History on hold for Gavin and his Dublin troops
The experienced Gavinologists in the press corps expected a little fraying of the Dublin manager’s equanimity after a game like yesterday’s All-Ireland final.
A man sent off, some dubious calls, the five in a row . ..
When Gavin appeared the pressure of the drive for five, its presence in Dublin minds, was raised. His response?
“It might be in yours, if you’re saying it, but from our perspective every day we go out, no more so than today, it’s about trying to perform to the best of your ability.
“It (the performance) wasn’t good enough today, simple as that. We can have no excuses for it, so we just need to go away and try and learn from it and come back the next day and perform to our best representing Dublin. That’s the way we’ve always looked at it. It’ll make no difference in 13 days.”
Dublin have replay experience, of course. Gavin pointed to Kerry’s experience in return: “Both teams have experienced management teams and they’ll be well able to adjust accordingly to whatever demands might be out there. No, it’s the same for both teams.”
No advantage there, then. Gavin was happier praising his goalkeeper and captain for his outstanding first-half penalty save. He wasn’t surprised to see Stephen Cluxton produce that kind of quality in such a pressure situation.
“When you see the work that he puts in, every day that he’s working with the goalkeeping coach he’s just a phenomenal player for us first and foremost who really goes after his craft of goalkeeping.
He’s just so impressive and has a great influence on the squad that permeates, guys see him setting that standard and that to me is leadership in its purest form, setting an example and influencing people around him, that’s what Stephen does.
In terms of the game itself, the Dublin boss gave an honest assessment: “We played well in patches in the first half and were about to go in five points up. The last play in the first half they got a point from that sending-off (to leave it 1-9 to 0-8).
“We pushed ahead and went ahead in the second half. But we know them well (the Dublin players), mentally they’re very strong, they’re a very resilient football team. A point down, 72 minutes on the clock the perception might have been that the game was going away from them but all credit to the Dublin players, they tackled and kept their discipline, created opportunities for themselves and might have created a few more.
“But we didn’t, which is disappointing, but we have to reflect as best we can and move on to the next game.”
Being reduced to 14 men didn’t influence Gavin’s substitution policy, he added: “No, I thought they did really well, that’s why we didn’t make them - the players on the pitch were doing phenomenally well against a fantastic, super side like Kerry.
“They’re going to put you under pressure and I thought our guys did really, really well. It (losing a man) changes the dynamic, absolutely it does, but we weren’t good enough.
“In the national league we met them (Kerry) in Tralee, we had a look at them up close. A lot of questions were asked against Donegal and they answered those. That Kerry side is full of quality. And age doesn’t mean anything.
“I thought our guys did really, really well in defence in that regard. So obviously the sending off changes the dynamic absolutely does, but as I said, over the full expanse the game it just wasn’t good enough. We just have to move on.”
Having sent on Diarmuid Connolly late in the game, the Dublin boss said he and his selectors would be revisiting the make-up of their matchday 26 ahead of the replay: “We recover as best we can in the coming days, but we have a very strong squad and a lot of players will be hungry to get on the squad.”
The main takeaway from the day?
“Just disappointed with our performance, that’s the overriding thought,” said Gavin.
As I said, the resilience the Dublin players showed, to be on the ropes and to still keep moving and keep creating scoring chances, keep turning the ball over, that’s obviously the impressive piece.
“But overall in the expanse of the game, it was just not good enough from the standards the players set for themselves - not what I set for them.
“I know when they reflect they’ll have a lot to say and all we’ve done today by getting a draw is give ourselves an opportunity to come out again here in 13 days and hopefully get a better performance. If we can do that hopefully we’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the game.”
Roll on two weeks’ time.
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