Flynn putting in the hard work

GAELIC GAMES:DUBLIN PROBABLY raised considerably more questions than hopes after winning their 50th Leinster football title, but there are some things manager Pat Gilroy can be satisfied about.

His half forwards outscored his full forwards – though presumably not by design – and Paul Flynn delivered another consistent performance alongside man-of-the-match Alan Brogan and team captain Bryan Cullen.

Flynn admits Sunday’s victory over Wexford was anything but comfortable, yet provided Dublin with another stern test as they head into the All-Ireland quarter-finals: the season begins now, as Cullen claimed in his victory speech, and the Fingallians player fully believes that.

“We’re lucky,” he says, “because we’ve now played three very good teams this summer, and some teams don’t get that chance. Laois, Kildare and Wexford were three good games to have under our belt, and it’s about pushing on now.

“It’s the All-Ireland series, there are no second chances now and we have been here before over the last couple of years and we know what has to be done. It’s a matter of knuckling down next week and getting prepared for whoever we face in the quarter-finals.”

Flynn chipped in with a point himself, adding to Brogan’s three from play, and Cullen’s one, and while the full forward line of Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly and Eoghan O’Gara almost completely misfired, Flynn gives Wexford some of the credit for that.

“In fairness to Wexford, they were very sharp, and were well up to it from the start. We just seemed to find it hard to get into gear, especially in the first half. We started off well, but then in the early part of the second half we took our foot off the pedal again, they got into gear and got the run on us. After they got the goal, we lifted it and got a couple of goals and just kept ahead of them without playing outstanding.

“I wasn’t worried though because there was always a lot of time left. It was a three-point game and I always knew we had the power and the know-how to dig ourselves out. We had done it before against a lot of different teams. They played the system very well and it was hard to break down.

“We didn’t break it down that much, we didn’t break it down enough. We had a lot of scoring opportunities, we just didn’t seem to kick them over.”

Flynn was also one of the few Dublin players who retained the ethic of hard work and selfless play throughout the game. He describes his role as more like another midfielder, operating on the wing: it’s a role that both suits him and the team.

“I’m just working hard and just doing my job and clipping over the scores as well, which is a kind of a bonus. There’s no secret to it, just work hard, get tackles in, win breaking ball and get good ball into the full-forward line. It’s the same as every half-forward line, but the main thing is getting the work-rate in. The way the game has gone, tackles and turnovers are important around the middle sector.”

As for the uncertainty of both their quarter-final opponents and the date they’ll next play, Gilroy was typically flippant – saying it shouldn’t matter either way.

Dublin are due to play on July 30th/31st and possibly August 1st, the Bank Holiday Monday, but could yet find themselves out a week later as one of the quarter-finals will automatically go back a week, to August 6/7th.

“You just have to deal with it,” says Gilroy. “You won’t know until the week before, when the draw is made, which is a pity. You could be gearing up for a match in three weeks, and you might be playing in four weeks. I think everyone would prefer to play in the three weeks. It’s plenty of time. But we’ve tons of work to do, and if we get the extra week it might be no harm either.”

O’Gara is nursing a strained wrist from Sunday but should be okay for the quarter-final, as should defender Paul Conlon, who has a problem with his hip. It’s unlikely midfielder Michael Dara Macauley will be recovered from the broken finger sustained in the Leinster semi-final, although defender Cian O’Sullivan should be back to full fitness this week following a hamstring injury.