Daniel Goulding: We must cut out the errors
Ultimately, the All-Ireland champions improved in the second half to win by four, but it was relative progress for the Rebels, given the low of the previous week.
Next up in Monaghan in Páirc Uí Rinn tomorrow, and Daniel Goulding wants to see more of the same.
“The good thing was that we put in a performance and we got to the pitch of the game, like we had against Mayo but not against Roscommon or Donegal,” he says.
“That was good, but we should still have won the game. We missed chances, our execution let us down. Even though Dublin took over possession in the second half, we still had enough chances and we didn’t take them.
“A lot of it comes down to individual mistakes and errors. I had a couple of chances and didn’t take them and other lads were the same. There were a few frees we didn’t need to give away either, it all made it easier for Dublin. We were well set up and there was an honest effort, but we need to cut out those errors.”
Losses in spring can to an extent be waved with an ‘it’s only the league’ explanation, but it’s not an excuse which Goulding is reaching for.
“The league is there to try out new things and get ready for championship but it’s not the be-all and end-all. It’s great to get to semi-finals and finals and get more games, but ultimately you want to have your tactics right and be set up going into championship. It’s a work in progress with injuries and new players and new management. It’ll take a while to get up to full tilt but you want to be at full tilt come championship. The performances has upped, it shouldn’t take a result like the Roscommon one to do that, but the good thing is that it has improved.
“There’s more of a bite in training and there’s a bit more focus on everyone individually to do their jobs. If you can get everyone doing what they’re supposed to do themselves, that’s the first thing. Everything else will follow after that. Against Roscommon, that didn’t happen and it all adds together to a bad performance.” Goulding was introduced as a sub last week but didn’t enjoy the best of games.
He’s keen to bounce back, though.
“There’s no doubt it’s frustrating,” he says, “but what you can’t do is start dwelling on it. You just get the head down and try to forget about it. I’m after playing nearly every game this year and one 20-minute period can’t define what your year is about.”
Overall, it has been a positive start to the year after a 2015 where his services were under-utilised. “It’s great to be playing,” he says, “as an intercounty player, you want to be playing every game, you don’t go training four or five nights a week to be sitting on the bench. It is frustrating (to miss out). There were six years when I was playing 80 or 90 percent of the time and it’s different when you’re not playing, it gets at you. Obviously, you want the team to win but you want to be playing too and you want to be a part of it.
“Some people can break the link between normal life and playing, but for most players your inter-county career is probably the most important thing in your life. It affects your mood to a certain degree, but how you approach that is you go training and try to improve, stop focusing down the line on picking teams and just stay in the moment.
“You’re going to be annoyed and pissed off, but you have to put that aside. If you’re not playing, you have to asked yourself what you can do to help the lads that are playing. No team will succeed with 15 players playing and the rest not happy.” ·
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