Rory O’Carroll happy to be last man standing in Dublin’s defence

Rory O’Carroll describes it as “a calculated risk”. It’s when he stays back to hold the fort while fellow defenders morph into attackers – although so far the benefits have clearly outweighed the risks.

It helps explain why Dublin have won back-to-back football league titles, their All-Ireland title sandwiched in between, and they are now even money to defend that title.

It wouldn’t be surprising if O’Carroll had already made a financial gamble on that too.

“No, I’m not a betting man”, said the Dublin full back, “so I don’t look at those things. But I think there’s a huge amount of expectation around Dublin every year, regardless.

"In 2009, we were favourites to do this, that and the other. And we got hammered by Kerry.

'No guarantees'
"Then in 2012 we were favourites to beat Mayo, but they beat us well that day. So I wouldn't read too much into these things. There are no guarantees in sport, as we all know."

What is certain is Dublin have already topped their 2012 league campaign, which revealed some of the cracks which ultimately resulted in them surrendering their title than summer. O’Carroll can’t deny that, but suggests Dublin didn’t have the smoothest of league runs.

“I think we kind of stumbled into the semi-final, and were kind of lucky. We just about got a draw against Mayo, then Diarmuid Connolly got that last-gasp point against Tyrone. If it wasn’t for that we wouldn’t have been in the semi-final.

“And the same things about 2012 would have been said all over again. These things twist on those little points like that. But we were quite inconsistent during the league and have a lot of things to work on.”

O’Carroll was speaking in Croke Park as an ambassador for the Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps, and recalled a couple of moments in Sunday’s victory over Derry when he found himself isolated at full back, while players like Kevin Nolan and Jonny Cooper pedalled away up the field. So what exactly goes through his mind?

“Get back here and help! Yeah, you are a bit exposed. But when that happens, you might concede more, but you’ll probably score more as well. It’s a calculated risk. And it is a tough way to play.

“But I think it makes you into a better defender. There is that much space in front of you, that the advantage is going to be with the forwards.

“But it depends on how the team is playing. If there’s no pressure on the ball coming in, it makes it a lot easier on the forwards. Just like if our forwards are doing very well. It’s not just the one individual corner forward. It’s when that whole team are working together. It’s easier for everyone. It’s when the whole team doesn’t work that it’s easier on the opposition forwards.”

Dublin’s scoring average throughout their league campaign – scoring 14-138, and conceding 13-117 – suggests there were still times they made it easier on the opposition forwards: conceding a goal early on against Derry also followed that trend.

"It would be a dangerous thing to become immune to those sort of things," said O'Carroll. "It's not something we want to happen, obviously. We do look at how those goals came, and try to improve on it.

Chances
"It's something we do have to work on. Derry scored one goal but I don't know how many other chances they had. Mark Lynch hit the crossbar, and had two more chances."

Still, despite their relatively high-risk game Dublin were one of only two counties (along with Westmeath) not to pick up a back card over the the league. Not that O’Carroll doesn’t admit sometimes the benefits of a black card might outweigh the risks.

“If that black card wasn’t there, I’d still be playing the same way. But if say it’s the last five minutes, I think people would be happy to take a black card which, I suppose, is not really solving the problem.

“But it’s a good thing to have. It’s probably not as harsh as it could be. It’s not something we think about as defenders. But I would be in full agreement. But I don’t think that’s a reflection on other teams being cynical. You will still get caught on occasion.”