NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE TYRONE v DUBLIN: Gavin Cummiskeytalks to Dublin captain David Henry who feels the introduction of new faces has strengthened manager Pat Gilroy's hand
IT IS INEQUITABLE to make a direct comparison considering what Brian Dooher has achieved, but David Henry has been handed a similar role within the Dublin team. Dublin will look to the Raheny man to become their heartbeat this summer, much like Dooher has been for Tyrone in the previous decade.
The sides renew acquaintances up in the 2006 battleground of Omagh on Sunday with Dublin’s emerging panel more interested in ironing out the creases ahead of the championship while Mickey Harte’s men are scrambling to avoid relegation.
“(Getting to a league final) is not the be-all and end-all for us,” said Dublin manager Pat Gilroy again yesterday. “If we happen to fall into the final that’s fine but we’ve said all along the league was about us needing to try things out.”
Henry was the natural successor to the captaincy after Paul Griffin’s cruciate knee operation and, as a roaming wing forward in the Dooher mould, he is a prime example of what Dublin are trying to achieve.
Gilroy explains: “The one thing that we have done is not concede as many scores as we did last year. In most games last year we were conceding over 20 scores. We had only one game where we came even close to that this year (Cork beat them 2-13 to 2-6). That’s a positive for us. We have to sort out getting some scores down the other end but we’ve started to do that a little bit better in the last couple of games . . . We were in each game with 10 minutes to go which was very important to us.”
Gilroy’s stated brief is to ensure a Tyrone or a Kerry don’t rip them apart again. Dublin can always catch fire, they being the great goal scorers of high summer. Heroes will rise even when the Brogan brothers are handcuffed.
Henry may be crucial to the approach but, equally, so is the rapid development of the O’Carroll brothers in the full-back line now Griffin is gone, while Eamon Fennell and Ross McConnell must prove there is life in a Dublin midfield after Ciarán Whelan and Shane Ryan.
“There is probably five or six of us that have been around since about 2002,” said Henry of the new old guard. “It’s great when you have new fellas coming in, playing with no fear. It puts pressure on fellas who have been around a few years as well.
“That competition is really healthy for everybody and it has created maybe a different buzz in the panel. That is a positive for us.
“It definitely needed to be freshened up. When you go out to a big score in the championship, not once but twice, you have to change things up and that’s what has been done.”
What about his new role?
“All I’ve been asked is to work as hard as I can. That might involve dropping back sometimes and trying to get forward again. We have to do a fair bit of running but try and judge things yourself on the pitch. There are no instructions that I have to go into certain places. Just see for myself where there is a little bit of danger going on and some attacking as well.
“There is a bit more freedom than if I was playing in the full-back line. When you are in the fullback line you probably need to be a bit mentally focused whereas when you are out the field you can relax a bit more, save your energy for your legs because there is a lot more running to be done.”
Dublin may be some way off the top tier of Kerry, Cork and Tyrone but where does Henry see them in the general scheme of things?
“I don’t know. We don’t know because I don’t think we are as bad as maybe results have shown in the past. But then again they have been the results. All we can try and concentrate on is getting the best out of ourselves. If we do that we’ll know where we are at.”
And so will everyone else.
