Gilroy: We won’t lose any sleep if we don’t get into semi-finals
In a repeat of last year’s final, the All-Ireland champions travel to Cork tomorrow knowing they must pick up something to be sure of making the last four. However, Gilroy isn’t perturbed by the prospect of finishing outside the play-offs
He insisted: “It wouldn’t be a disaster. We recognise we’ve changed the team a lot. We’re after seeing a number of fellas we hadn’t had a good look at before. We got a certain amount of benefit out of the games already. We know we’ve lots of work to do but at the same time we won’t be losing any sleep if we don’t get into the semi-finals.”
The Dublin camp discussed their recent 12-point defeat to Mayo and indiscipline last Tuesday where Gilroy says there was “frank talking”.
Describing his team’s work-rate and intensity in Castlebar as “shocking”, he said: “The group has got to the stage where they’re very honest and we’re very honest with them. We know if we’re off by a slight bit in terms of our work-rate we’re not a great team. It’s as simple as that.
“We pointed to a number of things we did on the day that wasn’t the norm and we know we won’t get away with it against anyone.”
Gilroy takes heart from how Brian Cody’s team recovered from their league final defeat last year.
“Look at the Kilkenny hurlers last year in the league final against Dublin — they weren’t anywhere near the intensity they were for the rest of the year. If we can get a similar response, we’ll be very happy.”
Captain Bryan Cullen agrees, pointing out that Dublin have bounced back from heavy defeats in the past.
“We have had glitches along the road before. It’s not the end of this world for this group. I’m glad it’s happened now and not during the summer.
“We have had a chance to sit down and address what we have been doing well and what we’ve been doing poorly both on and off the pitch.
“I’d like to think the group has been refocused over the last five or six days and we’ll see a better performance this weekend.”
As regards Dublin’s indiscipline problem, Cullen is one of four players who have been hit with one-match bans during the campaign.
His fellow wing-forward Paul Flynn is suspended tomorrow as he serves a suspension.
Cullen isn’t concerned about the threat that hangs over both himself and Flynn of double bans considering their attritional roles.
“Is it a worry? I’ve never got a red card playing for Dublin so it’s not something I would be thinking about.
“I was a bit disappointed to be cited in the first place but there’s no point in going down that road. It would be very unusual for the two of us to have discipline problems.
“I’d like to think it’s a one-off. These are things we talk about. We know our discipline hasn’t been anywhere near good enough.
“It’s something we need to concentrate on and I’d like to think we wouldn’t be foolish enough to let the rest of the lads down with a silly red card.”
Denis Bastick is an injury concern (knee) while Barry Cahill should be available despite damaging a toe last week.
