Jim Gavin impressed by attack mode of ‘deep thinker’ Jason Sherlock

When Jim Gavin admits he’s not a defensive coach, it might come across as peculiar that he added Jason Sherlock to his backroom team this season with a brief on improving Dublin’s attack. 

Even more unusual when it was the absence of a coherent defensive structure that proved their downfall in last year’s championship.

Might it be that he considers breaking down rigorous rearguards as the key to avoiding defeats, like that one to Donegal last year? Certainly, the recruitment of DCU Mercy basketball coach Mark Ingle complements Sherlock’s presence, Gavin’s 1995 All-Ireland-winning team-mate himself an ex-U19 international and member of St Vincent’s, Glasnevin.

Gavin says he’s surrounded himself with “experts”, from his fellow Clondalkin man, former world boxing champion Bernard Dunne, whose official title is sports performance and lifestyle coach, to Martin Kennedy in the National Athletic Development Academy, who is responsible for much of their physical preparations.

He recognised Sherlock’s knowledge from early out.

“Probably when I played with him. Listening to him speak about primarily forward play and his ideas and concepts and strategies, they were always interesting. He’s got a broad range of sporting backgrounds from basketball to soccer and obviously he has achieved an awful lot in Gaelic football and he developed himself each year he played inter-county level. That’s what impressed me, that he wanted to grow as a player and I can see him transfer those skills to his coaching remit.”

Gavin was also cognisant of the need for a new voice.

“I have always mixed my coaching staff, even at U21 level. I think it brings a freshness to it. Players are used to a particular themes and concepts coming from a manager and to have a skills coach like Jason who is a deep thinker on the game and thinks outside the box, he is very articulate and can get his point across in a very meaningful way to the players and they enjoy the challenges he poses them.”

When Gavin sat down with John Costello last September to agree on an two-year extension, he brought up Sherlock’s name.

“I would have went to the county board the week after the All-Ireland semi-final to plan for the years ahead and that’s when that process began. Some people left the management team for personal reasons and, as volunteers, there are big demands on both the backroom and coaching staff and that just gave an opportunity to bring Jason in.”

Few give Kildare much chance of upsetting Dublin in Sunday’s Leinster semi-final. Under Gavin at this same stage in 2013, Dublin beat them by 16 points and demolished them in last year’s Division 1 meeting.

“If you asked me what the scores were in the games, I wouldn’t know, genuinely,” insisted Gavin. “Those games are in the past for both teams. Kildare have that momentum, they’ll feel like they’re in a very good position. They got themselves up in the second game, ready to blitz Laois, they tacked on some great passing moves and got some great scores and fully deserved the margin of their victory [13 points], but they’ll just be looking ahead to two weeks’ time, as we will be as well.”