Diarmuid Connolly says it’s “back to the drawing board” for Dublin after their Roscommon stalemate last weekend.
The Dubs made an uninspiring start to the All-Ireland series in Group 3 as they drew 1-11 to 0-14 with Davy Burke’s side and Connolly was alarmed by the fact that, outside of centre-back John Small’s bundled second half goal, their only scorers were Sean Bugler, Con O’Callaghan and Cormac Costello.
Connolly noted how Dublin “never showed up in the first half” as they trailed by four points at half-time having struggled with Roscommon’s possession game.
He said: “Roscommon had a tactic of bringing the keeper out towards the top of the D and playing piggy-in-the-middle for a long time.
“There was a stretch just before half-time where Roscommon kept the ball for six to seven minutes and Michael Fitzsimons got so fed up with it. He started at full-back for Dublin, but he was the one tackling the goalkeeper on their 21-yard line and because he was so frustrated at the forwards not pressing that short kick out,” he told BoyleSports.
“In the second half, to be fair to Dublin, they did press the short kick out and they got a little bit of joy out of it. My big worry though is, other than John Small’s goal, they only had three scorers on the scoreboard and that's with five lads coming off the bench and most of them in the forward line.
“It's back to the drawing board for Dublin, they've got Kildare at Nowlan Park next and that is not going to be an easy trip to make. They need a big performance to get their All-Ireland series going.”
Despite the improved second half showing from Dublin which saw them lead by two points late on before Roscommon snatched a draw, Connolly believes that the Rossies are in better fettle facing into the rest of the Championship.
“Roscommon were the first Division One side Dublin met all year and they were full value for the result. I actually thought at half-time they were going to run away with it because Dublin were playing so bad.
“The two Murtaghs were very good and while John Small did a good job on Enda Smith in the first half, he started to get at lease of life in the second half.
“Roscommon will be the happier leaving Croke Park despite being four points up at half-time. They had seven scorers on the board compared to Dublin's three, so that's telling.”
