GAELIC GAMES:NOW THAT he's agreed to lead Dublin into the defence of their All-Ireland football title the first question for Pat Gilroy is how exactly he intends on going about it.

Given the famously thorough preparations that helped deliver Dublin’s first title since 1995 – the 6am training sessions, etc – it’s not going to be easy, as Gilroy admits himself, to raise the bar higher again.

Could it possibly mean 5am training sessions, for example? “Maybe 5am, yes, if that’s what it takes,” said Gilroy, speaking in Dublin yesterday, the morning after agreeing to extend his term as manager into 2012.

“You have to do more, unquestionably, if you want to improve again. If we just did the same again as this year it wouldn’t be enough to win the All-Ireland, simple as that.

“Realistically, we won the All-Ireland by a point. And were lucky to win the semi-final as well. So you have to factor that into next year, to push things on, because you certainly don’t want to stand still.”

Gilroy didn’t need any reminding of the challenges faced in trying to defend the All-Ireland, but then he was hardly going to commit for 2012 if he didn’t believe it was possible.

He would probably have committed beyond 2012 too, yet given his family and work commitments (he’s managing director of Dalkia Ireland), it was the best he could wrestle, at least for now.

“The economic situation we are in changes by the week. I’d be lucky to give a week commitment. That’s the facts of it. Maybe that will change in 12 months’ time but I just couldn’t, from a work perspective, commit longer than that. I have to be very conscious that that is what pays the bills and that has to be the primary concern always. Obviously family was very important too. Pretty much all of those issues have been put to bed and I’m lucky to have a very patient wife who supported me whatever I wanted to do.

“There were some small things with the county board as well. The main thing was around club fixtures, that there was a commitment to play some of the games in April and May, because it suits the training schedule to get them in and lads like to play in them.”

Not that Gilroy ever wanted to walk away – especially as he believes this Dublin are only starting to get going: “It was always the case that I wanted to stay on. This is only the start of this team to be honest. I didn’t get any sense after winning the All-Ireland that they were happy that they had done it and they had achieved their lifetime ambition. There was no sense of that from the players. There was a strong sense that they wanted to achieve more and that this was only the start.”

As for his backroom team, which Gilroy has until January to confirm, there is hope that Mickey Whelan can yet be coaxed back, while David Hickey and Paddy O’Donoghue are likely to stay on: “In fairness to Mickey Whelan the man is in his 70s, and wants some time out, and I am leaving him alone now. As far as I am concerned, he owes nothing to anybody but if he changes his mind I would have him involved in the morning. I will consult with him if required for different parts but I will give him the space.”

For the time being he’s glad to have the winter training ban, which will ensure all his players come back fresh and hungry on January 1st, although he would be open to some review of the championship structures, beyond 2012: “I think the provincial championships are struggling, in terms of their appeal and I think that four groups of eight would make a lot of sense. It seems unfair that some teams could play two games and make a quarter-final and other teams could play four and still not get there so four groups of eight would seem to make sense.”

Two Dublin players, Michael Dara Macauley and Eamon Fennell, outlined the importance of Gilroy staying on for another year, particularly if they are to defend that All-Ireland.

“The ship is going in the right direction and we need him to be captain of the ship next year,” said Macauley. “It would have been very hard for another manager to take over after what he’s done.”

Fennel agreed: “All the players wanted him to stay on and the general consensus was that one All-Ireland was great but we want more than one. We weren’t going to get that with players going away and that sort of thing. But Pat knows the commitment of the players and he knows the lads want to push for more than one All-Ireland. Like the Kilkenny hurlers rather than one of the football teams.”

Pat Gilroy was speaking at the launch of the official Dublin senior football team photography book, A Rare Auld Season, which is produced in association with Sportsfile, with proceeds going towards the Dublin holiday and training fund.