'Consistency is the challenge for us' admits Dessie Farrell after Dubs see off Kildare

Dublin were impressive as they took care of the Lilywhites.

ON THE ROAD: Dublin manager Dessie Farrell and Dean Rock at Nowlan Park. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

Dessie Farrell believes the lack of a cut-throat nature to the championship thus far has been a contributory factor to Dublin’s on-off form.

Impressive in how they saw off Kildare in Kilkenny on Saturday evening, the win followed a pattern of Dublin delivering a commendable display every second game.

“It’s just that consistency is the challenge for us and it’s what we’re going after,” said Farrell. “The players are very aware of that themselves. The new competition format, everybody is trying to get their head around that. It’s not straight knock-out. That perhaps takes some of the edge off. It shouldn’t be an excuse really but it’s something we’ve discussed and are keen to address in terms of getting that quality and consistency in our performance week-in, week-out.” 

Farrell admitted the six-day turnaround from the draw against Roscommon was a challenge and the scheduling should be eased by the fixture makers in 2024.

“Games at this time of year are definitely to be welcomed. The six-day turnaround is probably tough. That’s something that can be looked at for the competition next year by the authorities but we’re not complaining, we got the business done today and we’re happy to move on.” 

On the injury front, he mentioned the likes of Ciarán Kilkenny, Davy Byrne and Jack McCaffrey should be available for selection against Sligo in two weeks’ time. Kilkenny was named on the bench but wasn’t used.

“Ciarán picked up a bang last week and we just thought it might be better to hold him if we could manage it and let that injury settle. We were able to do that and Ciarán will work hard with the recovery and the rebab and that over the next two weeks.

“Davy just got a twist on the knee, whatever little twist he had. The picture is good for Davy. He had a scan and he should be back on the training ground next week.” 

About McCaffrey, Farrell remarked: “Disappointed we didn’t have him for this one. Jack’s one of those players that would like to be getting game-time but we just didn’t want to take the risk for this one. We’re hopeful he will be fully fit to participate for the next one.” 

Kildare manager Glenn Ryan admitted the losing performance was “bewildering”. He said: “I don’t think we worked hard enough. In the second half, we kicked five out of 14 attempts. That’s not good enough.” 

continued: “Our problems are within the four walls of the dressing room. We go to training, we try to correct them, we put stuff in place to make you a better side and then you get days like today.”