‘Now we’re the ones chasing the rest’: Dean Rock relishing new Dublin challenge

Crisis, what crisis? Dean Rock is well versed in the art of disbelieving any hype around Dublin’s football success and it’s no different it seems if any doubts are starting to ring true.

“What crisis, Covid?” Rock asks back with a smile, after the first jesting mention of it ahead of Saturday’s Croke Park reprise against Mayo - and the possibility of Dublin losing four successive games since God knows when.

“Are we still going to talk about that, are we? Yeah, a bigger crisis than Covid I think.”

For Rock and the rest of the Dublin team it is unfamiliar territory nonetheless: it’s already two consecutive league defeats for the first time since 2012 (when they were beaten by Mayo and Cork), and now three successive defeats (including last year’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Mayo), a first since the 2008 championship spilled into the 2009 league.

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“It comes with the territory of being a Dublin footballer,” he adds. “You’re under the microscope when the team has achieved so much over the last number of years. Any sort of dip in form is going to be commented on, but there’s too much experience in this group to be going down the route of panic, we know exactly where we’re at, what we want to achieve and where we want to go, that’s the most important thing.”

Mayo may not have beaten Dublin in the league since 2012, still they return to Croke Park in contrasting form, going unbeaten in their opening two games (drawing with Donegal, beating Monaghan) for only the fourth time in 15 seasons. On all three occasions it happened before, their spring ended in the league final.

Rock turns 32 later this month, now one of the elder statesmen of the team, but there is no great dwelling on their round two defeat, Kerry’s seven-point win in Tralee their biggest-ever win on home soil against Dublin.

“Look, we’ve lost of lot of key squad members over the last number of seasons, this season, we’ve 14 new players on the panel at the moment. Then there’s lots of injuries, guys that are just out. There’s lots of moving parts, so that’s where we’re at.

“Guys are getting great exposure, playing in Croke Park, you like them to be winning, but a bit of adversity does no harm for these guys, builds up their mental strength for the season ahead.

“We as a group will be disappointed, it was just those second quarters against Armagh, and Kerry, where we slipped. That’s the nature of inter-county football, if you slip off, you’re going to be punished, and we as a group know that as well as anywhere else. But we are working on things at training, trying to put it all together, and hopefully we can this Saturday.”

Speaking at an event of Dublin sponsors AIG Insurance, Rock also recalls a time when people doubted his own ability, something he willfully shares with the younger Dublin players: “I got my fair share of criticism growing up, being told I’d never make it, play with Dublin, whatever the case may be. There will always people who doubt you, you just have to stay true to yourself, every time you train and go out on the pitch. They’re all good footballers, it’s about feeding them with as much confidence, and everyone needs an arm around the shoulder now and again, just to say you’re doing well.

“We’ve been here before, it’s just about going after the improvements day and after day. Of course, we want to get the win, but the big thing with this group is to focus on the process more than the outcome, look to put in good performances across all quarters of the game.”

Still there have been many uncharacteristic elements to Dublin’s game of late which are undeniable, poor shot selection being chief among them: “Yeah, we’re all human, and need reminders sometimes of all the good things we can do. We know we’re a very ordinary team if we don’t work hard enough, that’s the basis of our performance going forward, hard work and endeavour, going back to our handling, execution of shots, you name it. It’s back to the basics, and hopefully get the outcome we want.

“I don’t think we use that as motivation, that noise will always be out there. We experienced it around 2014, 2015, we’d a poor enough league. We’ve never discussed winning the league, or relegation, it really is game by game, trying to perform, so all that talk goes out the window.

“Games come thick and fast in the league, you get the chance to right the wrongs, that’s the beauty of it. Obviously in that period, winning six in a row, we had incredibly talented players, a unique experience, but we knew nothing would last forever, and tried to enjoy it for what it was. Now we’re the ones chasing the rest, trying to get our noses back in front, and that’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.”