The Irish Mail on Sunday

Dubs must use squad turmoil as a motivation

- Michael Duignan

AFEW Saturdays ago, the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire was the place to be. Cuala were celebratin­g the All-Ireland club hurling triumph and I was asked along to be part of the medal presentati­on. Looking at the faces in the room, and all the players in demand on various fronts, there was a bit of discussion about what’s involved now, at club and county level.

Cuala have a lot of players used to operating at the top with Dublin – Paul and Mark Schutte, David Treacy, Darragh O’Connell just for a start – and naturally, there was a bit of a discussion about this issue.

Long before I was selected as a minor with Offaly in 1986, all I wanted to do was play for my county. Who was managing Offaly didn’t bother me. Obviously, some of those in charge achieved more with us, but I started out on the basis that I was lucky enough to have the ability and the chance to play.

If you’re in your late teens and want to be successful, you have to decide that you’re willing to give the next 15 years of your life. That’s your starting point.

You have to make a lifestyle choice. Being picked, being dropped, playing under different personalit­ies – you’re going to get all that. Factor in pressures of college, pressures of work, and you need to be clear about everything involved.

When I started though, the cult of the manager was only really getting going.

Now, they get too much credit when a team wins and too much flak when they lose.

Larger than life figures like Ger Loughnane came along and the influence of a manager nowadays would be seen as much greater. Earlier this week, you heard Lee Chin talking about Davy Fitzgerald’s influence, even though the Wexford manager is technicall­y suspended. The amount of players opting out at inter-county level is very topical right now and everyone is wondering what is going on in Dublin with the fall-off of players under Ger Cunningham (left), the Schuttes of Cuala the most recent to opt off the squad – Mark instead taking up an invite from Jim Gavin to train with the county football team. The man-management part of a squad is so much more important now than it was in the past. You stood on your own two feet and got on with it. When players don’t play for their county, it’s often because of a gripe with the manager.

For whatever reason, there is an inordinate amount of players who don’t want to play for Dublin right now. My only dealings with Cunningham have been on a personal level. I always found him very good company and, as a player, he was a high achiever.

Whether it’s a Dublin-Cork thing or the resistance to change when Anthony Daly walked away, the build-up for Dublin’s Leinster quarter-final against Galway has been overshadow­ed by the story of how the squad has changed.

When you see the Schuttes – very passionate and talented players – no longer being involved, you do begin to wonder.

I would have great regard for Michael Carton and he opted off and had a cut at management. Danny Sutcliffe went to America. And so on.

It’s a pity because of the great strides made by Dublin in winning the National League in 2011 and a Leinster title in 2013. The only thing left is an All-Ireland. Yet it seems further away than ever.

As Anthony Cunningham’s experience with Galway showed, when you lose the dressing room, or even a crucial part of it, you’re gone.

Now the Dublin players who are there might argue the opposite. We’ll know by late this afternoon whether any cracks will be magnified or whether the players that are there can restore faith.

Galway demolished Tipperary who thrashed Dublin early in the spring and if the Dubs fall behind early on, they could get a hiding.

I’m hoping a young team attacks the game like Cork last weekend against Tipp and shows what is possible when you approach the game without fear.

Look at Damien Cahalane going man-to-man with Séamus Callanan. That’s defending.

Cork’s basics of the game were so good and that result has to give other counties, particular­ly the likes of Dublin, reason for optimism.

David Burke is the best midfielder in the game and the Galway attack showed in the League final that they can do serious damage if they get their runners going. But Dublin might as well go and hurl in order to gauge their current standing rather than set out to frustrate Galway or keep the score down.

After being hammered by Tipp in the first round of the League, the players showed serious character to go down to Cork and win.

Cunningham would have been under a fair bit of personal pressure going up against his own and was able to get a performanc­e out of the players.

A lot of stuff is outside the camp rather than inside.

That can galvanise a group. That’s a big motivation­al tool.

I am expecting a big performanc­e.

Davy Fitzgerald and Wexford, too, will be on their guard in the other quarter-final. Two summers ago, I saw Laois beating Offaly in O’Moore Park for first time since 1972.

They put up 29 points that day. In Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher, they have a forward of serious talent.

Then there’s Paddy Purcell who hit 3-6 from play against Meath in the Leinster qualifier.

So this quarter-final is not a foregone conclusion, particular­ly in Portlaoise and with Fitzgerald banished to the stand, and they will be relieved if they come away with a win.

 ??  ?? GLORY DAYS: Dubs celebrate 2013 Leinster title success
GLORY DAYS: Dubs celebrate 2013 Leinster title success
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