Carr anxious to get it right in the second take

Come Sunday, the historical trends regarding the footballers of Dublin and Laois may well threaten to take a new and uncharted course. The last championship replay between the counties did, after all, take place the summer before the Easter Rising.

Laois, it must be remembered, have not beaten Dublin since July 1981. They have suffered nothing but hurt whenever they have attempted to engage the Dubs in summer duels at Croke Park. And Laois have only beaten Dublin four times in the championship (over a golden period stretching from 1929 to 1981). Lies, damn lies and all that.

"I think in many respects the pressure has transferred to Laois," was the optimistic appraisal of Dublin manager Tom Carr this week.

"A lot of people will make them favourites for the game now and rightly so given their performance in the last match," Carr says. "Laois are a good team hitting form at the moment. They beat Mayo by a couple of points in a challenge game recently which I think underlines their quality, so a lot will be expected of them going into the replay."

In the days after the replay, Carr spent some time rewinding the video tape and studying specific incidents but, overall, decided against analysing too deeply.

"I was reluctant to read too much into it. Rarely do two games follow the same pattern. The things that had a bearing the last day may not necessarily have the same impact on Sunday."

Hence, he has not developed any grand plans to stymie specific aspects of the Laois game, such as the dynamic contribution of Mick Lawlor coming off the bench. "Not at all. To be honest, I'd be more worried about their players who perhaps didn't do so well the last day. They are the guys who might do the damage in the replay."

He says that when Dublin regrouped for training after the draw the general attitude was one of relief.

"We were glad to be there really. We look at this as an opportunity, another chance to get to a provincial final, which few teams get. I mean, I watched Tyrone go six points up the last day only to eventually get decisively beaten. So in comparison to that, we feel as though we are the luckiest team in Ireland."

It's tough to argue with Carr on that point. Four points down with a minute to go in the drawn game and the Dublin players were most likely to be on the golf course this weekend. But how do they assess their own performance?

"When I initially thought about it, I was disappointed," Carr says. "But that said, the first 15 minutes we played terrific football. I think that the players relaxed mentally then, felt they had the game won. We also had a lot of possession and failed to generate sufficient scores from that. But we battled back in the closing minutes and it is usual to see Dublin teams benefitting from late goals like that. In the past, teams have done that to us. So there were things to take encouragement from."

No championship would be complete without the now obligatory Dublin penalty miss. It is a streak which is veering towards the habitual - over the past 12 seasons, five Dublin players have stepped up to kick eight penalties. Just one has been goaled. Against Laois, Paddy Christie became the latest to suffer from the jinx.

"Yes, well, Paddy struck it well and it was well saved. That simple," says Carr.

"He is actually an extremely good penalty taker. If we get one the next day, he may well take it again. I certainly wouldn't lose faith in him over one kick. It was just one of the things that happened to us over the game. The players know that as a unit, we didn't reach our potential. If we manage to do that in Sunday, we can win."

But what if they don't win? What if Laois manager Tom Cribben, who has thus far persuaded his players to ignore any obituaries penned for them, convinces them that history is bunk. How catastrophic would a loss be for Dublin?

"Well, it's something we'd like to avoid, naturally," says Carr. "But, I mean, in the long term, it doesn't have to be a disaster. In any sport, any given team can suffer a setback. How one deals with that is the important thing. But getting a place in the Leinster final is our objective. The lads have put a lot of work in over the months and they know what will be needed against Laois."