Marc Ó Sé

A special blueprint for defeating Jim Gavin’s magnificent Dublin team

IHAVE a buddy whose favourite line when his back is to the wall is: ‘I can take the despair, it is the hope that kills me.’ On that basis alone, it is likely that most inter-county managers, as they begin their build-up to the summer, will take their comfort in absolute despair.

And if there was any chink of light for hope to blossom, it was most likely slammed shut last Sunday evening when, in the most clinical manner, Dublin dispatched a Galway team who threw all they had at the All-Ireland champions.

It was the routine manner of their victory that is concerning. Dublin were, once again, carried down the home straight in a national final by earnest opponents, but when it mattered most they were the ones blessed with the composure and conviction to get over the line.

What made it even more ominous was that this time they embraced the handicap of being a man down and playing into the wind — the kind of mountain that most would not be able to scale — as minor impediment.

And did I mention they did all this with the bones of half a team missing?

So it is easy to imagine a convention of inter-county managers gathered in a circle last Sunday evening, humming an old favoured classic. ‘Hello darkness, my old friend… ’ But the beauty of sport is that as sure as the ball will bounce, the darkness will evaporate and hope will descend.

Well, at least for a handful of managers, given that only Tyrone, Mayo, Galway and Kerry can realistically entertain taking down the Dubs.

The task in drawing up a blueprint to beat this Dublin team is huge, but it is best achieved by breaking it down.

The temptation when looking at Jim Gavin’s men is to see this vast, talented panel and, in the process, get swallowed by despair so the first thing to do is step back and look hard again.

The first thing you will see is that this is no team of equals.

The secret is getting to grips with six key players and clambering inside the head of the most intuitive manager the modern game has witnessed.

It is a tough task, because those players, and this is not by accident, happen to operate in different lines, while Gavin’s brilliance is reinforced by the wealth of resources at his disposal.

But there comes despair again, so let’s go back to the light…

Jonny Cooper

He has the instincts to man-mark and the athleticism to play, but he has a flaw common to most defender – he despises players running at him.

He is often cited for ‘playing on the edge’, which is another way of saying he does what is necessary and not always what is legal.

That’s not a condemnation, every team needs their enforcers, but it’s how those players react when put under heat in the open.

If there is a defect in Cooper’s game it is that he can’t stand being beaten, so he will be drawn into tackles he cannot win. This, in turn, leads to fouls which can cost more than a converted free.

Players now tend to go ground when misstackled – you saw that with Damien Comer last weekend when he tried, quite cynically, to bring Cooper to ground after the latter had fouled him in the hope that he would be shown a black card.

Cooper walks such a fine line that he is always in danger of being lost to a card, as happened in the 2016 All-Ireland final replay – and should that happen, they have no like-for-like replacement.

There is a reward there if you run early and often at him.

Jack McCaffrey

No sooner had the final whistle sounded last Sunday when manager Jim Gavin confirmed that McCaffrey is back in action as he rehabs from the cruciate injury he sustained in last year’s All-Ireland final.

He started like a bomb in that game and had he stayed on the pitch, I believe Dublin would have won pulling up.

His pace, ball-playing skills and game intelligence means that even though he is a back, he has to be treated by the opposition as a forward.

Donnchadh Walsh put manners on him in the 2013 semi-final by putting him on the back-foot, and then covering him up the line when he tried to break.

But he was a rookie then and he is the complete footballer now, yet the template of Walsh’s game plan still applies. You have to match fire with fire, but it such a taxing challenge, it has to be a two-man job.

I would ask my starter to go full out for 50 minutes on him, and then I would spring a jet-heeled sub to ensure that the heat stays on right to the end.

Brian Fenton

He is both a ball-winning phenomenon and a lethal forward, in terms of both assists and scores – he was their third top scorer from open play this spring and their best player by a distance last Sunday.

The problem is that not only is he a huge man, but he also has this incredible spring which means that you have to take the approach of negating him rather than seeking to outplay him.

That requires discipline and a complete lack of ego on the player you send out on the field to track the midfielder, and those types aren’t in huge supply around the country.

Apart from trying to break the ball away in aerial duals, opposing midfielders have to accept that he is a better ball player than they are, and that he will do more damage with it than they will.

They will have to accept that their role is to have a defender’s mindset and go out with the intention of spoiling, even if that means they will have no need to hire a monkey suit on All-Stars night.

Ciarán Kilkenny

His importance to the back-toback All-Ireland champions has magnified this spring as has adopted a more orthodox attacking role – his tally of 2-18 made him Dublin’s top scorer from open play on the way to capturing the Allianz League top flight title – but he still goes deep to huge effect.

His ability to feature regularly on the scoreboard should come as little surprise as it was a key feature of his game when the AFL came calling a number of years ago.

The obvious thing is to put your best defender on him, but what is obvious is not always right and Kerry found that to their cost when he pummelled Paul Murphy into the ground last month.

You have to find a player who is physically strong and aggressive, with the athleticism and savvy to track him.

This is a quality issue, and outside of Lee Keegan, I am not sure if such a player exists. Then again, I never said that this was going to be easy.

Paul Mannion

He is the hardest inside forward in the game to mark because he is so big, strong, fast and accurate that there is hell to play every time he gets on the ball.

But that said, I still think too many corner-backs are giving him a soft ride. If I was marking a physically-stronger opponent, all my focus would be on either preventing him getting the ball or stripping him of it, but always on my terms.

While you can’t use pace as a weapon to beat Mannion, too many defenders over-commit in the tackle against him and are brushed aside by force and trickery, or end up in conceding a score.

The secret when marking a stronger player is having the patience to shadow and the instinct to get your hand in when they have to play the ball with a solo or hop.

This is from the first page of defensive coaching, yet how often do you see corner-backs having complete faith in their ability to strip opposing forwards of possession

It is the only way to cool his jets.

Stephen Cluxton

I have left him until last for a reason. Managing the others on these pages becomes easier if you can deal with their captain.

He was the one who dominated our team meetings prior to taking on Dublin, and I like to think that we did better than most against him.

Opportunities to turn up the heat in terms of a full press are limited to set-plays because of the speed he gets his restarts away, but it is still the only way.

There were occasions when he has had his head melted after being faced with an aggressive press, against Mayo in the 2015 drawn semi-final and the first half of last year’s final, as well against us in the 2016 semi-final and it left no mark on him.

But there is no other way to put the heat on him other than going for a full press.

When he retires, this Dublin team will be a diminished force.

But, as Gianluigi Buffon reminded this week, goalkeepers have a long life-span and it is not inconceivable that Cluxton could still be around for at least three more seasons.

Jim Gavin

The great danger in taking on Gavin is that you over complicate it, when it is best to keep it simple.

Any manager facing him should be less concerned about their tactical whiteboard – Mickey Harte take note – and simply confront him with the right mindset. In a perverse way, Gavin has made that easier to do.

His side is so adaptable, they will play ball with you any way you want, which makes a mockery of the notion that they can be lured into a tactical trap.

It is best to take a leaf from Jurgen Klopp’s book this week and have the courage to simply go after them.

That means getting into their faces, setting up with an attacking half-forward line – Éamonn Fitzmaurice take note – in the knowledge that if you lose, you did so by trying to win.

And this is not a theory plucked from the sky.

That is the approach taken by the one team that has pushed them the hardest, and the one Gavin least likes playing.

The rest should follow Mayo’s lead.