Jim Gavin critical of GAA decision to drop official clock idea

Dublin football manager Jim Gavin has expressed disappointment at the manner in which the official clock or hooter idea was disposed of at the GAA's recent annual congress.

The concept was twice voted through by congress but after review by Croke Park, a motion to remove it (albeit unimplemented) from the Official Guide received the necessary two-thirds support.

“Yeah, that really caught me off guard I have to say,” he said at yesterday’s launch of the Dublin team’s latest commercial partnership, with Bavaria 00 non-alcoholic beer.

“To see where the genesis of that proposal came from, a club in Wexford and you know we pride ourselves on that it’s a very democratic association.

“I understand the concerns that people have with it but for a committee to have problems rather than solutions, I find that a bit bizarre.

Good job

“I think it would have only benefited our games. Referees are doing a very good job. But something like the time keeping should be taken away from the referee.

“I think there will be games that will go down to the last second over the coming months that both the crowds and the players and the spectators would benefit from it.”

Of more immediate concern has been Dublin's fitful form in the league, a competition they've won for the past two years. Defeats to Cork and Kerry and a draw with Tyrone mean they have won just once – against Donegal.

On Saturday night the holders were very lucky to get a draw against a Tyrone side, which again implemented an ultra-defensive game plan but also managed to create enough scoring chances to win had they taken them.

Given that Dublin’s reign as All-Ireland champions came to a spectacular end at the hands of a Donegal team that defended deep and hit them on the break, the players still looked stumped at times trying to break down their opponents’ defensive wall.

“The most disappointing thing is we didn’t get the ball into our forwards,” according to Gavin.

“We don’t need to have our half-backs taking shots from difficult angles. We just needed a little bit of patience to work the balls into the areas and that sometimes takes one, two, possibly 10 more passes for that to happen.

“There were other occasions, where we did show that. We created some very good scores in the game as well but at times, they let us down. To see the ball turned over like that was disappointing from a performance perspective.”

He disagreed though that the team hadn't learned anything from the Donegal match and highlighted Eoghan O'Gara's role in the match-saving goal and contrasted it with the same player's use of a similar opportunity last summer when his pass to Bernard Brogan lacked the necessary accuracy.

“Eoghan was in a similar situation last August and it is good to see that he has learnt from that - and he executed his hand-pass extremely well. He has learnt from that and that is part of the process and it is good to see that he has learnt from that. And it is part of his technical game that he is working very hard on – and we saw the fruits of it there on Saturday.”

Settled team

At present Dublin are in relegation position, second from the bottom of the Division One table. It’s a tight division and they’re only a point off the semi-final positions at the same time. Without stating as much Gavin appears to have prioritised trialling players as opposed to going all out for a third successive title.

“We are not looking for a settled team. Most teams that we are playing are settled. We are trying new things; tactically we are trying new things. Some are working, some don’t. That is part of the process.

“And we want to give players a chance to stake a claim not only in the starting 15 or squad of 26 but on the panel itself.

“To do that, there is a process you have to go through and you have to give every player a fair chance. It can be a rough sea, but we are going to hold our course and we are very much in control of where we want to go. And I think once we come out the far side of that process, we will be in a much stronger place come championship.”

St Vincent’s pair

He also announced that the St Vincent’s pair of Diarmuid Connolly and Ger Brennan will be back in training this week and

Gavin Burke

will join the panel when Dublin’s under-21 campaign concludes.

Asked about the controversy over Saturday's referee David Gough not being allowed to wear a rainbow wristband signifying anti-homophobia in sport and support for the same-sex marriage referendum on the grounds that it was a political gesture, Gavin had this to say:

“I certainly would think that society has moved on... I wouldn’t see it as a political issue. Maybe he was trying to make a political point but I don’t think sport is the kind of place to make it. I would empathise with David Gough; that’s maybe the word I would use.”