Dublin have points to make

Ian O'Riordan finds Dublin manager Paul Caffrey unconcerned about Dublin's poor record in Cork and happy with the display in that strange game against Offaly on Saturday.

In a week where home and away rights have become the talking point of the Allianz Football League it's fitting that the perils of one particular road trip comes into focus. Dublin are away to Cork on Saturday evening, looking to settle an old score.

They haven't won a competitive match there in 23 years, which is either a freak statistic or a great plaudit to home advantage.

Here's the deal: Dublin drew with Cork in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final, played in Croke Park. The replay was fixed for Pairc Ui Chaoimh, and Dublin won 4-15 to 2-10. They went on to win the All-Ireland, but one of their many legacies is that they remain, as far as anyone can remember, the last Dublin team to win in Cork.

Current Dublin manager Paul Caffrey should have no reason to be dragged into that nostalgia trip, except he does. His brother John was wing forward on that Dublin team, which means Caffrey has a first-hand memory of that last away win.

"Sure I was there," he says. "Sure wasn't every Dub?"

But Caffrey is not about to be dragged into any talk about Dublin's poor record away to Cork, about finally lifting the hoodoo and so on - even if 23 years is a long time to go without beating Cork on their own turf.

"That's what you fellas keep telling me," he says. "But I don't think we should be looking that far back. I'm only looking forward to Saturday. We're coming off a win last weekend, and all we're thinking about now is going down to Cork hoping the lads will perform again."

Caffrey describes last Saturday's win over Offaly as "interesting", and the end certainly was. Dublin were up 1-9 to 0-1 with three minutes of normal time remaining, before three late goals from Ciarán McManus closed Offaly to within two points. In distance running terms it was like an athlete being lapped and then coming back to nearly win the race.

"Well I don't think it wasn't any one thing," says Caffrey. "Maybe we went to sleep a little and made some errors, maybe players were waiting for the whistle, but I was certainly pleased with the opening hour or so. A lot of the lads took the opportunity given to them and played well. That was the most important thing, not what happened in the last few minutes."

"And I've said all along that the league campaign is about two things: number one, getting a consistency in performances, and number two, blooding and maturing new players. That's a gradual process as well over a number of rounds. So you can't judge anything on one game."

Taken in isolation, however, last Saturday's game did throw up several positives, including David O'Callaghan's performance at corner forward and Conal Keaney's swift return to his best form after an ankle injury: "Well David is a very good footballing talent, well motivated, and is well up for the job. And Conal is an established senior footballer now, so we weren't surprised to see him play so well. What was most pleasing was we were looking for maybe 45 minutes out of him, and we got more than that."

Dublin's overall strength and physical strength was also being commented on afterwards, which hinted at a winter of more vigorous weight training.

"No," says Caffrey. "I think what you are seeing is a culmination of the past few years, not anything than we've done different over this winter. And certainly the age profile of this team is changing a little. A lot of this team came off the good under-21 sides of 2002 and 2003, and they're starting to mature now in terms of their bodies and physical strength. The likes of Paul Casey and Barry Cahill are definitely coming into full maturity only now.

"So we're certainly not doing any more physical work than anyone else. But the way football has gone now the players know they have to be in the gym a couple of nights a week outside the training we do on a Tuesday and Wednesday night."

Cork, meanwhile, have an extra incentive for keeping their strong home record against Dublin intact. With last Sunday's game against Tyrone postponed, manager Billy Morgan is still looking for his first league win.

Dublin's three remaining games happen to be against the three teams above them in Division One A - Fermanagh, Mayo and finally Kerry. It would be a boost if Caffrey was heading into those games having ended that barren spell against Cork. "We'll see," he says, and leaves it at that.

Not surprisingly, Caffrey has kept faith with the team that started against Offaly, which means Shane Ryan gets another chance to shine at full forward, while David Bastick will again partner Darren Magee at midfield.

DUBLIN (SF v Cork): S Cluxton; P Griffin, B Cahill, D Henry; P Casey, C Goggins, P Andrews; D Bastick, D Magee; C Keaney, J Sherlock, D Lally; D O'Callaghan, S Ryan, T Quinn.