McEniff in awe at Dublin ‘machine’
Donegal’s 1992 All-Ireland winning manager himself described Pat Gilroy’s side as “awesome” after they put Louth to the sword by 16 points. He admitted there was no way Louth would beat them in such mean form.
“They were just awesome,” he conceded. “Their intensity and brand of physicality meant there was no way the Louth team could match them.
“After 23 minutes, we were seven points to three down and then all of a sudden they were gone. They have the physical strength, the football ability and their hunger was something special. It mightn’t have manifested itself in the league but they hit the ground running against us. There was no way we could compete with them.
“We didn’t play as well as we might have but the gap between the top echelons of Division 1 and the lower echelons of Division 2 were shown.”
Without several 6ft-plus players, McEniff admitted Louth were always going to find it tough against a supremely conditioned Dublin side.
“They’ve brought a new intensity to their game from last year. Further down the line, they’ll be tested physically by Cork, Donegal or Kildare who are no small sides either. On Sunday we didn’t give them that test. It’s hard to say how good they were because we didn’t play well. We were also down five big-sized players —Brian Donnelly, Brian White, John O’Brien who are all out of the country, Shane Lennon with a hip injury and Mick Fanning with an Achilles problem.”
Denis Bastick says Dublin are aiming to be more “machine-like” with each game. The midfielder, a late replacement for the injured Michael Darragh Macauley, revealed the champions want to add something to their game each time they line out.
“If we try and do the same as last year I don’t think it’s going to be enough so we need to try and improve on that and be professional and be machine-like and do whatever is needed.
“We’re just trying to improve with each game and we need to get better for the next game and build it up.”
Bastick claims Dublin turned their attention to this year’s Championship just a few weeks after beating Kerry in last September’s All-Ireland final.
“A few weeks after September, fellas were concentrating on next year again. We just wanted to get the head down and play the next (championship) game. We were waiting a long time for that game (on Sunday) so I don’t think it’s going to be hard to keep it up.”
Bastick underwent surgery on his knee before Christmas to clear up a cartilage problem and then headed off on honeymoon in January.
He only returned to competitive action as a substitute in the final round game against Cork. He admits he was overeager to get back and retain the starting spot he held last year.
“I came back and tried to overload the work and the knee flared up the odd time. I have to manage it now. Less is more sometimes and it seems to be going well. I played all the league games the previous year and I felt that stood to me going into the Championship. Maybe the rest is going to do the exact same for me this year.”
Facing a decent partnership in Louth’s Paddy Keenan and Ronan Carroll on Sunday, Dublin realised winning the midfield battle was key to winning the quarter-final. “We knew if it came out 60-40 on top in the middle we’d have a good chance of winning the game,” said Bastick, “and they’re two very good midfielders so we knew we were up against it.”
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