Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Jim work will never be shirked
DESPITE the massive odds against a Laois win, Jim Gavin insists Dublin need to employ the right game plan to make it eight Leinster titles in a row.
The Dubs’ real ambitions lie elsewhere, with a fourth All-ireland crown in succession very much on the cards, but Gavin’s focus, as always, is on the next game.
“We’re Leinster men and we’re very proud of it,” he said. “I think the style of football in Leinster is generally very attacking based, it’s very much a traditional game and we’ve always valued playing it.
“It’s still very much a competition that we want to win. We place great stock on it.
“We’re just delighted to be back in another Leinster final and competing against an excellent Laois team. It’s shaped up to be a cracking game for the supporters.”
Neutral observers may think otherwise but Gavin is quick to reel off a list of Laois players who he claims can make life difficult for Dublin.
“They’ve a very good blend,” argued Gavin. “We’ve always had very good games with Laois and our focus can only be on that challenge and based on their performances up until now.
“They showed a lot of resilience against Wexford. Down by 10 points, hung in there and came back to win.
“They adapted to the challenge of a counterattacking team like Carlow, they’ve shown different sides of their game plan and it’s all been impressive.
“So we understand the challenge and we’ve done a lot of work on getting our game plan right. Hopefully if we get the performance right, we’ll get the result.”