Sherlock opens up on early-season absence

Sherlock also spoke about his own – far briefer – absence from the Dublin set-up at the start of the season, prompting widespread media speculation that he had departed Gavin’s management team.

That rumour was put to bed when the 1995 All-Ireland winner hopped off the team bus in Tralee for Dublin’s third league outing of the season.

Yet, recalling that period when he was marked absent from the Dublin sideline for top-flight games against Monaghan and Galway, Sherlock admitted that he had taken some time to figure out things “in my own head”.

“I’d like to think that any team I’ve been involved in, I just want to serve the players as best I can,” he explained.

“And, no different than any year, I was questioning and challenging that. Yeah, sometimes that takes a while to get through and I’ve no doubt that will happen this year, and it’ll happen with any team that I’m involved in.”

On the more general issue of widespread criticism of the funding advantages enjoyed by Dublin GAA – and the inferred slight on the current team’s staggering achievements – Sherlock gave a nuanced response.

“I’m not saying one side is right or one side is wrong,” he began. “What I suppose is challenging for me is how entrenched it’s got. It seems to be Dublin versus everyone else, which I don’t think is a good starting point.

“Unfortunately, it’s a multi-layered challenge and kind of problem, because it involves so many different stakeholders.

“But, ultimately, I want a sustainable model and the reality is, based on GAA and populations and stuff like that, is it going to be fair for every 32 counties? It’s going to be a challenge.”