Ian O'Riordantalks to Bryan Cullen who pinpoints where Dublin faltered against Meath in their drawn match

We forget sometimes that players can be their own worst critics and Bryan Cullen hasn't been holding back on the shortcomings of Dublin's performance in the drawn Leinster football quarter-final against Meath. But then the common perception is Dublin probably have the greater room for improvement in Sunday's replay at Croke Park.

Cullen's display at centre back characterised the Dublin team - strong at stages (especially the beginning) and weak at other stages (especially the end). That gives them all plenty to work on for Sunday, ideally that a more complete Dublin performance will secure victory.

"For the first few minutes we really went at it," says Cullen, "and at times we did look very good. Then if it wasn't for Alan Brogan's goal just before half-time there would only have been the point in it, and that would have been a poor reflection on the sustained pressure that we had.

"Then from a defence point of view we were disappointed that for the last 10 minutes we couldn't just hold them out, and go point-for-point in the end, and just build on the great work the lads had been doing further up the field.

"I think one interesting statistic from the game is that there was a very poor return from kick-outs, both ours and theirs. But they've two big men in the middle of the park, and it is hard to get clean catches. So it's really up to the half-forwards and the half-backs to give them a bit of a dig out.

"Also we'd a couple of good scoring opportunities the lads missed . . . which would have given us a bit of breathing space at the time. So if we can improve our percentage of ball won from kick-outs, and tag on a couple of more scores when they're there, hopefully that would go a long way towards securing a victory."

Cullen, however, was in no way surprised with the strength of Meath's challenge - nor is he underestimating how strong they'll be again on Sunday: "Well I think it's a similar enough Meath team that we played a couple of years ago. But Colm Coyle has really brought them on, and there seems to be a lot more belief in this Meath team.

"I think the rivalry is as intense as ever, and it's made for such a massive game now for both teams. I really think whoever comes through this will be well set up for a very good crack at Leinster, and whoever comes out on the wrong end will have to pick themselves up for the qualifiers, which isn't an easy thing to do. So it's a massive game anyway, and then there's always that extra edge there, it being Dublin against Meath."

Given the intense physical effort of last Sunday week, coupled with the intense excitement, Cullen was glad of the two-week gap between the replay. "It would have been difficult to come out the following Saturday, especially in the hot weather of the weekend. The extra week does give both teams the time to fully recover, like put the feet up for a week, and then go at it for the next week, and really put on a big performance . . . Dublin-Meath games will always be tight, and it will come down to that again on Sunday."

This time last year Dublin had a similarly shaky start against Longford (winning by two points) but looked a far more improved team the second day out against Laois (winning by 14 points).

"I'd like to think we'd come on like that again," says Cullen, "but we wouldn't be naive enough to think that just because we've played a game now everything is going to be okay the next day. We do realise there are some things that have to be addressed. Like playing 70 minutes is clearly one thing to be addressed.

"I think the further you go into the championship the more intense the games become. But I think for our first round of the championship it was as tough and intense as anything before."

At this stage all the Dublin players are probably aware of the criticisms thrown at them after the drawn game. It's been hard to avoid it, not that they wouldn't have been critical of themselves anyway. "You go in to work and there's newspapers everywhere," admits Cullen, "so it is difficult to avoid. But we're a focused bunch, and we just value the opinions of our team-mates and management, and the lads have been on the scene long enough not to get distracted by it."