Whelan: Dubs won’t get carried away despite depth of talent
Claims are being made liberally this week that Dublin are an unstoppable force in the wake of the county’s stunning victory over Cork in last Sunday’s Allianz FL Division 1 semi-final at Croke Park.
Trailing by 10 points shortly after half-time, Jim Gavin’s men proceeded to leave the Munster side for dust, scoring 1-9 without reply at one point to give themselves a comfortable seven-point victory.
It was the kind of virtuoso stuff that made Mayo — labelled the country’s second-best team before their worrying loss to Derry earlier that afternoon — and everyone else look a long way back as the summer approaches.
“Listen, this is the danger, fellas,” said former Dublin selector Whelan, back at HQ yesterday for the launch of the National Go Games Week. “They won two All-Irelands by a point. A point. Don’t get carried away.
“They’ll be talking about breaking up Dublin and doing this and that. Did they say anything about breaking up Kilkenny when they won eight All-Irelands out of 10? [sic]. You just have to take it as it goes.
“Nobody is getting carried away in Dublin anyway. Nobody associated with this team is getting carried away with any of that talk. But this team believes it can beat anybody.”
Whelan was quizzed on the merits of four players — Diarmuid Connolly, Alan Brogan, Eoghan O’Gara and Michael Darragh Macauley. The replies were uniformly positive and could have fit most of the 20 who saw action. Yet most of the talk centred on Connolly, who is beginning to deliver consistently the manner of displays for club and county which his talent had promised from his earlier days under Whelan’s watchful eye at St Vincent’s.
“He’s just getting to grips with what’s required. It’s just maturing. They’re giving him more and more responsibility and they’re good shoulders to be placing responsibility on. He’s a very good player. He’s a good guy to think through things.”
It is three years since Pat Gilroy, Whelan et al guided the county to a first All-Ireland senior title since 1995 and yet all the squad’s vital signs under Gavin point towards more success rather than any tailing off.
Whelan dismissed the idea that this is a team at or, heaven forbid, past its peak. The conveyor line is oiled as smoothly as ever and it almost seemed too obvious to ask if their strength in depth has ever been at current levels.
“Well, you asked me that,” he replied. “I’ll ask you. I’m too close to the scene there. As a neutral now, do you think it is? I think most of you would. I think it’s probably the strongest in depth.
“There are a lot of the team still there that won and broke through in 2011. They’re there in one form or another. They’re either starters of they’re there in the training games.”
It makes for a daunting vista for those standing in the other counties which will compete for Sam Maguire and yet summer is still a distance away. Dublin’s first outing, against Wicklow or Laois, is eight weeks away.
There is, too, the fact that only Kerry in 2007 have managed to retain the big one in the last 25 seasons, but Whelan believes there’s no secret sauce responsible for Dublin’s growing consistency at the game’s upper reaches.
“I don’t know what other counties are doing so I can’t make any comparison. I just know that most of the stuff they’re doing is with the ball. They do strength work and that, but that’s separate. There is a good system. Recovery is built into it. It’s very natural if you win an All-Ireland... if you’re the best team this year, why can’t you be the best team next year? So it has to be in the head. So, if you get that side of it right... and I think Dublin have it right at the minute.”
A 17-point turnaround would humble any team but Sunday’s defeat for Cork shouldn’t be interpreted as anything more than a lesson for a developing team. John Fogarty offers five reasons why they shouldn’t be panicking.
Cork far exceeded everyone’s expectations this spring and the loss to Dublin takes nothing away from that. That Brian Cuthbert was able to marry a new style with results while giving a multitude of players decent game-time will stand to Cork, if not in the forthcoming Championship, then next season. His biggest headache is starting his best 15 but he has twice said he is fairly certain who they are.
Cork know they aren’t the finished article. Rather than build from the back, as most managers do in their first season, Cuthbert has concentrated on attack. He most likely felt the need to do so in shaking off the shackles of of conservatism that was Conor Counihan’s stock-in-trade, from his players. It was a bit peculiar so many were clamouring to describe them as Dublin’s closest challengers when the same amount were writing them off before Christmas.
Okay, Aidan Walsh did appear as a substitute on Sunday but he was clearly not 100% fit after his recent work accident. No player is as important as him for Cork this year considering he is their only proven midfielder. Eoin Cadogan provides the abrasive, steely edge that the team require in defence to complement silkier players like James Loughrey and Damien Cahalane.
In the preview to Sunday’s semi-final, we mentioned that the black card suits a team as pure as Cork. Alone, it certainly won’t win them an All-Ireland but their honesty of endeavour especially in their forward line will work in their favour when the pressure is heaped on defences come the Championship. No team other than Dublin has as exciting an attack as they do. It’s keeping them fed that’s the priority.
Dublin will likely bulldoze their way through Leinster but to reach an All-Ireland final they will have to play one more game than Cork should the Rebels y take the Munster title back off Kerry. The shortest road is presented to Cork them and the cruel truth for Tipperary and Limerick is they won’t have to peak until the first Sunday in July.
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