Dubs must go with the flow
Much of the analysis since has focused on how the eventual champions fell over the line after an acquiescent collapse by the Dublin team towards the end of a riveting match. There is no doubt that having led from the second minute until the 68th, that Dublin followers will have grown to detest the defeat as much as any in their recent history, but a detached examination of the entrails will reveal Cork were in fact the better team and the better team always wins the day.
It has become a feature of Cork’s play at the end of last year and, happily for them, continuing into the season opener against Kerry two weeks ago, that they force the opposition into the concession of free kicks within scoring range late in the game. It is also unlikely to be a coincidence that they have the two most reliable free-takers in the game today, Donncha O’Connor and Daniel Goulding punishing every indiscretion. Witness Donncha O’Connor’s goal and three points from placed balls at the end of last year’s semi-final and Daniel Goulding’s casual stroking of second half 50s in the final. Just two weeks ago in Tralee, Goulding and O’Connor closed out the game with kicks they might have missed last year. While the composure of both forwards is to be admired, the forces that compel opposition defenders to concede frees are more impressive.
It is too simplistic to say teams such as Dublin, Down and Kerry (whose game plans make harsh demands on their half-forwards) simply tire and concede frees and hence lose games. The fact is Cork are the only team who could use five proven championship performers at midfield in their last championship match, and even as recently as two weeks ago, introduce players with Nicholas Murphy’s aerial power and Ciarán Sheehan’s ability.
The net effect of such reserves is that Cork finish every game now with their best players on the field and regardless of any coalition of clever movement, intelligent support play, and general exuberance, opposition is gradually eroded by diminishing energy levels and also by Cork’s monopoly of possession in that vague territory they now call the middle third.
HOW then can Dublin hope to emulate Cork, not just in tonight’s showpiece but also in the long-term if as seems likely, the putative contenders cross swords later on this year? Winning the bulk of Stephen Cluxton’s would be a good place to start. For all his honest endeavour and tackling last time out against Cork, Michael Darragh McCauley was simply expending more energy than he should have been when not in possession. That might seem like a strange observation given the debut season he had last year but McCauley could be a bit more economical with the same net effect and still retain a reserve of energy for the final frantic 10 minutes. The Amish work ethic will still be needed to match a team like Cork but sometimes, you feel that Dublin could burn less fuel by choosing their moments more carefully. Because forwards like Patrick Kelly, Goulding and O’Connor are so comfortable on the ball, Dublin won’t always get full value for two defenders descending on a player tonight, because a third may jump in and foul while dispossessing. Cork are masters at creating situations like this and it is essential the inexperienced Dublin players don’t spoil 30 seconds of hard work for a second of laziness.
Dublin will have been encouraged by the fact that five of their starting six forwards scored from play two weeks ago against Armagh. Bernard Brogan was chief scorer again with 1-3 but the performances of Kevin McManamon and Diarmuid Connolly suggest that the over-reliance on Brogan might not be an issue in this year’s league. This time last year Brogan and McManamon were well on their way to becoming Dublin’s top and second top league scorer respectively, but they couldn’t afford to keep the pair so close to goal in the long term. When Cork broke a four-game unbeaten run by Dublin last March, we saw for the first time how limited and limiting Pat Gilroy’s tactics of deep-cover defence really was. A further defeat against Galway at home in Parnell Park set them thinking anew and it wasn’t until their qualifier run that similar tactics were employed and embraced with any degree of conviction.
The challenge once again for Gilroy this spring is to convince his players that league auditions are all about getting choreography right for championship. The challenge for his players is to start playing freely and spontaneously when the institutions of pre-arranged game plans go out the window. They must become the flexible instruments of what seems to be a well-constructed idea on Gilroy’s part.
In as revealing an insight as Conor Counihan is going to give, the Cork manager said at the end of last year that his team would’ve loved to play more direct football, as had been suggested by many last year, but “if there’s four defenders inside against two forwards, are we going to pike it in? I accept there were times when that balance went too far the other way, but that’s something you have to live with. Players react to the environment, they’re not machines.”
If Dublin don’t adapt to the game panning out in front of them, they are going to end up running a great big circle and meet the 2010 version of themselves again at the starting point. Another Dubliner, James Joyce maintained a man’s errors are his portals of discovery. Dublin’s errors last year must have been vexing. Reflecting on them will bring massive discovery.
Of all the league matches this year, the Dublin faithful would cherish a win tonight. If they beat Cork, they will have beaten all the major teams in league football since Pat Gilroy embarked on his overhaul over a year ago. When they began the process they had no guarantee of success, only a conviction what they wanted could be achieved if they dared to go after it. Tonight will tell us plenty. With a little more ambition and adaptability Dublin could be the big winners of 2011 — or they could be a footnote. The choice is theirs.
DUBLIN’s footballers can get a tantalising glimpse of their holy grail, the Sam Maguire Cup, ahead of tonight’s mouth-watering clash at Croke Park. A special Q&A football debate, featuring inter-county players past and present, plus a number of the fourth estate’s GAA correspondents, has been organised for the newly refurbished Big Tree Pub on Dorset Tree. It’s a perfect opportunity for early arrivals to whet the appetite ahead of tonight’s big game, with proceeds from the panel discussion going to Special Olympics Ireland.
Our own GAA corr John Fogarty will be joined by The Star’s Peter Sweeney on the panel, but pride of place will go to the silver canister, annexed by Conor Counihan’s men last September. €15 entry fee also gets punters some finger food to go with the debate.
2011 is a very busy year for Special Olympics with 126 athletes representing Team Ireland at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens. All funds raised at this event will help in alleviating the costs of sending the team to Athens .
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