It was pointed out during yesterday's media conference that Parnell Park has recently staged more opportunities to meet new managers than silverware. But things are moving fast in Dublin. Already a trial match is organised for Saturday so that new manager Tommy Lyons and his selectors can look at players who haven't yet featured at inter-county level.

As soon as the vote confirming the Kilmacud man in the post was passed at Monday night's county committee meeting, new selector - and delegate - Dave Billings approached the county's chief executive, John Costello, with a list of names. On being reminded that there were some under-21 fixtures on Saturday, Billings said that none of those involved was on his list. It mightn't have been administrative genius, but as a sign of the new management's grasp of detail, Costello was impressed.

Yesterday Billings, along with Paul Caffrey and Paddy Canning, joined Lyons in setting out their plans for the most scrutinised position in county management. Equipped with a three-year term and responsibility for the under-21s, the new team have been given a blank cheque to turn around the county, which has gone six years without success at senior level.

"The state of Dublin football is at a crossroads," said Lyons in his opening statement. "We in the city have suffered in recent years. The Celtic Tiger has done damage to Gaelic football. It's taken away our time, not our energy but our time. There are a lot of good clubs in Dublin. I know there's a gap between club and county and that's our judgment call."

County chairman John Bailey was unequivocal yesterday. "When it came down to consider who was best on this occasion, the decision was unanimous."

Hovering over the meeting was the knowledge that Lyons had been passed over for the job six years ago in controversial circumstances: "It wasn't for me then. I've been dealt the hand now," was his discreet appraisal. Now he was taking up the post after the controversial dismissal of his predecessor, Tom Carr. He acknowledged both situations, as well as the changed landscape since 1995.

"Nobody was happy in Dublin with the Tommy Carr situation," he said. "No one wanted Dublin GAA all over the papers. But we're drawing a line in the sand today and looking to the future. I want to put on the record Tommy Carr's great passion and commitment, and we hope to carry on what he started.

"Of course it is (more difficult than in 1995). Dublin have gone back since 1995. But '95 was the culmination of five awful hard years' work; '95-'96 would have been a good time to take over because you would only have needed to rejig it. I look at the 1994 minor All-Ireland football semi-final. How many Galway players went on to play in the senior All-Irelands of 1998 and 2001? Seven or eight or nine. How many from Dublin? Ian Robertson, Jason Sherlock and Ciaran Whelan. Three. That's why under-21 is very important."

One player whose availability has surfaced frequently since the new management was appointed is Paul Curran who announced his retirement in protest at the treatment of Tom Carr. Lyons seemed quietly confident on this issue.

"Paul Curran's a very good footballer and I'm sure when he's got the Christmas over with, he'll have another think about it."

It was a surprise to some that Lyons chose to re-enter inter-county management after two years during which he had established a sideline in media commentary.

"I have to say I was enjoying my life and the crack in the media," he admitted. "You get awful well paid for your opinion in the media whether it's right or wrong. I'm not paid in this job to have my opinions but they have to be right."

The broadcasting and print experience will stand to him, he says, although most reporters would remember him as co-operative even before he gained that experience. "I have an understanding of the media a bit better than some. I couldn't live like Pβid∅ ╙ SΘ, shutting up shop and keeping the head down. But he lives in Ventry and it's a long drive there to speak to him. The way I look at it, we're selling the GAA in Dublin, selling a product, and you need to market it, particularly against other sports."

Lyons comes to the job with a track record not only of success but also of a certain style in achieving it. While he allowed that there were many views on how best to run a team - "doctors differ and patients die" - he outlined his approach to Dublin's game.

"The type of football will be fast and open and players will need to be very fit to play it. I'm not a lover of hand-passing. When it gets down to serious business in the championship, it breaks down."

One type of player who won't be visible is the dual player. This might be bad news for Shane Ryan, who was in scoring form for the Dublin hurlers at the weekend but whose dual status looks again endangered.

""I do believe you can't play the two at the top level," said Lyons. "They're two different games. One is about timing and technique, the other is about fitness and moving the ball at pace. It's a problem and one we're going to have to address, but the 30 guys we end up with next April will be fully focused on football."

One of the crosses the new manager bears is the constant reference to the fact that he was born in Mayo. In other counties the matter mightn't attract the same amount of attention, but Dublin is different.

"I'm proud to have been born in Mayo but I came here at the age of nine when my parents decided to move to Dublin. Brian Mullins's parents came up from Kerry before he was born. What's the difference? A few years?"

He now has three years to fashion a more pleasing soubriquet.