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Michael Carton: 'A heartbreaking performance' as Dublin hurlers take step backwards

It was a tough day at the office for Dublin yesterday in Thurles.

James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

DUBLIN HURLER MICHAEL Carton has admitted that they have taken ‘a step backwards’ in 2014 in the wake of yesterday’s championship exit with a heavy defeat against Tipperary.

Last year’s Leinster champions failed to catch fire this season and Carton felt the disappointment after yesterday’s ‘heartbreaking performance’.

“Every year you step on the field you want to go forward and we went one step backwards this year. (It was) a heartbreaking performance. All the training we did, you think you’re ready and we just didn’t show up again.

You think your preparation’s all done, but you have to go out and want the ball. And we didn’t want the ball enough out there. The Tipp lads out-fought us for every ball and it’s just not good enough. 

“You have to hurl when you cross the white line. You can have all the gimmicks in the world, but you have to want the ball. We were dropping simple balls out there and just didn’t look the team we have been of late. It’s just so disappointing.

“I’ll never mind losing if you perform on the pitch and play with a bit of freedom. We didn’t do that the last two days and it’s just not good enough at this stage. We’re a mature team, we shouldn’t be going out playing like that.”

Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO

Carton admits Dublin must now go back to scratch in an effort to discover some consistency ahead of the 2015 season.

“(We’ll) just go back to the club championship, can’t come quick enough now to get that out of the system. And then back to the drawing-board again next year. We can’t be playing like that.

“That’s the Dublin of old the last two performances. We’re missing that bit of consistency that we had for the last few years. We’ll just have to get back and work hard to get there again. But it’s a very young team, come back stronger next year, we’ve a lot to work on.”

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