GAELIC GAMES: Seán Moran talks to Dublin manager Tommy Lyons who is not overlyconcerned about his defence

New Leinster champions Dublin are hopeful that Jonny Magee will return for next month's All-Ireland quarter-final. Centre back Magee sustained a knee injury in the provincial semi-final win over Meath three weeks ago. He has been undergoing intense treatment since and has taken the first steps towards recovery.

"This will be a big week for Jonny," says manager Tommy Lyons. "We're starting him up training and see how he gets on turning. Up to now it's been straight running. He had a significant tear in his lateral ligament and we're not quite sure if there's been further damage to the cruciate. To be honest I haven't been paying his injury much attention for the past fortnight but he has been healing nicely. We'll have a look this week and hope to have him back for the quarter-finals."

In Magee's absence the defence underwent some anxious moments with Kildare's forwards and centrefielders regularly finding gaps through the middle, as Dublin tried without success to find a convincing replacement for the Kilmacud Crokes player.

Lyons, however, disagrees that there are question marks over the defence.

"I don't think we've a big problem. Kildare pulled everyone back outside the 50-yard line bar two forwards. They also pulled back to the wings and ran through the middle. That was Kildare. Call it a defensive problem if you want but I'm not overly concerned."

He does accept though that there is a problem with the dead-ball kicking. Neither Ray Cosgrove nor John McNally had particularly productive afternoons from either frees or 45s. It is unusual for a team at this stage of the championship not to have a prolific place kicker. On Sunday only three of Dublin's 2-13 came from place-kicks.

"I wouldn't be happy," says Lyons. "We're doing an awful lot of work on place-kicking but it's funny the more we practise, the worse we seem to get. The grass is a bit tight for the kicker but that's not an excuse. John Doyle was kicking his without any difficulty and Stephen Cluxton has no difficulty kicking 70 yards off the surface. Place-kickers are all different and different things bother them."

Whereas everyone who has spoken about it has paid tribute to the new Croke Park and the atmosphere created, particularly by the 40-year record attendance of 78,033 at the weekend, there has been much debate about the impact of the new pitch at the venue.

Considerably expanded, it now boasts nearly maximum dimensions. Dublin have been seen to benefit because of their fast, elusive forwards and the way their game plan exploits the space.

Lyons thinks that the importance of the playing surface has been exaggerated. "I don't think it's as important as people make it out. Just because you've a big, open pitch doesn't mean you'll have open football. If teams want to push up and squeeze the play they will, although the size of the pitch helps the forwards get space. But it's the way both sides played football that made it so good. Only 28 frees in the whole match is an endorsement of both Dublin's and Kildare's approach to the game."

Lyons has rebuilt the Dublin team since taking over. Six of the team are in their first season as first-choice players. He has stressed since the beginning of the year that the team was a work-in-progress. Throughout the league, the team was developed and for the most part was the championship side in embryo. Even so, he is not surprised at the rate of development against the top teams in Leinster of recent years, Meath and Kildare. While delighted with Alan Brogan's contribution to date, Lyons is careful to place the young corner forward's season in perspective.

"Young players in senior football can develop in a couple of ways. They can blossom immediately or make more gradual progress. Alan had an awful day against Wexford, a great day against Meath and another one yesterday. That's the way he is, an instinctive player."

The youthful nature of the team means that there is considerable experience on the bench and that came into play at the weekend when with nerves twitching a bit in the face of Kildare's fightback, two of the 1995 All-Ireland winning team, Jason Sherlock and Dessie Farrell, were introduced with 15 minutes left.

"The story of the second half," says Lyons, "was that we were starting to control the game and looked like pulling away when we gave them a soft goal. Then after our two goals, we had great chances to put them away but as happens a young team, we didn't kill the game. But when Jason (Sherlock) and Dessie (Farrell) came on I thought they did awful well. Jason won a ball he had no right to. He was half killed doing it; fellas twice his side wouldn't have done it."