Quinn has sights set on June

Of all the apparent weaknesses in a team - inexperience, inconsistency, even general incompetence - perhaps the hardest to rectify is being counted on to collapse in a crisis. Yet that's the most apparent weakness in the Dublin footballers, their defeat to Mayo on Sunday providing the latest example of how a comfortable half-time advantage can be quite easily surrendered before the end.

Dublin's problem, it seems, is coping when the opposition come hurtling back at them. Sunday was practically an action replay of last summer's All-Ireland semi-final between the teams, the slight difference on that occasion being Dublin were seven points ahead about 10 minutes into the second half. On Sunday they were five points up at half-time, failed to score again, and Mayo won by a point.

There are also the two recent examples against Tyrone - the opening league match this year, when Dublin were also up five points at half-time and still lost, and also the All-Ireland quarter-final of 2005, when Dublin were again five points up before the game ended in a draw.

The danger of this becoming a chronic weakness doesn't appear to worry the team. Corner forward Tomás Quinn admits Sunday's defeat was disappointing, especially given the immediate consequences, but he still doesn't expect it to count for anything come the summer.

"We were viewing that as a knock-out game," says Quinn, "which effectively it was, to get into the semi-finals. We haven't had the chance yet to talk a whole lot about what went wrong. Obviously if you don't score for a whole half of a game there are a lot of things to put right. But there's no panic. There'll be no big inquest. It's just a case of realising what exactly happened.

"It's certainly nothing to do with fitness, that's one thing we're definitely not lacking. The sending-off (of Conal Keaney) was a factor, but it wasn't the reason we lost. It changed the way we went about the game, because he was a big loss.

"But it's only April, so we're not going at it 100 per cent. Not even 80 per cent. But we're getting there. We'll be right for the June bank holiday weekend. At the moment everything is about building towards that. . . and I think it really will come right come June, and that's what matters."

Positive words which clearly mirror the thoughts of manager Paul Caffrey - and yet Dublin must beat Kerry on Sunday to preserve their Division One status. Again Quinn is not getting overly worked up about that. Dublin have had a shaky league for the past few years and have still come good for the summer.

"There are two ways of looking at that," he adds. "The statistics don't lie and a lot of teams that have won the league have done well in All-Ireland. But in terms of our own preparation everything is about the summer . . .

"But staying in Division One will be very important. So it makes for a very competitive game against Kerry, effectively do-or-die for both teams. We still want to be playing the best teams in preparation for the championship, and Division One next year clearly gives us the chance to do that."

Quinn has the date June 3rd stamped onto his brain, when Dublin play the winners of Kildare and Meath in the Leinster championship quarter-final.

Despite missing out on the league semi-finals, Dublin, he says, are learning all the time.

"There's been some serious competition for places during the league, all over the field. The likes of Ger Brennan and young guys like Diarmuid Connolly have added a lot to the team. Bernard Brogan is getting his chance as well. That pushes everyone on, because no one can sit still. And I think we've a few more championship options there.

"That Meath-Kildare game will stand to whoever comes out of it, and will love the chance to come into Croke Park and take us on. We found last year the Longford game stood to us. All the way through Leinster it was arguably our toughest game. But we all fully believe we're capable of winning the All-Ireland. I wouldn't be doing all this if I didn't believe that."