Dubs need to embrace more risk ahead of summer

Watching the first half in Celtic Park on Saturday evening, I thought we were glimpsing the Dublin of old.

They were controlling the tempo and flow of the game. 0-07 to 0-02 was a modest enough lead at the break given their dominance.

For me, the game stirred memories of the 2014 Division 1 League final and the radically different directions the two teams have charted since then.

Dublin went on to do some of the greatest things we've seen in Gaelic football, winning six in a row. Derry, meanwhile, embarked on a steep decline, eventually dropping into Division 4.

Derry's evolution since then has been remarkable. Rory Gallagher has laboured hard in the background to produce a panel of players capable of delivering a second half performance that took down the Dubs.

They were possibly guilty of showing them too much respect in the first '35, sitting too deep and allowing Dublin far too much possession.

But to come out in the second half and beat them in the manner they did highlights not only how far Rory Gallagher's side has come - but also the vulnerability of the Dubs at the moment.

I sense Dublin have been playing within themselves until now in Division 2 but on Saturday, they were playing against a top table team in Derry, an All-Ireland semi-finalist from last year.

Ultimately, they weren't able to adapt and change their gameplan when the tide turned in the second half.

Now, I think they'll fix it. It's possibly a good lesson for Dessie, in that he at least got what you could call a 'half-good' performance. But the major learning for the Dubs is that they need to take more risk and jettison the cautiousness that has increasingly been a feature of their game in recent years.

Ciaran Kilkenny's conservatism in the second half,