By Wayne Higgins

The Dublin senior footballers and hurlers held an open training session Friday night at the home of Fingallians GAA club, Lawless Park in Swords co Dublin.

The initiative, which is part of the GAA's missive to promote the codes this summer against the challenges of the European championships and the Olympics was taking part in a number of counties across the country at the same time.

A large crowd turned out at the home ground of Dubs half forward Paul Flynn to see the All-Ireland champions and last years National hurling league winners train as well as take part in a number of activities and drills with local children such as a cross bar challenge.

With the capital side set to start the defence of their Leinster and All Ireland crowns against either Louth or Westmeath on June 3rd, preparations are in full swing now with the team in intensive training ahead of the big day,

Full forward Tomas "Mossy" Quinn is happy with how the work has gone so far, "We get a lot of work done at this time of year, I think everyone knows that once the ground starts to get that bit harder we are in the mode for championship and that we are all looking forward to it now, everyone ups the intensity at this stage in training."

Dublin fans are always conscious of the fact that even without an All-Ireland crown there are 31 other counties that they have to battle against come summertime, Mossy feels that this year more than ever this will be the case

"I think in defending we need to make sure our hunger is there from the start, I think the last couple of years we have been chasing and now that we have proved we can go on and win, we have to try and reclaim it and make sure we have the intensity and hunger when we get out on the pitch at championship level".

The Portmarnock native feels that the mixed performances in the league owed a lot to the fact that other teams really upped their game against the Sam Maguire holders and it is something that they must now be ready for when they defend the trophy.

With Gaelic headquarters been mindful of the challenges the domestic sports face this summer from the European championships and the Olympic games in particular, does Mossy feel that there is a threat to the crowds the Dubs usually have at Croke Park,

"We are usually lucky in that we have great support all the time, the hurlers have also had great support over the last couple of years and we have given the fans a lot to watch and celebrate in this time, we are trying to play good brands of football and hurling, we like to be acknowledged by our fans and in turn try and promote the game as much as possible with nights like this" Tweet

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