Keith Duggan talks to Shane Ryan as Dublin prepare for their crucial Division One A survival clash against Galway

Shane Ryan had not given much thought to meeting his former boss Tom Carr until it actually happened. Hyde Park was sun-splashed and atmospheric and for a March Sunday league game, it felt good. And, in conversation by the perimeter wall, lean and studious and familiar, was his former manager, the guy who first imagined the transition Ryan could make from hurling to football.

"It wasn't really a distraction leading up to the game but it was a bit strange, definitely. And I hadn't actually seen Tom from when he finished with Dublin, except in the papers. Our paths just never crossed. And after being with us for so long, he was suddenly with the team we were trying to beat. It took a few minutes to get used to."

The player dealt with the situation by applying himself in much the same way as he has done throughout the league: not so much by keeping his head down as by enhancing the Dublin attack with subtle, head-up plays.

Although Senan Connell's extravagantly skilful exhibition drew most of the purrs in print and Ciarán Whelan's athleticism was more eye-catching, Ryan was involved in almost all of Dublin's successful creative moves. Rapier sharp in the crowded house of midfield, again and again Ryan cleaned up the breaks and transferred the ball forward with speed and intelligence, consistently taking the right options. When they initiate assist passes into the expanding range of statistics employed by GAA teams, Ryan will feature glowingly.

"Well, I suppose it's just the primary aim of any half forward, to move it on as quickly as you can," he says indifferently of his role. "With Dublin, when you get the ball, you are always going to have the option of runners - Whelo will be racing by you or Darren McGee or Senan, whoever, all calling for the ball. And if you don't give it, and end up losing it yourself, well, life isn't worth that. But overall we were fairly pleased with the way the attack went. I thought Roscommon were really up for the game and it was tough, a tight game."

But then, Ryan readily concedes, he has found the entire league tough and is mystified by the myth that the established counties, particularly, go through the motions in this competition. The Kerry match, especially, underlined for him how far away the truth was.

"It was a game we were really looking forward to and it had been built up a bit and I suppose I was thinking, two football counties, a good tradition, it's gonna be an enjoyable game. But physically, it was hard as anything we have encountered. The challenges that were coming in were full-blooded to say the least. And that's as it should be.

"This has been an incredibly tight group and maybe because Dublin did reasonably well last year in the championship, maybe there is an added incentive there for teams to try to beat us."

Like the rest of the counties in this attractive if loaded division, Dublin have mixed the good and the bad, as Ryan can acknowledge. Wiped against Armagh in the hyped-up league opener in Croke Park, Dublin were steady if not fully convincing for the next series of games. Roscommon was definitely the hour when they demonstrated the most flair but as has been their habit in recent times, they flattered midway through the second half only to get sucked into a nerve-ridden dog-fight at the close.

Like all of the more experienced players, Ryan is familiar with the criticism that Dublin are guilty of failing to kill off opposing teams when they are at the point of buckling, that they have yet to develop the definitive punch.

"But I would rather have won the game the way we did than to cruise to a comfortable victory," he counters.

"For a start, I think you have to give credit to the way Roscommon responded to the situation. All teams will have a purple patch and they just didn't happen on theirs until the last quarter. And then they really began firing on all cylinders. But I was pleased we had the composure to deal with that pressure and to build for a score at a critical period. We learned that about ourselves and it was a more valuable experience than a flat, easy game, regardless of the result."

Perhaps it is forgotten that Lyons's team is still on a learning curve. This year represents the difficult second-

album syndrome for Dublin. There ain't no way of sating the fans now except by surpassing what happened last year. And that would be no mean feat. The league, however, may have tempered expectations. The last league game and Dublin are starring in a cliff-hanger, but the only reward is survival.

"It's something we are very keen to maintain," he concedes. "Division One football is where we want to be. The thing I have found about it is that you are committing yourself just as fully as you do in the championship but the fitness levels are not quite there, especially at the beginning, so in that sense it is really tough. But I mean, this is a big game for us in Parnell Park, a really good test."

Galway have been a nightmare to read in this early part of the season but a solid win in the fortress of Crossmaglen two weeks ago suggests they are ready to play ball now. This game is the crunch relegation tie, with the loser almost certain to drop with Donegal into the Hades of winter football.

"The talent that Galway have needs no elaboration but I think we have a fairly good record against them in this competition," Ryan says brightly.

"And obviously the experience of the under-21 final will be fresh in the minds of a number of our players who took part in that and it is going to be a further motivational factor. Plus, given the way the championship has opened up, there is a greatly increased chance that the counties could meet at some point and I suppose winning here would give a psychological boost. There are a lot of factors. But the bottom line is both teams are going to be trying their hearts out not to go down."

So can they walk the high wire, then?

"We'll have to wait and see."