Dessie Farrell: Dirty petrol still in Dublin's engine
Monday 27 January 2020 16:09, UK
Both Dessie Farrell and Peter Keane were eager to play down the significance of the result when their sides met on Saturday night.
Dublin and Kerry clashed in a rematch of last September's All-Ireland final, and it didn't disappoint as they played out a thrilling 1-19 to 1-19 draw in front of 42,502 at Croke Park.
"It was a really competitive game," noted the newly appointed Farrell. "The intensity for this time of year was significant given it was the opener, the first league game and everything else.
"You want to try to get out of the blocks fairly lively.
"We were happy to try some new players out tonight and some fellas who may not have seen much game time over the last couple of years and then one or two newbies as well. So, a mixture of experience and youth and I think it served us well at the end.
"There's still a lot of dirty petrol in the engine and that needs to be cleaned out over the next couple of weeks. [I'm] just very happy that we competed in the way that we did and showed great character in the second half."
Nonetheless, he stressed the result wasn't the most important factor.
"I think it was more about the performance, we wanted to be competitive," added the Na Fianna man.
So what are his goals for the National League campaign?
"To be honest, I think it's two-pronged for us," he explained. "Obviously [establish] the dynamic between players and new management and trying to bed that down and have that robust as we possibly can. Get our structures in place, so it's all very new to both parties at this point in time so I'm hoping the league serves us well in that regard.
"But more importantly, in terms of the shape and the look of the team as we head into the summer. You know, I'm very interested to see what new talent emerges through the league for us."
Meanwhile, Farrell's opposite number Keane was also reluctant to read too much into the tie.
"Had we won I wouldn't have been jumping out of my skin in here and had we lost I wouldn't have been crying," he stated. "It's a league game in January. It's your first league game, we haven't a whole pile of work done, we've about two and a half weeks of work done, which is similar to what Dublin have done.
"They're probably at a bigger advantage because they're on the go for many, many years and they're very used to what they're doing but it wouldn't have been crazy had we lost the game."
"I suppose neither of us have a whole pile done with the All-Ireland being late, your county championships running late, as you'd well know.
Had we won I wouldn't have been jumping out of my skin in here and had we lost I wouldn't have been crying.
So was Peter Keane happy with the result?
"Yerra, Peter Keane is getting ready to go home, the same way he'd have to go home either which way, whether we won or lost," he smiled.
