Counihan seeks Croker comfort

Conor Counihan hopes Saturday will be the first of many trips to Croke Park for Cork this year — but he feels Dublin have been afforded too much of a home comfort there.

The counties’ Division One opener is one of five round games Jim Gavin’s team will play at the stadium, as Kildare have agreed to play their home fixture against Dublin there in March on top of the Leinster champions’ allocation of four home NFL ties.

In their All-Ireland winning year of 2011, Pat Gilroy’s side played just three times outside of Croke Park, all of them in the league.

Should Dublin retain their provincial title this year, their only games outside of the Jones Road venue are likely to be their league games against Kerry (February 10) in Killarney and Donegal (April 7).

All four of their league fixtures in March will be in Croke Park.

Speaking at yesterday’s Allianz Leagues launch in the Hogan Stand, Counihan believes Dublin’s number of games there is excessive but insists few other teams have many grievances playing them at it.

“I suppose in terms of five, it is probably a bit much. But you can see the balance of that in terms of are there many people saying we don’t want to play here?

“From a support point of view, it is (an advantage to Dublin). But that’s a good test for the opposition. If you can overcome that sort of partisan situation, it will stand you in good stead.”

As much as Counihan believes the Croke Park experience is of great benefit to Dublin’s younger players, he doesn’t believe it’s a psychological advantage to the men from the capital.

“Is it? I don’t know. Everything is a benefit to them if you allow it. We can’t do much about that. We have to get out and do our own thing and not worry about that.

“If I was to go out and say it’s worth a point or two to them, you’re already giving up a few inches to them. When the ball is thrown in, it is nil-all. We have to do our thing then.”

Counihan will be aiming to win his fifth piece of league silverware in as many years (Division One title in 2009, Division One crown the last three seasons) with dual players Eoin Cadogan and Damien Cahalane having committed solely to the footballers for the season. He admits he would be smarting from their decision if he were in Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s shoes.

“The whole dual thing is extremely difficult now and Eoin would have felt himself that he could be out every Sunday in February, March and April and trying to maintain that was always going to be difficult.

“Damien is the other side of that. He’s a very young player who needs to establish himself in one code.

“The lads decided to come our way. In other times, they would have gone the other way. But look, if I was in the hurling side, I would feel the pinch in terms of the loss but that’s the way it goes.”

The Aghada man revealed he didn’t look for a two-year extension but felt it was the right offer from the county board.

“The board had offered two years. I think that was important in the sense that it just lets players know that we are going to be around for two years.

“This is going to be the plan and we’re sticking to it. Everyone is clear that this is the way we are going to do it for the next two years.”

Counihan expects he won’t have Paddy Kelly (hip injury) available for another six weeks while Daniel Goulding is four weeks away from a return as he gets a minor operation on an ankle injury this week.

The manager looks on this forthcoming campaign as the most competitive Division One groups in years.

“It is very, very strong. But, if you look at any of the leagues down along, whether it is second, third or fourth, they are very, very competitive.

“And we saw that ourselves a couple of weeks ago when we played Tipperary. It’s incredibly competitive. Any manager is going to find it tough to just keep their team in the Division it is in.”