We won’t be at our best in New Year but we’ll get up to speed ALL-IRELAND HERO SAYS DUBS WILL BE READY TO ROCK & ROLL AFTER HOLS
DUBLIN star Dean Rock has admitted the three-in-a-row All-ireland champions could be a little ‘under cooked’ for the start of next month’s Allianz League.
Jim Gavin will give his entire squad a pre-season pass for the second year running and hand the O’byrne Cup ties to Paul Clarke’s development panel. That group of players actually won the 2017 competition and seven of them went on to play i n the NFL. Niall Scully was still there on All-ireland final day and came on in the win over Mayo, his 19th time to feature for the Dubs in 20 competitive games.
Gavin (inset) is naturally keen to uncover another Scully but skipping the O’byrne Cup is more about giving his jaded players some crucial down time.
Some of them have won five All-irelands and four League titles in seven seasons and the team holiday to South Africa doesn’t begin until December 27.
Dublin host Kildare at Croke Park in Round 1 of the League on January 27. All-star Rock, who kicked the winner in September’s All-ireland final, said: “Look, it did us no harm last year. Obviously once we come back in January we’ll be a little bit under cooked compared to maybe some other teams but we’ll get back on the pitch in January, go through our sessions and gradually get up to the pace of things.” Rock reckons there’s every chance that Clarke’s 2018 crew could contain a few more gems.
The 27-year-old son of Dubs legend Barney said: “Absolutely. There were six, seven or eight of them who stayed on the League panel.
“The likes of Ciaran Reddin, he played a number of games in the League and started the League final and played really well, scored two points. Between himself and Niall Scully, they got the most out of it.”
Dublin’s first teamers were also given an extended break from action between this year’s league and Championship.
Rock said it added up to him feeling better come September than he had in 2016.
The Ballymun Kickhams man said: “I think we got it from a physical development perspective with Bryan Cullen. We timed our run pretty well. Ultimately the objective was to get to September and to peak and perform in September.
“I certainly felt from my own