No pause to acclaim history for Gavin after Kerry left ‘disappointed’

THE hand of history offered Dublin a warm embrace in Tralee on Saturday night as they remained unconquered in league and championship for a record-equalling 34th game.

But Dublin manager Jim Gavin batted it away gently. For to pause and think about the scale of achievement now would be counter-productive to what they are about.

The record has gathered dust for so many years now, unknown to so many for so long, that maybe its relevance is overstated in a modern context but it frames how consistent his team has been.

“I’m sure if the players, when they finish playing, when they look back on it, they might get something but it is not referenced. Our focus now goes to Roscommon, that is what we are about. We have never looked in the past, never, and we don’t intend to do so now.”

You can copy and paste that answer for next Saturday night too.

For now Gavin was satisfied that, once again, they responded to a difficult situation. They have negotiated a run of games against their biggest rivals over the last five weeks and survived with so many of their best players out.

“We made a couple of tactical switches, boys got back into the game. I thought our boys were very clinical against a tough goal to score into.”

Dublin’s unbeaten status has made this league arguably the best in recent memory and with almost 12,000 present to create a fantastic atmosphere Gavin feels there’s an appetite for more nights like it, irrespective of the cynicism.

“The game we play is one of the best field sports in the world and I think we saw it for what it is, there are flashpoints in every corner.”

One of the main flashpoints saw Stephen Cluxton and Paul Geaney pick up yellow cards for a goal-mouth altercation. Geaney explained afterwards that it was sparked by Cluxton’s reaction to him kicking a second ball, required for a quick kick-out service, away. “I just kicked one of them away and Cluxton just took offence to that,” he said.

The performance was, he admitted, “what we’ve been chasing the last couple of years against Dublin, mainly because we haven’t performed for a full 70 minutes against them. The result wasn’t exactly what we wanted but the performance was good. For me it’s not that we lose games (against Dublin) it’s how we lose them. Obviously we want to win the league, but it’s trying to get things in line, get our ducks in a row for the bigger prize.”

His manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice was, however, “disappointed” with the result. “I’m proud of the lads from the point of view that Dublin got ahead of us down the stretch as they have done a good few times in the last couple of years and we kept at it and looked like we were going to see it out.”

He credited Dean Rock for the quality of his free-taking in tricky circumstances but wondered about some of the decisions that presented those opportunities.

“Some of the frees, to me, looked to be easier to get down at that end than on our side. It was frustrating at times but a pointless exercise giving out.

“I think you always have to look in the mirror and we did after the performance against Mayo. It was one we had improved on but we weren’t good enough at times in the tackle again and it’s something we’ll work on.”

Killian Young (groin) and Shane Enright (hamstring) were both withdrawn through injury while Dublin lost John Small to a hamstring injury.