'You try to poke a few bears and elicit a response': Ger Brennan on motivating older Dublin stars

Dublin manager Ger Brennan reacts during the All-Ireland senior football quarter-final against Galway. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile.

When Ger Brennan pricked ears and turned heads with his February 1 comments that a couple of older panel members could be in line for the chop, there was an assumption in some quarters that Niall Scully was one of the players the new Dublin manager was referring to.

That assumption and those post-match comments following league defeat to Mayo seem from another lifetime now.

32-year-old Scully has been a leading creative force for the Dubs in their unlikely run to the last four.

Beyond the pair of orange flags he flung over in upsetting Galway, he was fouled for the free that sent Dublin three clear with just under two minutes remaining.

And it was he who stripped Shane Walsh way back the field for a turnover that ended with a Paddy Small point and Dublin closing to within four 12 minutes from home.

“Even thinking back to that comment, like the season is so short and I suppose I'm not one for hanging around. I try to be as honest and direct as I can. Do I get it correct all the time? I absolutely don't.

“But I didn't want to have a handy first season and filter out older fellas as a kind of acknowledgement to what service they've given to Dublin because that would be a poor finish for them.

“So, you try to poke a few bears where you can and elicit a response, and to be fair to all those lads, they've kept at it,” said Brennan.

“Those lads have won so much, they know what to do, and it's just about motivating them, maybe getting inside their head on occasion. But Niall is a fine player, he doesn't take too much coaching, to be fair.” 

After the back-to-back championship defeats to Westmeath and Louth, Dublin are a side transformed over the past eight days. Donegal and Galway have both exited on their watch.

“It's maximising when you are on top within a game, and again trying to recognise when the opposition are going well and wrestle back control, and I guess that's maybe transferring over the season as a whole.

“A couple of victories in the championship, the guys are full of confidence, and they're probably a couple of feet higher walking around their clubs in Dublin the next few weeks because they're still in the competition.” And in that semi-final they’ll meet familiar green and gold. Brennan arrived into the media auditorium mere minutes after they’d been pulled out to face the reigning champions.

“They've found a run of form themselves. They were quite dominant down in Killarney a couple of weeks ago against Armagh, and they've certainly pushed on since then,” Brennan said of the waiting Kerry challenge.

“I would have watched the game on television yesterday, and a fine game of football. Tyrone just kept pushing. They never gave up. I guess Kerry's experience and know-how got them over the line going down the home stretch.” That Dublin are part of the final four line-up is because they themselves never gave up after falling six behind on 53 minutes. From there to the finish, they outgunned Galway by 1-8 to 0-1.

“Credit to our guys and the fellas we brought in too. Nobody panicked. I know I'm on the record as saying the challenge as a new management and a new squad is to find that blend between the experience and skillset of the more experienced guys and blending that with the youthfulness, energetic freedom that comes with being a new guy into the panel.

“All the fellas we brought in today, again, they really put in a huge shift. I have to just acknowledge the work of the whole panel.”