Tyrone drubbing has eased pressure, Cahill claims

December 10, 2008

Dublin's Barry Cahill
Barry Cahill believes Dublin's All-Ireland quarter-final mauling by Tyrone this year has lowered expectations ahead of the new season. The Dubs were under huge pressure to end their All-Ireland famine this year, only to capitulate at the hands of the rampant Red Hands. Speaking from San Francisco where he is part of the All-Stars tour, Cahill said: "The general feeling is maybe that there is not as much expectation as in previous years. "Going into this year, the expectation was huge, even within the squad as well as outside. We might have dropped down the rankings a bit after the Tyrone game and maybe that's a good thing because there is so much expectation within the city with the fans and having so much media in the city as well." Even now, the St. Brigid's clubman is at a loss to explain what happened in the crushing defeat to Mickey Harte's men. "Things were going very well. We had a fully fit squad, training was competitive, and then we came up against a very good footballing team and just had a very disappointing day. "I don't think anyone can say they had a good game. On any given day, you're looking for 10 or 12 guys to have very good games but when you have 13 or 14 having a bad day, it's very hard to stop the rot. "The second goal (scored by Joe McMahon) was curtains for us and we just didn't do ourselves justice."

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