there were lessons and parallels to be drawn for the latest battles to come.

When O’Leary sees today’s Dubs it reminds him of the ‘83 vintage, a team that started the summer devoid of expectation and ended it as champions. When he looks at Conor Counihan’s Cork, he sees shades of Dublin circa ‘95, oh-so-close to the Holy Grail for oh-so-long.

“We were beaten in a final in ‘92, semi-final in ‘93, final in ‘94 and here we were back in an another All-Ireland semi-final (in ‘95),” O’Leary said over tea and bacon butties at the Westbury Hotel yesterday morning.

“Cork have been knocking on the door and they haven’t actually won it. A lot of demons go with that and you have to get it right in your head first.”

No doubt, supporters from Cork and elsewhere will detect some irony in hearing someone from Dublin talk about another county’s mental scars when they have themselves suffered so much at this time of year in recent seasons. Yet, few could argue with him.

Duff, too, made some interesting observations about a Cork side that, for all its ability and ownership of the favourite’s tag this week, hasn’t lived up to its potential in the current championship campaign.

“They seem to be fairly conservative with their play this year, slow build up, trying to be methodical in everything they do,” said Duff who also featured prominently in the ‘83 fixtures.

“They seem to be a little afraid to open it up and have a go.”

Duff was in Killarney the day Cork and Kerry drew last June and he was taken aback by what he saw as Cork’s obsession with maintaining possession at all costs. “If Cork adopt them tactics on Sunday it could play into Dublin’s hands,” he warned.

Tyrone did just that against Dublin in the quarter-final but Duff isn’t blind to his own county’s shortcomings either. He acknowledged that Lady Luck and Tyrone’s own deficiencies had been equal partners in that shock result.

Underneath all the jubilation at reaching the last four, there is an element of fear in Dublin that they have got somewhat ahead of themselves in getting this far and that they might be found out once again at the rare altitude of an All-Ireland semi-final.

Any such doomsday scenario would probably be precipitated by the silencing of Bernard Brogan who has been their one dangerman of note this season but Duff doesn’t go along with the theory that they are too reliant on their talisman up front.

“No, I don’t think so,” said the man who was forwards coach under Paul Caffrey. “In a lot of the games there has been diabolical ball kicked in to Bernard and still he seems to get on the end of something. He had his quietest game in the Louth game.

“Everyone was saying at that time if Bernard didn’t score how wouldn’t Dublin win but they did. Tyrone tried to double up on him but he still seemed to find that yard of space. It’s like everything, if you are on your game things just happen for you.”

Brogan may be the side’s standout individual this season but Gilroy has built a squad that leans heavily on the collective. The fans have been slow to embrace the new defensive Dublin but O’Leary has been won over by the back-to-basics approach: “There wasn’t a lot of honesty in some of the performances from some of the players,” he said of heavy defeats against Kerry and Tyrone in years past.

“There’s honesty in this team. They mightn’t be as skilful but it’s a bit like Ronseal — it does exactly what is says on the tin.

“It gets fellas behind the ball, it makes it difficult to score and, hopefully, we do all that type of stuff and we get a few scores and we pinch it and we beat you. It mightn’t be pretty but that’s what it does. That’s the real thing for me.”