We have much to work on, admits Cullen
Yesterday was routine business for Dublin, a box to be ticked, another step on the road.
A hollow cheer trickled off the Hill as their man accepted the trophy. The terrace was already less than half full, its denizens streaming on to the surrounding streets contemplating what awaited them on the Bank Holiday weekend when Croke Park plays host to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Cullen and his teammates shared those thoughts.
Having delivered the usual platitudes expected of a winning captain, the Skerries man announced that their season was only about to start, five weeks after they opened their championship campaign and almost six whole months after their first league engagement.
“Very much so,” he said later. “I would have said to the lads before the game that no matter what happened here today, it wasn’t going to define our season because there was always going to be another opportunity.
“As far as we are concerned the season starts now for us. Hopefully we have three really big games to come. We know we have a huge amount to improve on because what we did out there won’t be enough to win an All-Ireland quarter-final so at least we have a bit to work on.”
They sure do.
Of the six provincial finals they have featured in since 2005, this was probably Dublin’s least convincing performance but then they haven’t exactly profited by hitting their straps at this juncture in recent years.
After all, three years ago, Dublin walloped Wexford in this same game with 23 points to spare and entered the last eight with their chests puffed out and praise ringing in their ears, only to run into the wall that was a rejuvenated Tyrone.
“There will certainly be no-one tipping us to win the All-Ireland after that performance anyway,” said Cullen.
“It’s probably no harm to come in under the radar a little bit and that is going to refocus lads hugely. We have a lot of work to do. You can see that from both halves. There is improvement needed in almost every line on the pitch. Maybe we’re not as good as we think we are and we need to knuckle down a bit more.”
Bernard Brogan’s off day was the most obvious symbol of Dublin’s problems yesterday but far from the most worrying. Brogan will return to form. The problem is that, Alan Brogan aside, who was there to pick up the slack?
Pat Gilroy continues to play musical chairs with a number of his forwards, none of whom appear to be the solution to their positions going forward but the question marks hanging over their middle are equally worrying.
Dublin dominated the battle for possession around the middle third in the first 20 minutes but came off a distant second best for large tracts there on in and that will not escape the attention of the next manager tasked with taking them down.
“They had a lot of bodies around that middle third and that’s an area where we pride ourselves in getting a lot of contact in but we really struggled at times. They were very comfortable at times and coming forward in numbers and they did cause us problems for a long time.”
Stuttering though they were, there was always the sense that Dublin would find enough in themselves to edge the tape first, regardless of Masterson’s error. Cullen said as much and the fact is that they won despite themselves, which says something in itself.
The question is whether this Dublin team is better positioned to go one better than the 2010 model and qualify for a first All-Ireland final since 1995. Everything else is immaterial and Cullen, predictably, remains a believer in his men.
“We probably have a bit more focus about us this year. Pat was probably still rebuilding the side quite a bit last year after the quarter-final defeat to Kerry the year before, but we are a lot more settled in terms of the players we have and who comes in. We are a little bit further down the road in that regard.”
We shall see.
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