SHAKE OFF THOSE BLUES
Costello: League struggles bad for the summer
DUBLIN’S stuttering League form is in danger of bleeding into their Championship campaign if they don’t arrest the slide soon, says Cormac Costello.
One-point defeats to Monaghan and Mayo in their first two League outings leave the All-ireland champions bottom of Division One, the only team with no points, with Roscommon their next opponents at Croke Park on Saturday week.
Dublin suffered relegation two years ago and though they laboured through Division Two at times en route to promotion last year, they still came up trumps in the summer but Costello doesn’t believe that that’s reason enough to be blase about how the League plays out this spring.
He said: “No, I wouldn’t because it goes back to you’re playing against a team that is the best in the country and if you’re not getting those performances right in Division
One, and if you fall into a lapse of losing games, it can become nearly, not a habit, but you could fall into a place you don’t want to be.
“If you look back at the year we were relegated, I think we lost the first five or the first four in a row. Then it creeped into our performances in the Leinster Championship.
“We weren’t performing well in the Championship and then ultimately got knocked out in a semi-final. We don’t want to fall into that trap again.
“So although the first two games, we were bringing lads back, we’re still not at full strength, it isn’t a major worry, but we do want to start getting good performances and getting a few wins on the board to build us into the Championship.”
Costello, who was speaking at the announcement of GETPRO as Dublin GAA’S official protein partner, agreed that Dublin will likely need wins from three of their remaining five games to ensure they maintain their Division
One status.
“I don’t know the exact stats. I think six points usually keeps you up, does it? So yeah, you need three out of five wins anyway.
“Two home games. Roscommon and Kerry. And then Derry away. So obviously three very competitive games. So look, we’ll look at Roscommon next week and give it all.”
Costello (left) has enjoyed his best run of games for Dublin in recent years and, despite several front line players being held in reserve so far this year, he has started both League games.
One player who won’t be around this year is Davy Byrne, a fellow eight-time All-ireland winner who Costello says will be “a big loss”.
“Davy is one of the best defenders, and I can speak from first hand myself. I can tell you he’s one of the toughest men to mark.
“He is a big loss. We’re going to miss Davy big time but someone must step up and fill that void.”