Whelan says he's unlikely to play again for Dublin

GAELIC GAMES CHAMPIONSHIP 2009:DUBLIN MIDFIELDER Ciarán Whelan last night strongly indicated that he may have played his last game for Dublin.

Speaking on Newstalk's Off the Ballprogramme, and in his first public comment since the shattering defeat to Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-final, Whelan said; "It's highly unlikely you'll see me in a Dublin jersey again."

Whelan also said Dublin need to go away for a few months to take stock following Monday’s defeat and also look again at revamping underage structures within the county.

Meanwhile, Mick O’Dwyer may still be pondering his future as Wicklow football manager, but in the meantime he has some advice for Dublin: you’re definitely not as bad as you played last Monday, but spend less time with the dumbbell in the hand and more time with the football and you might yet get up to Kerry’s pace.

“Looking at Dublin, they’re big and strong alright. But I would wonder are they overdoing the weights, and gym work. I don’t know. But at the end of the day you have to play with a football, and the more football you play in training the better.

“But I actually tipped Kerry to win. So I wasn’t that surprised. I could always see Kerry winning because they’re some awesome footballers in that Kerry panel. The majority of them are still under 30. There’s nothing old about that. In fact, they’re in prime condition to win an All-Ireland at that age.

“They might have struggled in some of their games earlier on, but when you put Kerry into Croke Park, any time, they will produce the goods. I’ve yet to see them not producing it there.

“Still, I was totally disappointed by Dublin. I thought they would put up a good show, at least. They looked pretty good in the Leinster championship. But after five minutes the game was over, because they just threw in the towel. It was unbelievable.

“But I wouldn’t say it’s all doom and gloom. Dublin certainly aren’t as bad as they looked the last day. But I suppose they’ll have to get a few new players in. There must be plenty of footballers in Dublin, even down at junior and intermediate level. Maybe they haven’t looked at those. But they’ll have to spread the net a bid wider.

“Even if you look at Kerry, quite a lot of their players are with junior clubs at the moment. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned there.

“I wouldn’t say Dublin don’t have the skills. They were just stuck to the ground, for some reason. It was unbelievable that they couldn’t even stay with the Kerry fellas, who just ran away from them. That’s not Dublin. Let’s be honest, there is plenty of speed in that team, but it just wasn’t there on Monday.

“I thought as well it was a mistake not to start Ciarán Whelan and Shane Ryan. But sure, it’s easy to be wise in hindsight.”

O’Dwyer was speaking in Dublin at the Vodafone Player of the Month awards for July, where, fittingly, Wicklow’s Tony Hannon picked up the football honour (Waterford’s Michael Walsh was the hurling recipient).

Hannon stressed his desire to see O’Dwyer stay on.

“Ask anyone involved in Wicklow, or any of the players, and they’ll tell you they’d be only delighted if he stayed on. It’s probably crucial that he does. There’s no shortage of life in that fella. He’s full of enthusiasm. That’s the number one thing I’d put down to his success. But he’s full of life and he can’t get enough football.”

O’Dwyer was typically elusive on the matter. However, he feels Wicklow have a lot more to offer, and now that Dublin aren’t all they were made out to be, he may yet deliver that first provincial title – just in case he wasn’t already sure of his place among the pantheon of managers.

“I’ll give it a bit more thought in the next four or five weeks, there is no big rush. But we’ve put a bloody nice team together there, and I think there is still more in them. We’d a big number of young fellas there, who are still untried. We also lost five of our players through bad injuries, in our run through the championship. That was another hindrance.”

In taking Wicklow further than they’ve gone in the championship, and only losing out narrowly in the end to Kildare, in the fourth-round qualifiers, the 73-year-old O’Dwyer might be tempted to leave it at that. Hardly. He says he actually enjoys the long commute from his home in Kerry, and in ways it may actually be the secret of his success.

“I do love driving, I suppose, and that’s a big plus. I like being in the car, and I like to drive up on my own. You can think quite a lot. It’s amazing when I’m driving.

“I’m picking teams and placing players and thinking about moves, and all that. I don’t know if that’s the secret, but it’s a help. When you’re in a car for about four-and- a-half hours on your own there’s lots of room for thinking.

“I actually wanted to be a rally driver, more than anything else, and thought seriously about that as a youngster.

“I was in the motor trade, and was going to go rally driving, and the next thing I was picked for Kerry. And that was the end of the rally driving.”