With a provincial title already in the bag, Dublin will turn their attention to national honours when they meet Galway in next weekend’s Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football Championship quarter-final.
he Dubs impressed when defeating Kildare in last month’s Leinster final and manager Dave Reynolds is hopeful that the momentum built up during that time is not lost, given their inactivity over the past few weeks.
“Having that lengthy break between matches has been a challenge for all of us but it gave us an opportunity to give the lads a break from training.
“We organised some team-bonding events over the past couple of weeks which went well and it’s great to see the friendships that are being built amongst the group.
“Of course, we would like to go as far as we possibly can in this championship in terms of winning matches, but the personal development of the players is very important too.
“Winning Leinster was a great experience for the lads but that is behind us now and we’re just looking forward to next weekend and testing ourselves again,” he added.
One area where Dublin were not found wanting during their successful provincial campaign was their playing depth.
That was particularly evident during their Leinster final win over Kildare, a contest that saw the Dubs precariously placed at the break.
The introduction at half-time of Charlie McMorrow and Clyde Burke was pivotal in seeing Dublin wrestle the initiative completely from their opponents – and Reynolds is delighted with the options that he has at his disposal.
“There is serious competition for places at present and really, the hardest thing from the management’s perspective is picking the match-day panel of 24 players.
“The lads have been great as we are sometimes asking them to play different roles to the ones they play with their club and they have been very adaptable and versatile in that regard.
“We have every confidence in all the players so there’s never an issue with bringing lads on at any stage as we know their capabilities.
“We really cannot wait to get out there again next weekend as playing matches is why we love the game and we are looking to go as far as we possibly can.
“We just hope that the lads do themselves justice. And if they do, it’s going to take a very good team to beat them.”
