Gilroy to take time regarding Dublin future

A brief spell before half-time in yesterday's semi-final was key according to Dublin manager Pat Gilroy as his side crashed out of the All-Ireland Championship at the hands of Mayo.

Dublin were two points down, 0-8 to 0-6, heading into the last five minutes of the first half before the Connacht champions reeled off four points without reply to open up a double scores lead.

"Things ran away from us, particularly the last five minutes of the first half. We had done alright until then but in fairness the effort to get back was phenomenal," admitted Gilroy.

"I think we were quite close to Mayo's intensity but not quite at it for 26 or 27 minutes. Then a couple of cheap scores at the end, like easy scores that we gave away at the end of the first half put us into

a very difficult position at six points down."

Dublin's lacklustre performance continued as Mayo went 10 points clear before Dublin started their fightback. Alan Brogan came on at half-time in a mov that backfired for last year's All-Ireland champions as he was clearly unfit.

Gilroy added: "Alan got a bit of a painkiller and he felt he was good enough to go but he just couldn't run when he was on.

"It was a gamble, it backfired but in fairness when you have a player like him, it's one of those things that you want to try."

Gilroy stated that he could not fault the players in their effort despite the disappointing end to their double bid.

"I couldn't fault any player for their application or their effort this year. They all did everything, even more so than last year and physically they were probably even a step up from where they were last year and it wasn't good enough.

"So, to win an All-Ireland is a huge task and I think other teams just probably do get a bit better."

Gilroy, who works as managing director of energy service company Dalkia Ireland, will now take some time before making a decision on his future as Dublin manager.

"It's very raw at the minute so we need to go away for a week or two and have a good think, there's other people always involved in me making a decision to go on with this.

"I have other paymasters and things like that, that have to be happy about it. So I'll take my time and think about it."