Daly glad of chance to bounce back against Clare

This being day one and all, it was hardly surprising both Anthonys played down the significance of yesterday’s lopsided scoreline in Pearse Stadium.

That’s not to say Dublin manager Daly was shying away. He acknowledged a lot of his senior players failed to turn up, but is glad of the opportunity to bounce back against Clare next weekend.

“Hard, I suppose, to put your finger on it, but we don’t seem to be able to do half-baked. There was no signs of it Tuesday, Thursday. We were happy with the training; we didn’t overdo it either this week because we thought we maybe overdid it the week of the Walsh Cup final,” he said.

“The puckout stat at half-time was 14-1 to Galway on our half-forward line, so we’d get no launchpad there. The ball kept coming back down to Gary [Maguire]. As soon as he pucked it out it was coming back down. That was the launch pad for Galway. They just completely got on top in the half-back line and midfield. They look like they have a half-back line there that would be unbeatable, really. [Iarla] Tannian looked unbeatable there, [David] Collins and even Aidan Harte.

“Too many of our big guns didn’t perform. They know that themselves, they’re clever lads, and they’ll need to bounce back quickly because the likes of Clare will destroy you as well if you don’t stand up and win your ball.”

Having lost by 11 points to Tipperary and seven to Kilkenny last year, Cunningham has been in Daly’s shoes. The season previous, they lost by 25 to the Cats in Nowlan Park and ended up Leinster champions and All-Ireland finalists. He wasn’t getting ahead of himself.

“Look, it was a day when everything we struck went over the bar and Dublin were probably bit off colour in parts. That definitely won’t be the way next July or August when you meet them. It’s great for us but it’s only a platform and that’s the biggest thing.”

Daly was reminded of losing to Galway in the Division 1A opener two seasons ago and the annus horribilis that followed. History beginning to repeat itself?

“I wouldn’t think like that. If I did, I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. Every time is different, everything we do is different. You can’t say this is going to be a replica of the season two years ago.”