Dubs bid to silence doubters

VERY few Gaelic football players or teams escape a tongue lashing from Joe Brolly, and Dublin were no exception three weeks ago even if they managed to slay the Meath dragon and advance towards a Leinster semi-final.

Brolly’s all-seeing eye zoomed in on shortcomings on all sides and in every area of the pitch. One clip which showed a Dublin corner-back isolated on a forward who turned and kicked a point drew particular scorn.

“If that was Tyrone,” said the man who knew how to score a goal or two during his own playing days with Derry, “you would have seen three or four defenders around that Meath forward like rats around a dead dog.”

Ouch.

The main focus of his wrath he reserved for the Dublin forwards. Pat Gilroy’s side dominated possession and territory but a wide count of 17 saw them stagger over the finishing line with just two points to spare.

The RTÉ pundit had verbalised his misgivings about the Dublin attacking unit before throw-in. Too many “mé féiners”, he said. Poor shot selection. Bernard Brogan was the one man to draw praise and then he too went out and had a ‘mare.

No-one was immune from prosecution. Darren Magee started the rot by skewing a gilt-edged goal chance wide after a handful of minutes. In all, nearly a dozen Dublin players fluffed their lines at one point or another.

If there was one man most journalists would least like to confront with such a damning dossier it would be Conal Keaney whose dealings with the media have tended to be monosyllabic, fun-free affairs down the years.

It could be because Keaney only contributed one of those wides, or it could be down to the new period of glasnost that Pat Gilroy has instigated between Team Dublin and the media but, either way, Keaney replied with a grin on his face.

“I don’t really listen to any of that. It’s hard because we can’t see The Sunday Game live,” he said using a handy get-out-of-jail-free card. “They’re entitled to their opinion but I don’t know how true that is.

“It wasn’t one of our best days out but we created a lot of chances and didn’t take them. We worked very hard the last few weeks on that side of our game and we are hoping to improve.”

There is no doubting that Dublin possess potentially devastating forwards but a casual flick back through previous Leinster Championship campaigns suggests that Brolly has a point when it comes to their performances as a unit.

They kicked 10 wides against Laois in the 2005 provincial final, 12 against the same opposition in a semi-final a year later, 10 against Offaly in the ‘07 decider and 12 versus Louth last June.

Four games chosen at random. In every one, Dublin’s wide count hit double figures. Such profligacy goes some way to explaining why they have struggled in the All-Ireland series outside Leinster.

Maybe we are being too hard on Dublin. The Meath game was their first of the summer, after all, and few teams have covered themselves in glory in the championship’s opening weeks.

Dublin being Dublin, every small scab is picked over to such an extent that it is soon portrayed as a gaping wound. Are we just being too picky?

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” says Keaney. “Because we get huge crowds everyone is going to have an opinion on it. The win is what we wanted to get against Meath and we got that although it might not have been a great performance.”

“It was the first round of the championship and everyone was a bit nervous. Everyone questions themselves. You wonder if you have done the work but that is gone now and we are really looking forward to the next day now.”

That next day arrives tomorrow: a Westmeath side that has enjoyed contrasting fortunes against Leinster’s standard bearers in recent years but of whom little is expected.

Dublin had 27 points to spare when the sides met during the league but that was against a Westmeath side devoid of a plethora of key players like Dessie Dolan and Martin Flanagan, who will be back tomorrow.

Dublin will be mindful too that it is just 12 months since they had to slog through to a two-point win in this Leinster Championship and that Westmeath accounted for them in a Division Two final not long before.

Most pertinent of all recent results is the 2004 provincial quarter-final which Westmeath came through on their way to a first Leinster title and they remain the last Leinster team to defeat the Dubs in this competition.

“It was one of my first games playing for Dublin in the championship and it still sticks in my memory. I don’t think it went too well for me that day and the crowd really got on Tommy Lyons’ back afterwards.”

Keaney talks with great respect about Westmeath’s defensive capabilities. A comparison is made with Tyrone and, while the latest evidence might make that compliment look somewhat dated, his summation of Dublin’s task this week still holds water.

“You have to be patient and you have to make the right choices. You can’t just be firing off shots and maybe we were doing that the last day a bit too much. There is always going to be a man somewhere in a better position so you just have to be aware of that.”

Mr Brolly would surely agree.