Dublin manager Jim Gavin admitted that it looked like Dublin’s 30-game unbeaten record was about to come to an end against Tyrone in Croke Park, but praised the battling and offensive qualities of his side.
Dean Rock capped a stirring fight-back with a 74th-minute equalising point in Division 1 of the Allianz football league after Mickey Harte’s side coughed up a five-point lead with nine minutes remaining on bitterly cold night in the capital.
Faced with the prospect of losing their near two-year unbeaten run in the league and Championship, Dublin rallied to snatch the draw and Gavin said afterwards he was proud of the resolve of his team.
The confidence of champions is standing to Dublin after they forced a draw against Tyrone pic.twitter.com/rOUwnTrwhX
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 12, 2017
“We just want to play until the very final whistle, until the referee decides to bring a close to proceedings,” he told RTÉ Sport after the 0-10 to 1-07 stalemate.
“One of the strengths of this current crop of players is that mental resolve and capacity to never give up.
“It did look at times like the game was going away from us. We were five points down going into the last quarter.
“To eke out a point like that is very satisfying.”
Aidan McCrory’s goal just minutes after Rock had missed a penalty looked like it would propel the visitors to victory, and Gavin admitted that it was satisfying to comeback against such a defensive side.
“Our boys don’t play that way [defensively] and they’ll always attack as best they can"
“Tyrone are a very defensive team,” he said.
“They showed that in the last quarter when they were five points up and they decided to sit back and try and close the game out.
“Our boys don’t play that way and they’ll always attack as best they can.
They [Tyrone] have many months training under their belt and their fitness showed tonight. They’ve won the McKenna Cup. They are a class side, but for our part we’re just happy to come away and get some more game time into some of the newer players.”
Colm Basquel and Niall Scully were given further opportunities to impress from the off, while Ciarán Reddin and Jason Whelan were introduced off the bench and Gavin was happy with how they coped in difficult circumstances.
“Our guys really went at it," he said.
“We made a lot of rotations in the last quarter and those boys that came up really picked the pace up again.
“I’m very proud of them, to play in a game like that. Conditions were difficult for both teams and playing against a class Tyrone team.”
