Everyone dug in when it really mattered: Dean Rock

Tue, 14th February 2017

Dean Rock has praised the character of his team-mates for snatching a draw from the jaws of defeat in the dramatic conclusion to last Saturday's battle with Tyrone in Croke Park.

The Dubs trailed by five points on a dreadful night for football against a brilliant defensive display by the Red Hands but kept going to the finish to earn a share of the spoils with Dean converting a 74th minute free from 48 metres to tie the game up.

"I would have had no doubt that if we were in that position that we would dig ourselves out of it," says Dean.

"It’s only when you go the well you know what is going to come out of it.

"Everyone dug in when it really mattered and you can see with in the last ten or 12 minutes the pace we were playing at and really going after it that it wasn’t an issue in terms of mindset," adds the Ballymun Kickhams clubman.

"Lads really wanted to win. It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is everyone is competitive individually and collectively.

"We don’t like losing, we want to go out and represent the jersey well and if that means getting wins that means getting wins, we are lucky enough not to lose the other night but we were proud of ourselves in terms of how we came out and battled in the last five or ten minutes."

And Dean says the league and championship unbeaten run that Dublin are currently enjoying is never mentioned.

“But certainly, an unbeaten thing like that doesn’t come into the mindset.

“It never once comes up in our conversations.

“It’s certainly not our motivation to keep going to stay unbeaten. It’s pretty much irrelevant for us really.”

Dean Rock was in Parnell Park to help Life Style Sports launch the new PUMA Evo Touch Pro football boot. To celebrate the launch players from the men's and women's teams came together to take part in a skills challenge, putting the new boot to the test. Life Style Sports are official retail partners to Dublin GAA and home of the Boot Room, Ireland's number one destination for football boots, stocking 99pc of on pitch boots.