Showboating and baiting are par for the course and in the emotion of battle are unlikely to be stamped out, two Dublin stalwarts tell Ian O'Riordan

Two of Dublin's most seasoned footballers believe there was no deliberate showboating or taunting of opponents in Sunday's Leinster final against Laois. Jason Sherlock and Ciarán Whelan - who between them have played 25 seasons for Dublin - also claim such behaviour is sometimes unavoidable in the heat of championship matches in Croke Park.

For Sherlock, the only survivor of Dublin's 1995 All-Ireland win, what happened on Sunday was mostly about adrenaline, and there's no guarantee it won't happen again.

"I didn't know it was such an issue," said Sherlock, "and I haven't thought much about it. But all I would say is that I would defy anyone to go out in front of 82,000, full of adrenaline, and be rational and be calm. Some things happen, sport is emotional. That's why we're here. It touches us.

"Okay, in the cold light of day you might do things differently. But I'm not going to have an issue with anyone that's emotional when they play sport.

"Things happened on Sunday, but there's no way I can guarantee I'll go the next day and won't react, do something I shouldn't."

For Whelan, who made his senior debut with Dublin in 1996 and like Sherlock has been ever present since, the issue of taunting is certainly not a new one, but if it is to be tackled then it must be done at a national level.

"I haven't seen a whole lot of it, just heard about it," he said. "I think it's possibly over-hyped. We don't like to see bad sportsmanship; we're all good sportsmen. There is a lot of emotion playing in front of 82,000, and under a lot of pressure.

"But I don't think it's a Dublin issue either; it's a national issue. I don't think there was a whole lot in Sunday. But if it's something that needs to be addressed then it needs to be addressed at a national level, and we'll row in with that. But it's absolutely not a policy. Players shake hands with each other after matches."

Whelan added, however, that the rising stakes of championship football had maybe contributed: "It's a results business, and teams are under pressure to deliver. So it has possibly crept into the game. But two years ago, and Mossy Quinn taking his frees, he got it from Tyrone. So it's certainly not just a Dublin thing."

Sherlock and Whelan are clearly more concerned about Dublin's All-Ireland challenge in the coming weeks, now they've safely added a third successive Leinster title. And Sherlock, given all his experience, certainly wasn't getting carried away with the convincing win over Laois.

"Any game you win there are things you do well and things you do badly. I'd like to think there were more positives than negatives, and there were a lot of things we did well. But this team is willing to look at the things we're doing wrong.

"We got off to a bad start. Laois put it up to us tactically, threw something at us. It took us 20 or 25 minutes to adapt, but we got on top of them, took the challenge on board.

"There's no question it was great, but . . . there's a bigger challenge ahead. We all realise the championship is only starting, that we haven't played a knock-out game yet. The next day the losers are gone. So if you want to be the best there's always another challenge down the road."

Whelan's ambitions for the rest of the year were also clear - starting with making amends for last year's semi-final collapse against Mayo.

"We were very disappointed last year," he admitted, "so we do want to get back to an All-Ireland semi-final and give ourselves the opportunity for what we missed out on last year.

"I think we're as well equipped as last year. Against Mayo, seven points up with 20 minutes to go, and we can only blame ourselves for that, bottom line. We've found a couple of extra players, a bit more strength in depth.

"And I'd like to hope we've learnt from last year. Sport is about learning from your defeats."

Both players are thankful for the four-week break (especially given the club matches this week) and Whelan has a few ideas of where the biggest threat will come from.

"Sure it could be the quarter-final, and whoever we get there. There are a lot of good teams left in there. I mean look at Derry. Any team that beats Armagh and Mayo in seven days have turned their year around, so there are a lot of good teams out there. And I think Cork will have a big say yet.

"There is expectation there now, but it's there every year, no matter how good or bad we're playing. If Dublin win it's over-hyped, if we lose it's over-hyped as well. But I'm playing the game too long and know how the thing operates . . . it's all about how you perform the next day."