Jekyll and Hyde Dublin pull off amazing escape

DUBLIN have been Ireland’s most schizophrenic football team for longer than they would care to remember but never before have they paraded both sides of their character as baldly in the one afternoon.

The Leinster champions managed the grand total of just three points in an abject first 50 minutes yesterday before rattling off 2-13 in the 40 minutes that followed.

Dr Jekyll? Meet Mr Hyde.

Pat Gilroy has preached the gospel of consistency week in, week out ever since replacing Paul Caffrey late in 2008 but, on this evidence, most of his players have clearly been skipping services.

When they were bad they were simply awful. The sheer paucity of their display triggered painful memories of recent Croke Park hammerings but this wasn’t August and it certainly wasn’t Kerry or Tyrone.

This was Wexford in June. Not an especially good Wexford side either. In that respect, the Dubs hit a new low just after five o’clock yesterday when unseasonal weather and an ugly scoreboard prompted a minor rush for the exits.

A good few of those were Dublin fans, some of whom had vented their displeasure at half-time when the Dubs were booed down the tunnel, and it would hardly be overstating it to describe their display up to then as inept.

It was an eye-opening afternoon and one that made a mockery out of the maxim that there is far more to be learned from defeats than victories. In fact, rarely can a seven-points win have felt less satisfactory.

Was this really the same team that travelled to Omagh on the last day of the league and gave a good old-fashioned hiding to a Tyrone outfit fighting to stay in the top tier?

Gilroy alluded to the two-month gap between that last competitive fixture and yesterday’s events but, as crashes go, the dip in Dublin’s form was almost as dramatic as anything experienced by the world’s economy.

What is clear is that Gilroy has some major selection issues ahead of their provincial semi-final against the winners of the Dublin-Meath replay – a lot more than any manager would like to have so late in the year.

Where to start? Captain and centre-forward David Henry, as well as midfielder-in-chief Eamon Fennell, had already been called ashore by the time Dublin finally found their feet in the second-half.

Sitting beside them on the bench was rookie centre-back Cian O’Sullivan, off since the fourth minute with a hamstring strain, all of which leaves serious question marks over the side’s central spine.

And whither this new and improved defensive system? Any pretence of the Tyrone-style rearguard trialled during the league was long abandoned by the evening’s end.

Dublin, it seems, remain a side addicted to the unpredictable ebb and flow of football’s tide. Had it been someone other than Wexford, their late rally would have been in vain but Jason Ryan’s side simply hadn’t the skill or the nous to end Dublin’s six-year unbeaten run in the province.

They were 0-8 to 0-2 ahead at the break thanks to their dominance in the middle third but they were unable to convert that into an end product and they ended the half with just two points from play.

Mind you, that was one more than Dublin whose go-to men – Bernard Brogan and Conal Keaney – were suffering from a particularly virulent strain of the yips whenever opportunity deigned to knock.

So, where did it all go right? In the middle third, for a start. Dublin began to win some ball and, when they did, the direct running of substitute Eoghan O’Gara gave them momentum. Most crucially of all, they started to kick their points.

Three points in as many minutes kickstarted the comeback. The Hill sensed the change in the wind and not even the harsh red card shown to Denis Bastick after a tussle with Redmond Barry could halt it.

Bernard Brogan demonstrated as much by latching on to Keaney’s pass and finishing to the net under Anthony Masterson with 12 minutes to play and Dublin actually took the lead before Matty Forde’s sixth free heralded extra-time.

Forde was symptomatic of Wexford’s day. Playing his first competitive game in almost two years, the Kilanerin man was majestic from dead balls but limited in open play and he disappeared entirely as the game wore on.

So, too, did Wexford.

Dublin were briefly reduced to 13 men when Ger Brennan picked up a second yellow card in injury-time but one of the GAA’s more ridiculous rules meant that they were back to the full complement for the next 20 minutes.

Bryan Cullen and Tomas Quinn were introduced then and they were prominent in the end game. Quinn’s first point attempt rebounded off a post and as far as Bernard Brogan who duly claimed a second goal.

And that was that, really.

Dublin could have had two more goals but the misses were immaterial. Seven more points did the trick just as effectively but none of them could gloss over the fact that this is still a Dublin team wrestling with familiar and serious issues.

Dublin: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, Rory O'Carroll, P McMahon; D Bastick, C O'Sullivan, B Cahill; E Fennell, R McConnell; N Corkery, D Henry, P Flynn (0-1); C Keaney (0-3), B Brogan (2-4), K McManamon. Subs: G Brennan, A Brogan (0-2), E O'Gara, MD McAuley. Extra time: T Quinn (0-4), B Cullen (0-1), E Fennell, K Nolan (0-1), P Andrews.

Wexford: A Masterson; J Wadding, G Molloy, B Malone; C Morris, D Murphy, A Doyle; D Waters, E Bradley (0-1); S Roche (0-2), R Barry (0-2), A Flynn (0-1); C Lyng (0-1), PJ Banville (0-1), M Forde (0-7). Subs: D Fogarty, C Byrne, A Morrissey. Extra time: B Doyle, B Brosnan.

Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).