Dessie Farrell frustrated as player workload takes centre stage in Dublin defeat

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell did not hold back in his criticism of the congested football calendar following his side’s 0-18 to 0-15 defeat to Donegal in Ballybofey on Saturday night.

While acknowledging his team’s slow start and missed opportunities, Farrell’s chief concern lay with the relentless demands being placed on his players despite stating that his side put in a strong effort against a solid Donegal side who grabbed their first home victory in the league against the Dubs since 2007.

“You could argue that in the first half, we were slow out of the blocks and we were a bit lethargic,” admitted Farrell. “But in the second half, it was different, we came out, got a bit of energy, and got ourselves back into the game but we probably made some poor decisions in terms of shot selection and that cost us in the end.”

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Dublin found themselves trailing by five at the break after Donegal dominated possession but squandered several scoring chances.

A spirited second-half resurgence saw the visitors close the gap to a single point, but they ultimately fell short as Donegal finished strongly in the final ten minutes.

Donegal’s Daire O Baoill was the standout player under the new rules, hitting two points and two two-pointers, accounting for more than half their total.

Meanwhile, Dublin’s best spell came early in the second half, with three quick points from Niall Scully, Colm Basquel, and Greg McEneaney bringing them right back into contention.

A two-pointer from Ciaran Kilkenny cut the lead to the minimum, but late scores from Patrick McBrearty and Michael Langan ensured Donegal’s victory.

“When you have a team like Donegal on the cosh, you need to really hammer it home and we didn’t. We couldn’t get ahead and once they could kick off a score or two, they got a lot of energy and we ran out of a little bit of steam.”

However, Farrell was keen to highlight what he sees as a bigger issue – player welfare. With a significant number of his squad also featuring in Sigerson Cup matches in recent weeks, he was scathing in his assessment of the scheduling challenges.

“It’s ridiculous that college football is going on at this stage. It’s a massive bugbear. We talk about player welfare and player safety but we had 12 different lads involved in Sigerson football over the last few weeks.

"To ask those lads to do back-to-back games and then you throw college football in... like we only trained once this week to try and protect players and yet we still came away here with three injuries tonight.”

Despite the defeat, Farrell did take some encouragement from the exposure given to younger players, particularly with Dublin set to face Kerry next.

“For us it was great to get the exposure into young lads and by the looks of it, there will be a few more lads getting opportunities going into the Kerry game.”

Nonetheless, his frustration with the current system was evident as he called for the GAA to reassess its approach to fixture congestion.

“It’s very disappointing and something that the association will have to look at in the strongest possible way,” he insisted.

“I know it’s early days and the data still needs to be analysed regarding the physical demands on players with these new rules, but definitely there’s something not right in my thinking in terms of pre-season, the new rules, the collective training date, the load we’re trying to get into lads with the games coming in hot and fast, and then you throw in the colleges on top of it. There definitely needs to be a rethink along the line.”