Gilroy out to tackle Dubs’ indiscipline
Including Bryan Cullen’s retrospective suspension against Laois, the All-Ireland champions picked up seven red cards during their mediocre Division 1 campaign — an average of one per game.
Ahead of their Leinster quarter-final against Louth tomorrow, Gilroy feels it will be seen as a chink in Dublin’s armour.
“It’s up to us to deal with it. If you were looking at our record during the league you’d say yeah you can rile these guys, get fellas yellow cards, red cards. Yeah, the opposition I’m sure are going to think that.”
Gilroy even admitted he has purposely played 14 v 15 training games to reinforce his point about the difficulties faced in losing a player.
“We have had games where we have decided to let some teams play without a man for 60 minutes and see what it feels like.
“It doesn’t feel great in the heat. So we are well aware that discipline is a huge part of it but it’s something that is totally within our own control.
“In the last [round] match against Cork, although we got a lot of yellow cards, I thought our discipline was very good.”
Looking back, Gilroy feels the indiscipline boiled down to players being uncomfortable with the fresher tactics asked of them.
“I think it was probably the frustration of trying new stuff, which wasn’t coming off because we hadn’t got our intensity so we weren’t playing particularly well. I think it was frustration that spilled over.
“A lot of the issues were lashing out after bad mistakes. People weren’t particularly physical with us that would warrant us having disciplinary issues — it was more frustration with our own play.
“When we were going well, we didn’t have any issues; it’s when things weren’t going our ways.”
As Dublin attempt to defend an All-Ireland title for the first time in the backdoor era, Gilroy, a member of the county’s last team to attempt to retain the Sam Maguire Cup, reckons the second chance offered in the qualifiers aids the bigger teams.
“In my view it makes it easier for the better teams when you have a second chance,” says Gilroy. “The back door has made it more likely that the strongest team will win it.
“You can have one bad day but if you have two, then you probably weren’t good enough to be the All-Ireland champions. I think it makes it easier for the best team to win it.”
That said, anything other than a Dublin victory would be a shock and Gilroy knows Louth want to prove a point.
“Louth have absolutely nothing to lose in this game.
“Nobody is expecting them to win so you are going to get an onslaught from them and nobody is expecting you to be getting the onslaught so that’s stuff we need to deal with and to be ready for.”
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