Caffrey: Dublin must live with pressure

Former Dublin manager Paul Caffrey has warned the All-Ireland champions must accept the responsibility that comes with the title of being the best as they attempt to combat their recent indiscipline problems.

Pat Gilroy will discuss the team’s unflattering record with his players at training tonight after picking up seven red cards in as many games this year, as well as Saturday’s poor defeat to Mayo.

His predecessor Paul Caffrey says players need to look at how they’re reacting to the pressures of wearing the crown.

“The stakes are higher and it’s part of the mantle they have to carry as All-Ireland champions,” said the Na Fianna man. “Teams will come at them more than ever and they have to be ready for it.

“Because there’s more of a microscope on them, in turn there will be no tolerance for any indiscipline from refs at away matches.

“The players have to look at themselves as well and ask are they reacting right to the pressures on them?”

On Saturday, Paul Flynn and Diarmuid Connolly became the sixth and seventh Dublin players to be dismissed this year. Including Flynn who, having been shown a straight red card, looks set to miss Sunday’s vital trip to Cork where a win will earn Dublin a semi-final spot, Gilroy has had four players suspended this season.

“The figures look quite damning,” said Caffrey about Dublin’s six red cards in their six league games.

“The majority of them have been negative reactions on the part of Dublin players.

“It’s the nature of the red cards that will disappoint Pat most. Red cards are acceptable when there are for two yellow cards and for heavy or mistimed tackles. Those things happen, that’s part and parcel of the game.

“But stupid reactions are not good and you just hope they can learn from them. As the old adage goes, every day’s a school day and hopefully the team can learn from it.”

If there is a blessing for Dublin, Caffrey believes it’s that the problem is occurring now and not close to the business end of the season.

“Connolly’s sending off was very harsh,” he recalled of the game in Castlebar. “Flynn was frustrated and once you do that and refs catch you, it will always be a red card. It was a poor reaction.

“When it runs against you it can really run against you, but they are getting life lessons at the right time of the year. Were these things happening in a Leinster final or in the All-Ireland series, things would be a lot more serious.

“The sendings off on Saturday night were pure frustration and down to something mental rather than anything physical.”

However, Caffrey fears last year’s All Star Flynn could be skating on thin ice for the remainder of the season as a similar offence will result in a doubled ban. It’s a restriction in an attritional position, like right-wing forward.

“That is the huge negative,” sighed Caffrey. “It can turn out to be an awful punishment later on in the year. You look at what’s happened to Tomás Ó Sé with doubled suspensions in the championship — pick one up and you could miss two months or the rest of the championship.

“It’s worrying for a vital player like Paul Flynn who epitomises the Dublin work ethic and whose game is about making tackles and winning breaking ball.

“From management’s perspective, this is something he has to carry carefully. Some players like that, the number 10s and 12s, are more prone to getting sent off than others. They have to put in the tackles and make the hard yards chasing people. It’s a worry for the championship.”

Dublin’s 1995 All-Ireland winner Keith Barr reckons Dublin’s indiscipline issues are symptomatic of a game that isn’t officiated properly. He believes hurling is refereed much better than its sister code.

“Football referees have to start using as much common sense as hurling ones. There were 14 yellow cards or something like that in the All-Ireland club final in Cavan on Saturday.

“The referees let the men get on with it and hurl in the appropriate manner but when it comes to the football, it’s totally different.

“Some of the yellows being picked up in football you wouldn’t say are dirty or over-robust and to see lads going off after picking up two of them is making a mockery of the game.

“I’m not defending Dublin. It seems to be a wider problem. With the style of football at the moment and so many players getting behind the ball and space limited, there are going to be more tackles and fouls committed and referees have to realise that.

“Look at the Dublin-Cork hurling game in Croke Park a few weeks ago. It was a tremendous game and the referee let it flow. But in the Dublin-Armagh game after it, there were eight or nine yellow cards. Football just seems to be singled out.”