Forward failings only concern for Dublin boss

On just the fourth day of March, Dublin have already completed one-third of their competitive games for the year.

Putting aside how unlikely that actually sounds after completing six of an anticipated 18-game campaign, it is a fitting time for an early review of progress.

The news is generally good from manager Jim Gavin’s perspective, with his primary concern over winter being how his All-Ireland-winning players would react to starting from scratch again.

Thankfully for Gavin, the “energy” and enthusiasm crucial for defending champions has been present in each of their performances, even if they have lost two of those six matches, the most recent against Cork on Saturday.

His biggest concern right now — and it is not something that keeps him up at night — is that his team is a little too forgiving in front of goal.

Of their six matches, three in the Allianz League and three in the O’Byrne Cup, they have averaged a meagre 14 points per game. Equally significant is their average wides tally of 11 per match, with 13 coming in the narrow defeat to Brian Cuthbert’s side.

Gavin said: “I think the energy is still there, which is great. Probably the most pleasing thing in all three of the league games is that there is bite amongst the squad and that’s a quality you can’t sense on the training field.

“It’s really in competitive games where that will manifest itself. That’s probably the most pleasing thing.

“We’re just not getting the scores we got last year but we are still creating the opportunities. Against Cork, we had two good goal chances in the first half: if we had taken even one of those, that would have been the difference.”

Dublin shot their highest tally of the season so far against Cork, 18 points. But the Rebels’ 1-17 haul was even more impressive and, highlighted the sort of challenges Dublin are likely to face on a more regular basis.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte suggested after his side’s high-scoring game against Kildare that the Dubs have ushered in a culture of free-flowing, open play. Gavin noted: “We have seen from all four divisions that there has been a higher return of scores. I think it has been a combination of both, the impact of the black card and teams’ styles.”

Dublin return to HQ on Saturday evening to face a Kildare side wounded by their dramatic last-ditch defeat to Harte’s Tyrone.

Gavin added: “They did everything but win the game and they’ve looked very impressive in the first three games.”

Alan Brogan, Darren Daly, Rory O’Carroll, Paul Flynn and Nicky Devereux could all come into contention to face Kildare, but Bernard Brogan, Paddy Andrews, Denis Bastick and Dean Rock are out.