Mind games have early throw-in

In the week of a Leinster football final the players are left alone to get their heads straight, and the managers are left to do the talking. So when Mick O'Dwyer and Paul Caffrey came face to face yesterday they quickly dispensed with the formalities, and got down to the more serious business - mind games.

O'Dwyer was reminded that Laois have never beaten Dublin in the Leinster football final. Was that an extra incentive to win?

"Oh, you can be damn sure it is," said O'Dwyer, appearing to lean a little closer towards Caffrey. "We're not coming to Croke Park for fun. We're coming up to win.

"Tradition counts for nothing. Of course Dublin have the tradition here whether we like it or not. But these Laois players have a few All-Ireland medals in their pocket from minor grade, so hopefully they can take it on from there."

Laois will start as marginal favourites, primarily on the back of their semi-final win over Kildare. Having stumbled past Offaly, they put 0-21 past Kildare, producing the most improved performance of the summer in the process.

"We did play some exceptional football," admitted O'Dwyer, "but you'd often wonder at times. We didn't make any radical changes in training, but I think the attitude changed.

"I was actually amazed myself at how good we were against Kildare. I thought they were going to give us a right old game. Sunday will be totally different, and it all depends how players feel on the day. It's like a horse or hound. But the one thing they proved is that they can play well."

Caffrey preferred to ease into reverse psychology, building up Laois' chances, and talking about the challenge facing Dublin: "I would think that Laois have the better form, and if they reproduce the form they did against Kildare then Dublin are going to have to do something special.

"But it's not daunting, it's just a challenge. Come Sunday Micko and myself will shake hands, and then just stand back and watch it. We have very little impact once the game starts. It's the players that will win or lose this match for either team.

"We've won three matches, we're in the Leinster final, and we're happy with that. But we feel we need to improve again. We have been taking some small steps, and that creates some degree of contentment. So we'll let it unfold on Sunday and see what happens. But I think Dublin are fighting very hard this year, and that's been giving us a lot of pleasure."

Caffrey continues to embrace the Dublin manager's job with a cool calmness and composure. Sunday presents his biggest test to date, but he still deflects the pressure with remarkable ease.

"Longford was a big enough match for us," he said. "And then Meath was a huge match. Wexford were also a form team coming into the semi-final. So some of the pressure is off in that we're in a Leinster final now.

"But if you lose on Sunday you're into the back-door route, against some very good teams, and if you win you're into the last eight. And you have to fancy your chances after that. It's a different competition once you get into August. It's always more difficult coming off a defeat than a victory going into your next match."