STOPPING THE DUBS
How can Wicklow bring the juggernaut to a halt?
JOHN Evans won’t have had too many sleepless nights since Wicklow’s win over Offaly.
Lying awake trying to devise a plan to beat the Dubs would in all likelihood be a waste of time.
Many have tried at this stage and not too many have succeeded. Beating the Dubs in their current guise is the stuff of dreams.
Evans is an astute student of the game and he and the players will give it one hell of a lash.
His attention to detail and ability to find weakness in the opposition are major strengths of his management style.
It was no fluke against Offaly and too much happened to dismantle the Faithful County men’s plans for it to be. Sunday is a challenge the whole Wicklow setup will relish.
Where do you start to demolish the carefully crafted and meticulously implemented game plan of Jim Gavin?
Is stopping the Cluxton restart enough to break their rhythm? Pundits love to highlight the importance of the Cluxton quick restart, cooing and gushing with praise at how he is the most important Dublin player.
Dublin have still won games when he didn’t have his usual impact.
The change in the rule that no longer allows the goalkeeper to kick it backwards or sideways will limit Cluxton and Dublin somewhat but won’t ruin them.
Do we force him to go long and hope that James Stafford, Rory Finn or David Boothman can win their share and that hungry Wicklow players seize a higher percentage of the breaks?
For this to happen all the inside forwards will have to be switched on at all times and the movement of the Dublin backs has to be tracked stubbornly. Dublin players will position themselves astutely for Cluxton to ping the ball to their midriff. A lot to get right for to make this the rock they perish on.
Our own kick outs malfunctioned for a minute or two in the Offaly game and no doubt this will have been tweaked to perfection in the past couple of weeks. We need to be winning at least 80% plus of our own to be a threat.
For me the only option is for Mark Jackson to put every kick as far in to the Dublin half of the field as possible.
If Dublin have pushed up on our kick then there may be gaps for runners like Darren Hayden, Conor Healy, Dean Healy, Cathal Magee, John Crowe, Darragh Fitzgerald, Theo Smyth, Mark Kenny and Saoirse Kearon to exploit off breaking ball. If Dublin win it they still have plenty to do to get a shot off at the Wicklow goal and plenty of Wicklow men to get through, doesn’t it all sound so simple.
Think of the ground that the Wicklow players will have to cover for this to reap dividends.
Jackson could realistically be expected to take somewhere between 30 to 40 dead-ball kicks on Sunday next. If anything were to happen in the course of the game we do have fine back up in Robert Lambert.
Do you use runners from deep like Donegal did in 2014?
Can you suck them in to defensive setup and break fast upfield hoping to get enough scores whilst limiting them to a total that would be alien to them?
What is the realistic target to set yourself in a game like this?
Do we have ball carriers to penetrate the Dublin lines?
These well sculpted athletes from the capital don’t mind the challenge of a runner coming towards then although as Damien Comer proved in the league final their full back line will foul sooner than allow a goal chance to materialise.
Dublin’s 0-19 total against Carlow at the same stage of the Lein- ster championship in 2017 was the lowest points total they had since the final draw with Mayo in 2016 (scoring 2-9).
Carlow did achieve the honour of stopping them scoring a goal. Those who didn’t want to give Carlow too much credit for the way they played that night felt that when Dublin didn’t need a goal they didn’t really kill themselves trying to get one.
Our back line and in particular the experienced Ciaran Hyland, Paul Merrigan, Harry Wilson, Jamie Snell (if fit) and Ross O’Brien who was excellent when introduced against Offaly will all have to be at their vigilant best to halt the likes of Mannion, O’Callaghan, Kilkenny and Rock who are brilliant forwards.
The Dubs conversion rate is impressive with a double figure wide’s tally a rarity. Eoin Murtagh was another who excelled when called upon against Offaly and is just the type of player who would test Dublin defensively and offensively. Don’t be surprised if he gets the nod to start.
Can we learn anything from that Carlow performance? They only scored 0-7 themselves, a tally that wouldn’t have won any game in the championship in 2017.
They did frustrate Dublin for long periods with ferocious work rate in a blanket defence. Trailing 0-8 to 0-5 at the break a red card for Brendan Murphy when 0-10 to 0-6 behind in the 48th minute signalled the end of their challenge. Discipline will have to be top class on Sunday.
Will Mark Jackson get the same opportunities from dead balls to punish Dublin indiscipline as he did against Offaly? A fine goalkeeper his free taking was a phenomenal success and his penalty save a game and mood changing moment in Portlaoise two weeks ago.
Carlow set up ultra-defensively, they went in to the game with a tailored plan to curb the Dublin forwards and the doggedness to make sure that they took every scoring opportunity they were afforded on rare forays forward.
The likes of Seanie Furlong, John McGrath and Mark Kenny will be the most likely trio at the end of Wicklow attacks and they will need a very high percentage of fruitful shots at goal to keep Dublin honest.
All this has to be navigated with the Dublin sweeper Cian O’Sullivan having the freedom of the park. Will Evans engage O’Sullivan in a one on one conflict? Somebody like Kevin Murphy, Conor Ffrench or Brendan Kennedy could unselfishly do a job curbing his influence.
The one thing that always come to mind is the gap that exists come championship between the top division teams in the Allianz league and those in Division 4.
Everything happens faster and the fitness levels to compete with the Dublin’s of this world are off the scale.
Have we improved our conditioning sufficiently to live with the treble champs for close on 80 minutes?
Can the concentration levels be kept in tune for all that time too?
Dublin like to wait for teams to burn themselves out and then they pick them off and its this ruthlessness that worries me for all not just Wicklow.
Plenty has improved with Wicklow in 2018.
They look fitter, look like they have a plan that all players respond to and even those that come in from the bench are singing off the same hymn sheet.
Sunday will be the biggest test of their ability and fitness they are ever likely to face in their inter county careers and one they should face up to without fear and enjoy.
The mood in the Wicklow camp will have been buoyant the past few weeks and deservedly so, concentration, application and determination will close the gap on Sunday.
For Wicklow to do what many see as impossible they will need to play the perfect game.
Do we dare to dream?