Late avalanche engulfs Dublin

FOR about 45 minutes in Parnell Park on Saturday, this was a match.

Not an exciting match, not remotely a thriller, but still interesting enough to keep the attendance of nearly 10,000 engaged. 1-12 to 0-9 it was at that stage and, even if Dublin were “riding their luck at times,” as manager Tommy Naughton admitted, Cork were still finding it difficult to shake them off.

Twice in the first half the visitors had come close to opening a real gap between the teams, corner-forward Neil Ronan breaking through as early as the 4th minute, Joe Deane doing the same ten minutes later; on each occasion, however, Cork were denied by Dublin keeper Gary Maguire.

Nine minutes into the second half, captain Kieran ‘Hero’ Murphy’s 29th minute goal was the major difference between the teams and, while no-one was thinking shock, respectability was a realistic target for the Dubs.

Then it came. Not an avalanche of scores, just a steady, inexorable, inevitable stream – inevitable, because Cork, personified in the ubiquitous O’Connor twins again, in the on-form Joe Deane, in that peerless half-back line (John Gardiner played most of the game in the centre, did very well), were clearly a class apart.

Two goals in the sequence; the first was Hero’s second, the result of a truly sublime pass from Joe Deane, 50th minute, put Cork 2-14 to 0-9 clear; the second came in the third minute of added time, the telescopic arm of Pa Cronin reaching for a high centre by Hero, turn and shoot. A 14-point defeat then, one point more than Dublin suffered in the last championship meeting of these two, back in the All-Ireland final of 1952. Harsh, very harsh, and they did test Donal Óg Cusack in the Cork goal on a number of occasions – the Cloyne custodian was imperious.

Cork have two matches left, Offaly first up next Saturday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh; after losing two more players to injury on Saturday (corner-backs Brian Murphy and Shane O’Neill, both in the first quarter, ably replaced by Cian O’Connor and Shane Murphy), to join Tom Kenny and Niall McCarthy (injured against Waterford) on the treatment table, their strength in depth will be seriously tested.

“Shane O’Neill’s ankle is a worry,” reckoned team doctor Con Murphy; “I can’t see him playing next week; Brian Murphy got a migraine attack, brought on by the impact of the late hit by Ros O’Carroll, he should be okay, but he’s had a run of bad luck. Tom Kenny is doubtful for next week, but we should have him back for the Tipp game. Niall McCarthy is definitely out for the qualifiers, you’re looking at roughly six weeks from the time of the injury. Diarmuid O’Sullivan hurt his ankle also, badly swollen; we’ll check him out during the week.”

It all adds up a headache for manager Gerald McCarthy. “It’s a big win but I feel there’s a need for improvement, and there’s room for improvement with a lot of lines on the field. I’m not going to go into specifics but, overall, I was disappointed with the team performance. We’ll be talking to the players about that.”

Positive signs, definitely, and midfielder Kevin Hartnett did a very passable impersonation of Kenny, including two points from play; centre-forward remains a problem, however; Murphy was moved after 20 minutes, did all his scoring from wing-forward, while Pa Cronin too is more suited to the wing, struggled against Ronan Fallon.

One player Gerald won’t be talking to is goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack. Suspended, along with Diarmuid O’Sullivan and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín for the semi-final loss to Waterford, all three were back on Saturday night, all three did the business (though O’Sullivan was clearly hampered by that injured ankle), but Cusack was in superb form.

On this evidence, Dublin’s day is still a few years away, though McCarthy was impressed. “They showed a lot of promise, they have some very good players and, while things didn’t work out too well for them today, you can see there’s certainly potential there. Their main line of improvement will come from gathering together the minors and U-21’s of the past year or two. I see the next three years as being vital to the emergence of Dublin as a top-class hurling county.”