Dubs’ only case is for the defence
I have never experienced such a subdued atmosphere for a Dublin game at Croke Park. There was plenty of talk in the build-up about Dublin’s new defensive system and how it was similar to the Tyrone model. I think they achieved the defensive side of the concept but failed miserably to attack in waves or with support like Mickey Harte’s men do.
I think when you go out thinking too defensively you can encourage a team to come at you and forget to play yourself. Wexford were great for most of the match and ran at Dublin with David Murphy giving good leadership at centre-back and Redmond Barry hugely impressive.
At one stage Wexford led 0-8 to 0-2 and one reason for their dominance on the scoreboard was their brilliant free-taking. In the first 20 minutes they scored five unbelievable free-kicks: two off the ground from Barry and three from Mattie Forde off the outside of the boot. All five were from at least the 45m line with a wet ball.
Bernard Brogan on the other hand missed two easier frees from his hands and Denis Bastick missed a 45. I think Wexford would have looked at the Dublin team when it was announced during the week and really fancied their chances. After all they had beaten both Sligo and Antrim during the league and some of their players had more experience of playing big games in Croke Park than Dublin.
Eamon Fennell, who had a good league campaign, was withdrawn after 20 minutes and walked alone to his seat in the stand. In terms of getting the best out of him for the rest of the year, a pat on the back from Pat Gilroy might have been more helpful.
THE second half continued in a similar fashion and after 48 minutes with the scoreboard reading 0-10 to 0-3 in favour to Wexford the game looked over.
Ger Brennan, Conal Keaney and Bernard Brogan kicked demoralising wides from bad positions. But in fairness to Dublin they dug themselves out of a huge hole. Central to this was the grip they secured around midfield through Ross McConnell and Niall Corkery. Dublin were able to introduce some very big men like Eoghan O’Gara who gave them an energy and a drive and also Michael Dara McAuley who looks a decent player. Wexford had been relying on some brilliant frees in the first half but did not get enough of a contribution from their scoring forwards: Ciaran Lyng and PJ Banville who only scored a point from play between them. However I was impressed with the two new Dublin corner backs, Michael Fitzsimons and Phillip McMahon. Rory O’Carroll at full back did not feature very prominently but I have huge time for him and, if Dublin get a run, will be very close to an All-Star.
When faced with a situation of being seven points down with 20 minutes to play, Dublin abandoned the defensive attitude and threw off the shackles. Conal Keaney was one of the main men in this surge. He showed for the ball, won hard ball, kicked a couple of scores from play that ignited Hill 16, caught an odd kick-out, and gave a beautiful pass for Bernard Brogan’s goal.
This was the key score in that it drew the teams level. Goals really lift teams but especially Dublin, and into Hill 16 to boot.
As the game went into extra-time Dublin had much the stronger bench and were able to call on powerful men like Bryan Cullen, Thomas Quinn and the returning Fennell among others. This physicality gradually wore down the Wexford players who had given their all in normal time.
Wexford can be very proud of their efforts and have bounced back from a very poor 2009. A big midfielder to win some kickouts in the second half or one or two more scores in the second half to stop the Dublin revival could have made all the difference.
Dublin will be delighted to have chiselled out the win. There will be some tinkering or maybe even an overhaul of their new system in an effort to improve their scoring tally. Maybe a victory like this, achieved with 14 men for the last 15 minutes, will bring them on. But playing so poorly for so long in a match has to erode a team’s confidence and based on this display you could not say that Dublin are All-Ireland contenders.
On a different note, watching both games in Croke Park yesterday, very few handpasses were blown and there were plenty of “throws”. It seems that normal service is restored and the big clamp-down of the last few weeks was a waste of time.
