Dubs now have that September steel
They hadn’t reached an All-Ireland final in that time not to mind winning one, and the failure of a Leinster representative to win an All-Ireland in the last decade ensured that the ability of the province to provide (a) a serious challenger to the Dubs and (b) a winner capable of challenging for an All-Ireland, was under serious scrutiny yesterday.
The provincial final started at a frenetic pace that was to continue for the entire first half, the best 35 minutes of football played in the Championship this season. I am sure the Kildare management team emphasised the importance of a good start but unfortunately for them, the Lilies seemed powerless to prevent Dublin from storming into a six-point lead after five minutes.
The Kildare full back line, and in particular Hugh McGrillen at corner back, were struggling from the outset and the first Dublin goal – finished well by Barry Cahill – came too easily from Kildare’s point of view with missed tackles aplenty in the build up. Kildare needed to register a score and Donnelly obliged in the 6th minute. Indeed on the back of solid work in the middle third by Dermot Earley and all three half backs in winning breaks, Kildare were on level terms by the 17th minute.
As with the Kildare full back line, Dublin were also struggling in this area with Bastick and Andrews under pressure from Donnelly and Smith every time Kildare got good ball into the red zone. Having cancelled out Dublin’s great start, things seemed to get even better for Kildare when Dublin’s Ger Brennan deservedly got a straight red card for striking Donnelly when the ball was gone. It was an incident that would have a major bearing on the way the game was played with a feature being the amount of short kick-outs taken by Dublin – surprisingly in a way, as Kildare had the extra man. From here to the end of the half, Kildare dominated, registering five more points from play, but crucially Jason Sherlock scored a great goal against the run of play in the 25th minute, after poor defending by Bolton gave him the opportunity. It kept the Dubs only one point behind at half time.
Kildare should still have been in pole position but when Dublin’s need was greatest, the experienced players came to the fore. In the early stages of the second half when the pace slowed noticeably Dublin brought all their experience to bear on proceedings with Ciaran Whelan, introduced at half time, scoring the first point of the half and Bryan Cullen sweeping up breaks and driving forward from centre back and controlling the tempo of the game. He was ably assisted by Paul Griffin with a couple of inspirational block downs and surging runs out of defence.
In addition, not for the first time in a championship game (take note Kildare), Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs found a blue jersey on eight occasions out of nine, Flynn and Shane Ryan (another experienced player introduced effectively from the bench) claiming six of them. Kildare were utilising their extra man, Mickey Conway at the back but their failure to prevent Dublin from executing their kick-out strategy, even with an extra man, was to cost them dearly. Eventually Conway did push forward on the right flank to claim valuable points but at that stage the Dublin backs had taken the measure of the Kildare forwards, but more importantly at the other end, Bernard Brogan had stamped his class all over the game with three great scores from play and two frees, to bring his tally to seven for the day in a man of the match display.
Those who questioned the standard of the Leinster Championship got their answer in spades with yesterday’s decider, a great advertisement for the game of football where both sides contributed handsomely to the spectacle. I also got the answer to one of my queries – Leinster did produce a worthy challenger to the Dubs in Kildare who registered 18 scores from play yet still bowed to a team that used their experience to claim five-in-a row. Will the province now provide the winner of this year’s All-Ireland? That is for another day but the stern examination they received yesterday will definitely assist Dublin in their quest.
