Lyons facing dual challenge

Seán Moran talks to Dublin football manager Tommy Lyons about theissue of the the county's dual players which is back on the agenda

Dublin football manager Tommy Lyons says he has an open mind on the dual player issue, which he has been discussing with his hurling counterpart Humphrey Kelleher. There will be a further meeting this week.

In the past Lyons has been adamant he didn't wish any of his football panel to be conducting a dual career with the county hurlers. But as the focus on the hurlers' fortunes has tightened and the effect on them of the ban on dual players, the issue has revived.

A number of players are affected. The county's best-known hurler Conal Keaney won an under-21 All-Ireland medal with the footballers and others such as Shane Ryan and Liam Ó hEineacháin are good hurlers who have recently concentrated on football.

"We'll sit down and give it a whirl," says Lyons.

"I'm not interested in having rows because that way you win nothing. I'm on the record as saying that it's very hard to serve two masters but we're anxious to do what's best for the county and I'm happy to discuss it."

On the field Dublin had problems at the weekend, going down to a one-point defeat by Carlow in the O'Byrne Cup despite having led by eight points at half-time. But the panel only returned to training for the first time since the summer last week.

"The players only came back last Tuesday and it was the first session in over five months," said Lyons.

"We've had a few challenge games but haven't trained together. So we're well back fitness wise. But we took a decision after a very big disappointment that everyone should get away and come back fresh."

Freshness didn't compensate for fitness on Sunday with a good first-half performance disintegrating after the break. But Lyons also paid tribute to the opposition.

"We were back last Tuesday and ran out of steam a bit," he said, "but Carlow were the better team on the day. Dublin haven't fielded a team like that for a while in the O'Byrne Cup - I thought the players might as well be playing right away. But there's very little between teams at this time of the year."

After a listless championship, which saw the Leinster crown lost to Laois and a traumatic defeat by Armagh in the All-Ireland series, Dublin face into next month's National League with the confidence of a year ago largely evaporated. Lyons says that the upcoming campaign will be for a very specific purpose.

"We'll be using it to get right for the championship. You don't really talk about winning the league until you're in the knockout stages so I'll wait and see if we get there.

"It's like the August bank holiday weekend when the championship really starts. You try to get there."

Laois's breakthrough in Leinster last year brought to five the number of counties that have won the province in the past seven years and the province is going through a phase of unprecedented competitiveness.

"Leinster has become like Ulster, which is good for football in the province - except the beaten finalists who have to play again so quickly," according to Lyons.