GAA Digest: Tough Dubs manhandle Louth

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All-Ireland champions Dublin set their stall out for the summer when they blew Louth apart in the Leinster Championship quarterfinal on Sunday by a score of 2-22 to 0-12, but midfielder Denis Bastick says there is even more to come from the Blues.

The 16 point win was no more than Dublin deserved on a day when Bernard Brogan returned to the team and to form after his winter layoff.

“I think we need to try and be better than we were last year,” said Bastick, a late call-up to the starting team after an injury to Michael Darragh McAuley, in an interview with the Irish Sun.

“If we try and do the same as last year I don’t think it’s going to be enough so we need to try and improve on that and be professional and be machine-like and do whatever is needed.

“We’re just trying to improve with each game and we need to get better from the next game and build it up. A few weeks after September last year, fellas were just concentrating on next year again. We were waiting a long time for that game so I don’t think it’s going to be hard to keep it up.”

Manager Pat Gilroy also reckons Dublin have more to offer in the coming weeks. “I don’t think it was an unbelievable performance, a lot of things ran our way,” he said.

“We have been anxious to get out and play. It has been a long time since the league finished and we were just keen to get out playing football.

“We were a lot more at it in the first half and I suppose we were playing against a far stronger breeze in the second half, but our finishing could have been a lot better.

“We have been on the receiving end of days like that in Croke Park and the big pitch can really hurt. We were preparing for a tough game and for the early part of that game and it was a tough game.”

Dublin captain Bryan Cullen picked up a facial injury during the match, but boss Gilroy is confident he will be fit for the Leinster semifinal.

“There are concerns that there might have been something wrong with his cheekbone because it was swelling so much. Hopefully it’s all right. He’ll go and get an X-ray on it,” said Gilroy.

He added that midfielder Macauley missed the Louth game after falling off his bicycle last week.
“He crashed on his bike during the week -- a push bike -- and damaged his midriff,” said Gilroy.

“We thought he was going to be all right, but when we went to push off in training on Saturday he just couldn’t do it so we’ll have to investigate it a bit further.”

Louth boss Peter Fitzpatrick had nothing but praise for Dublin and no excuses for his team’s defeat.

Fitzpatrick said: “As far as I was concerned, the team was “I have been involved in football a long time and I’ve never seen a team so strong and so physical. They’ve got a game plan. Their support play is good. Everything is fantastic about them,” he said.

“Honestly, I am gobsmacked by the performance of Dublin. I have never seen a team so hungry, especially in the first round of the championship.”

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Nster.com