Dessie Farrell: Players showed great character

Mon, 27th January 2020

Dessie Farrell praised the character of his players following Saturday night's FL Division 1 draw with Kerry in Croke Park.

A crowd of 42,502 was in attendance for a pulsating duel with the sides finishing up level, 1-19 each.

“Obviously you want to try get out of the blocks fairly lively and it was also a question of the players that were available to us as well," said Dessie.

“So it was a mixture of experience and youth and I think it served us well at the end.

"It looked at that stage that the game was kind of sliding away from us a little bit. There was sort of not much energy coming from our lads at that particularly point in time.

"But somehow they summoned the energy from somewhere and showed great character going down the back straight to get their noses in front at the death."

Dessie stated that it will take a few games for the Dubs to fully settle into this year's league.

"The dynamic between players and new management and trying to bed that down and have that as robust as we possibly can, get our structures in place, get our processes in place. So it’s all very new to both parties at this point in time.

"We’re hoping the league will serve us well, but probably even more importantly is in terms of the shape and look of the team as we head into the summer, very interesting to see what new talent emerges through the league for us."

The Na Fianna clubman also confirmed that Michael Darragh Macauley will not be included in Dublin's opening three league games at least as well as the fact that Paul Clarke is one of his selectors, alongside Mick Galvin and Shane O'Hanlon.

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DUBLIN'S 2020 FL DIVISION 1: Schedule

Round 1: Dublin 1-19 Kerry 1-19, Saturday, January 25, Croke Park

Round 2: Mayo v Dublin, Saturday, February 1, MacHale Park Castlebar, 7.0

Round 3: Dublin v Monaghan, Saturday, February 8, Croke Park, 7.0

Round 4: Dublin v Donegal, Saturday, February 22, Croke Park, 7.0

Round 5: Tyrone v Dublin, Saturday, February 29, Healy Park Omagh, 7.15

Round 6: Dublin v Meath, Sunday, March 15, Croke Park, 2.0

Round 7: Galway v Dublin, Sunday, March 22, Pearse Stadium Salthill, 2.0