Brogan admits work to be done as Dubs still wide of the mark

ALAN BROGAN has admitted that the Dublin attack must improve if the county is to launch a serious bid for honours this summer.

The former captain scored three points from play in Sunday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final win over Meath – but his day was marred by a trio of wides that were indicative of the team’s shortcomings up front.

Dublin amassed 17 wides and their lack of cohesion was heavily criticised by TV pundits Pat Spillane and Joe Brolly.

“We had a lot of wides,” Brogan admitted. “I suppose the first thing is that you need to create the chances and worry about putting them over after. At stages in the game we looked very clinical up front.

“Maybe we made some bad decisions. Some of us could have taken an extra pass and looked for the man in the better position but we’ll work on that over the next few weeks and hopefully get it right for the next game.”

Brogan’s younger brother Bernard was one of those who suffered most in front of goal. The wing-forward managed one point from play – as well as a single free – but hit three wides before being replaced after 50 minutes.

“He missed a couple of chances but, as I said to Bernard, everyone knows how good a shooter he is. It’s his work rate and ability to win the ball that is sometimes questioned and he was out in front of his man to the ball.

“He has a long summer ahead and he’ll have better days. He’s been in and out for a few years; it’s been hard enough for him so it will take him some time to get used to it.”

The paucity of the entertainment, as well as the absence of any real intensity, has again raised questions about the standard of the game in the province. Brogan accepted that it was “scrappy enough” but pointed to a strong and unpredictable wind in part mitigation.

“It was probably hard to see from up in the stands that there was a swirly breeze out there. It was holding the kick-outs up and that never helps the quality of the match. Some of the balls in were being held up as well. It happened to myself in the second half where I thought I was going to make the pass and, because the breeze was stronger than I thought, it held it up. It was scrappy but it was hard fought around the middle.”

Dublin’s new-look midfield of Darren Magee and Ross McConnell was the only outfield line to escape criticism afterwards but Brogan has revealed the absence of so many familiar faces had a debilitating affect.

Ciarán Whelan, Jason Sherlock, Bryan Cullen and Shane Ryan all started the game on the bench as Pat Gilroy gave the likes of Alan Hubbard, Denis Bastick and Mark Davoren the chance to make their mark.

“To be honest, we were a little bit nervous before the game because these are guys who have played for the last seven or eight years and have been the lynchpin of the team and, all of a sudden, they’re not there.

“It’s up to other guys to step up to the mark. In fairness, guys did that and it was great to have Ciarán and Jayo coming off the bench, I thought Jayo made a great difference when he came in. He was buzzing around the full-forward line and got on the end of a couple of balls when we had probably been struggling to win ball in the full-forward line. Jayo won two or three but we probably didn’t get the scores we should have off them.

“It gave the defence a bit of a breather, gave us a chance to get organised, but we were under pressure. The breeze was strong enough and Meath were putting us under a lot of pressure but our defence held firm as well.”