Dublin make everyone sit up and pay attention

THE greatest sign of any game is when you see people hanging around long after the final whistle, talking about what they had just witnessed.

That was how it was in Croke Park yesterday. And people were talking in glowing terms, not about the quality of the hurling, which was poor enough, but about the spirit, heart and commitment of Dublin.

In the third minute when Lar Corbett had the ball in the Dublin net, people were nodding knowingly to one another in the stands. Yes this was going to go the way everyone feared and a rout was on the cards.