The Player’s View
It was a day to forget last weekend for our Player’s View columnist Robbie Dunne and his Clane team as they fell to heavy league defeat against Sarsfields. He hopes the lessons learned from the defeat will ultimately help his team progress.
HOW do you start a column having been beaten by 17 points at home in the second round of the league in a fixture that used to make the mouth water? I started to wonder whether or not this column was a good idea but at the end of the day, running away from a problem only increases the distance from the solution. What makes matters worse is that this isn’t the first time this has happened to us. There are a few games that spring to mind where the once proud Clane truly capitulated against their opposition. As I texted a comrade from the panel after the game, you can only take so many hidings before you eventually respond.
There are several different responses. You can accept it and as a by-product and become a loser for the rest of your life, or you can decide to make changes. You can rally the troops, send out messages on WhatsApp with a call to arms, and shout and roar down at training to incite a response but I believe it has to start with an intrinsic motivation. There are too many variables when it comes to building as a team that could set you back. It is simply impossible if the internal goal setting process is flawed. You’ll find an excuse if you’re relying on teammates, workmates or anyone else to get you to where you need to be. “He didn’t track back.” “He should have passed me the ball.” A little introspection in situations like these can go a long way and we need plenty of it.
There is no post mortem in our dressing room and there won’t be. We know where we are and we know what we have to do. As I drove home from the game I was thinking of the one of the old clichés that you hear constantly from successful people. The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary. Never was there a more poignant quote for a circumstance like Clanes. Sure, I have dreams of beating Moorefield and Sarsfields in county finals, of hoisting the Dermot Burke trophy above my head but there’s a whole load of work to be done before that moves up the list of priorities. As a forward, it starts with the Luis Suarez model of defending from the front. I’ll be pushing that from now on, chasing the ball and defenders like a dog on a mission. Make them uncomfortable, let them know you’re there and even though you more than likely won’t get the ball, you can turn one man feel like three. It’s all about energy and we need more of it in Conneff Park or wherever it is we are playing.
It’s certainly a sad state of affairs when you think of the respect that that jersey once commanded with the likes of Lynch, McCreery, Finn, Murphy, McCormack and McLoughlin. As a waterboy, I travelled around Leinster with those men and always sensed a victory was on the horizon, at the moment the outlook is bleak. There’s a whole lot of building to be done but you can’t wish away your problems. The easiest way to escape a problem is to find a solution and that’s exactly what has to be done. We’ll keep the heads down and keep working and if we don’t get it right, it won’t be for the lack of trying.
