DESSIE FARRELL REMAINS fully confident in Dublin\u2019s ability to arrest their slide and turn the season around following their fourth defeat on the bounce.<\/p>\n
The All-Ireland winning player and manager is enduring the most difficult period of his reign since replacing Jim Gavin at the end of 2019.<\/p>\n
Their winless start to the league arrives on the back of last year\u2019s All-Ireland semi-final reverse to Mayo, meaning they\u2019ve incredibly lost five competitive games in succession.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Farrell identified injuries to key players and a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal as the key reasons for Dublin\u2019s recent poor run of results, but backed his team to respond in the right way. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we\u2019re very disappointed,\u201d he said after the 1-12 to 0-12 defeat to neighbours Kildare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably felt we could have come away with something today, just the execution was poor at times and we coughed up a couple of goal chances.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I can\u2019t fault the commitment and the intensity,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c(The players) have been remarkably positive. This is a great test of character for us all and a huge opportunity to build resilience and through adversity come to greater strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a baptism of fire for new players for sure and a very different environment for the senior players. It\u2019s all new. All you can do is embrace it and run with it \u2013 navigate your way through it and that\u2019s what we\u2019re about.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a very talented bunch of players, the core group of this panel. A lot of experience, a lot of know-how. I think the challenge for us is to get everyone fit and healthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work out a couple of things. Build in a little bit of cohesiveness into our play and I think we will be very competitive. Where that gets us we\u2019ll know in the course of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wouldn\u2019t be too many backing us now at this stage. But I\u2019m confident in the players. I\u2019ve faith in the whole group to find a way \u2013 and that\u2019s what we intend to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the senior players have found themselves in a situation that they haven\u2019t before. How they respond to that, in terms of their attitude, commitment and the energy they\u2019re bringing to training and how they\u2019ve embraced young players, they\u2019ve been fantastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just not clicking for us and hopefully that\u2019ll come,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Dublin haven\u2019t scored a goal in their last three games. While they created three decent goal chances in Newbridge, they were unable to raise a green flag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it a little bit of confidence?\u201d he asked. \u201cI\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effort to create opportunities was there \u2013 just the finishing wasn\u2019t. Players were maybe a little bit out of sync and that cohesiveness isn\u2019t there and it\u2019s the tightest of margins balls being saved or ending up in the back of the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if Dublin\u2019s aura of invincibility has disappeared, he responded: \u201cI think people would say that was inevitable \u2013 it was always going to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make it any easier of course. We\u2019ve just got to suck it up. Do what we need to do. Stay positive, stay focused on the task at hand, and that\u2019s what we will do.\u201d<\/p>\n
First appearances of the season for Robbie McDaid, back after shoulder surgery, and Cillian O\u2019Shea, who was the sole Kilmacud Crokes representative on the panel, brought Dublin to 31 players used in this campaign.<\/p>\n
Regulars James McCarthy, Con O\u2019Callaghan, Eoin Murchan, Cormac Costello and Paddy Small remain absent with injuries, while prospects Peadar \u00d3 Cofaigh Byrne and Ciaran Archer are also out.<\/p>\n
Jonny Cooper did make his first start since returning and Aaron Byrne and McDaid arrived off the bench follow recent lay-offs.<\/p>\n
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Farrell was coy around a timeline for the return of former All-Stars McCarthy and O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been unfortunate with some of the senior personnel who have been injured for a sustained period,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they come back into the mix, it adds options and strength but as well, it brings an air of calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to have a few players back in the next couple of weeks. It offers us different options for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dublin travel to Omagh to face All-Ireland champions Tyrone in a fortnight with ties against Donegal and Armagh on the horizon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be converting some of these good performances into league points,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe focus for us has to be on the performance and take each performance game by game and continue to layer in improvements, continue to take the learnings from previous games and I think we\u2019ve been doing that<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just taking it game by game, we can\u2019t look beyond that. We can\u2019t get hung up on outcomes or potential consequences, it\u2019s about performances for us. As I mentioned at the start of the league, our ambition was to build ourselves to the extent that we would be really, really competitive come summer time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course the league hasn\u2019t gone the way we would have hoped but we have to stay focussed on what the big picture might be and that has to improve performance as we go and we\u2019ll be looking to do that in the next game as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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