Dublin and Kildare to scratch a seven-year itch

IT WAS, in a number of ways, a seminal day. Mick O’Dwyer took charge of Kildare for the last time, Dublin won a first Leinster title since 1995 and Croke Park welcomed its biggest crowd in four decades.

It was a pretty big deal for Alan Brogan too.

The young attacker had already won a provincial medal earlier that summer alongside Stephen Cluxton, Paul Casey and Barry Cahill for the U21s but this was on a different scale.

Kildare had won two provincial titles and reached an All-Ireland final during Dublin’s time in the wilderness but the Leinster final meeting of the two seven years ago marked a turning point in the road for both counties.

Tommy Lyons fed the escalating hype as the championship grew legs and, in the end, only the width of a post denied Ray Cosgrove and the Dubs in a dramatic All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh.

Cosgrove, as throughout that summer, was Dublin’s chief marksman that day against Kildare but Brogan’s display caught the eye every bit as much. His second-half goal turned a deficit into a one-point lead.

It sounds like a day no young buck could forget but he can recall mere snippets. The goal, certainly, and the fact that there were so many youthful faces — aside from his own — smiling on their way up the Hogan Stand’s steps.

Another batch of young Dubs will line out for the first time in a provincial final tomorrow — Denis Bastick and Ger Brennan among them — and Brogan feels that, as was the case with him, ignorance could prove bliss.

“Maybe you don’t fully understand the consequences of what’s going on. As you get older you obviously feel a bit more pressure because you have a bit more pressure on the shoulders and you know what people expect around you.

“When you are young it can be a bit easier than when you get to 27, 28 years old and you have played in four or five (finals) and you know what is expected of you and what you have to do to win the game.”

By now, Leinster finals come as naturally to Brogan as climbing out of bed. A two-time All Star, he has bagged four more Leinster senior medals since that one in 2002. Another one tomorrow would secure a rare five-in-a-row.

It would be a praiseworthy achievement regardless of the aspersions cast on the Leinster Championship in recent years but their failure to build on that provincial dominance does devalue their worth.

“We won a couple of U21 Leinsters and an U21 All-Ireland (in 2003) but, in saying that, we probably thought we would have won an All-Ireland by now, seven years later,” Brogan admits.

“We have done well in Leinster but we haven’t transferred that into All-Ireland success. That would be a big regret of any player that’s played for seven or eight years, if they end up without winning an All-Ireland.”

The jury is still undecided over their chances of changing all that this year. Gilroy’s decision to bench some of the older brigade and draft in new blood was undoubtedly correct but it does remain to be seen if the rookies are up to the task.

A green full-back line and unfamiliar midfield partnership are the areas where Gilroy has performed most of his surgery but question marks aren’t limited to those sectors. An experienced forward unit is also under the microscope.

The knives were out after the first-round defeat of Meath when 17 wides left the result dangling in the balance up until the last act when Dublin should have long been relaxing with pipe and slippers. Gilroy promised that remedial steps would be taken and he appeared to be good as his word two weeks ago when Dublin’s sights were considerably more accurate, even if it was against a porous Westmeath defence.

“When the game was a game for the first 25 or 30 minutes, it was probably one of the best performances I’ve been involved in,” says Brogan. “We had taken a fair bit of criticism after the Meath game and we hadn’t performed to where we should be.”

All six of Dublin’s forwards scored from play against Westmeath and the game was a triumph for two of their number in particular — Bernard Brogan, after his travails against Meath, and Jason Sherlock, who returned to the first 15.

Sherlock has been a microcosm of Dublin in recent times. Adored by his fans, dismissed as overrated by his detractors. His return to prominence has come after a spring spent for the most part off the panel. Sherlock managed six points in the semi-final but Bernard Brogan’s return to form was an even bigger story after own miscues against the Meath men. The younger of the brothers hit Westmeath for 2-8 on the day.

“Everyone in Ireland has seen him play,” says Alan. “We know how good he is. It is just whether he can deliver on those big days and, thank God, the last day he did deliver. Hopefully on Sunday it goes well for him again.”

All good then. So far.

Kieran McGeeney’s storm-troopers will tell a more accurate tale.