Tom Carr and his management team had their first assignment at yesterday's annual match between Dublin and the Evening Herald Blue Stars at St Vincent's ground in Marino.
Fierce winds and an incessant downpour undermined the usefulness of the afternoon and the most festive contribution of a day which normally attracts a large holiday crowd came from referee Jim Turner who blew the match up with 10 minutes remaining and the match having evaporated as a contest.
"What could you say?" said Carr. "A few fellas showed glimpses of what they might have to offer. Keith Galvin did very well in what was only his second competitive match in six months. I told the players beforehand that I was looking for certain things - attitude and workrate. I also told them that someone in the Eve- ning Herald didn't think they deserved to be on the best team in Dublin."
The occasion was the first on which Carr and his selectors had met the team as a group but given the number of first-choice panellists on the Blue Stars team, there was an artificiality to the meeting.
"I had a few words afterwards," said the new manager, "but not many as there would have been players there who won't be part of the panel when we go back." That the match concluded in such a bloodless victory for Dublin won't have made any easier the task of extrapolating significance from it but there were encouraging signs for the new management.
As Carr mentioned, Keith Galvin - back after recovering from a viral infection which caught the eye of the Grim Reaper - played exuberantly at wing back, reminding everyone that his corner-back deployment in 1995 was more a matter of circumstance than compatibility.
Another returning prodigal was Dessie Farrell, who had taken a rest during the first half of the NFL. A slow start led steadily to a command performance at centre forward in the second half. At times it was difficult to imagine that he was being marked at all, given the facility with which he gathered ball in space and cut through into dangerous positions.
There was also an encouraging glimpse into Ciaran Whelan's potential at centrefield. The one genuine prospect to surface since the All-Ireland victory, Whelan has seldom been used in the middle which is widely seen as his best position.
Another welcome arrival since the autumn has been Declan Darcy, the Dubliner who captained Leitrim to Connacht success in 1994. His performances since declaring for his home county have been mixed. Without being given a clear role and at times starved of possession, Darcy must have wondered whether his All-Ireland prospects mightn't have been better out west.
Yesterday, he showed a couple of urgent reasons why his declaration is so important to Dublin. His three goals for a 3-2 total confirmed his status as a scorer, his delightful pass for the fourth goal confirmed his vision and the dispatch of a second-half penalty after he himself had been brought down, was calm and precise - a knack as welcome in Dublin as streptomycin 50 years ago.
"Declan in the half forwards has a lot to offer," according to Carr, "and I would see his contribution being from around there. He's a scorer and any team that has lost All-Irelands generally suffered from a lack of scoring power. You couldn't deny he's the type of fella you would want on a team."
In fairness to Ciaran O'Hare, he also converted a penalty with aplomb at the other end and with 1-4 was the only penetration the Blue Stars had at their disposal.
Goals from Ray Cosgrove and Darcy helped Dublin into a 2-7 to 0-4 lead at half-time and with Darragh Maxwell and Whelan thriving at centrefield, Dublin were well in the driving seat and employed a fast, short game playing into a wind that was dying down and eventually turned around.
The second half saw the Blue Stars goal resembling a shooting gallery in which an unexpected star turn emerged. Mark Lyons of the home club came on as replacement goalkeeper and strung together a series of good saves which deprived Dublin of even more goals.
There was little he could do about substitute Malachy McIntyre's crashing finish after being placed by Darcy, whose final goal within a minute did us all a favour by convincing the referee that enough was enough.
Dublin: M Pender; I Clarke, D Martin, P Christie; J McGee, D Harrington, K Galvin; D Maxwell (0-1), C Whelan (0-2); B Stynes (0- 1), D Farrell (0-1), D Darcy (3-2, one goal from penalty and two points from frees); R Cosgrove (1-1), D Homan, E Sheehy. Subs: T Lynch (0-1) for Sheedy, M McIntyre (1-1) for Stynes.
Blue Stars: D Byrne; R Lambe, D Naughton, D Ryan; G O'Connell, M Deegan (0- 1), E Heery; K Barr, I Roberston; P Ward, D Madden, M Barnes; C O'Hare (1-4, goal from penalty and three frees), R Boyle (0-1), A Lyons. Subs: E Barr for Madden, M Doyle for Byrne, D Hetherton (0-1) for Barnes.
Referee: W Maloney.
