Dubs do enough without Brogan

THERE are some things we never expected to see at Croke Park.

Things like ‘foreign’ games, corporate boxes and a referee being chased down a tunnel.

Add to that the sight yesterday of Bernard Brogan, the 2010 Footballer of the Year and his team’s lightning rod, being called ashore with 10 minutes to play in a Leinster final and the game still in the melting pot.

Brogan was on the scoreboard within 20 seconds with a point of true genius but he went on to kick five bad wides, drop another four efforts into the keeper’s hands and have at least one more blocked in the hour or so he was on the pitch.

Had it been anyone but him, his exit would have been greeted with a collective shrug of the shoulders and Pat Gilroy was just as matter-of-fact about the substitution which had the stadium buzzing on what was an otherwise unremarkable occasion.

“It wasn’t doing anything for the team. It wasn’t going to change. Only that Eoghan (O’Gara) got injured we might have taken him off a bit earlier. He is human and he is allowed to have the odd off day. In fairness to him, he has not done that for a long, long time.”

It wasn’t just Bernard Brogan who misfired. O’Gara failed to impress prior to being taken off at half time with a hand injury and Diarmuid Connolly got the shepherd’s hook four minutes before the interval.

Of the side’s designated ‘scoring’ forwards, only Alan Brogan really impressed, with three points from play, and the former captain’s primary role is more that of a playmaker these days — and one he is performing with some style.

Gilroy started the day with just two forwards on the bench and, though both Kevin McManamon and Tomás Quinn had to be hurled into the action with 35 minutes still to go, they still managed to put together a very respectable total.

“We learned to win in a very ugly way. We did not perform well. We had a situation that has not happened where Bernard … he was winning ball and getting shots off. He had 11 (missed opportunities) which a very unusual situation. But the team kept plugging away and guys came in. Barry (Cahill) and Kevin did very well when they came in. Kevin was one of the game-changers for us, he started to get ball and beat men, which was crucial.”

McManamon is fairly representative of Dublin’s issues in the forward line. A starter in the provincial quarter-final against Laois, he was subbed, and brought off the bench against Kildare and again yesterday and may now start in three weeks time.

For Dublin to kick on, either he, Connolly, O’Gara or Quinn needs to make themselves indispensable to the first 15 and none of them have given any indication of that happening despite numerous auditions in the recent past.

McManamon may start regardless the next day if O’Gara’s scan shows serious damage while corner-back Paul Conlon should shake off a hip injury.

Philly McMahon, out yesterday, has a chance of playing if Dublin’s quarter-final is pushed back a week as a result of Wicklow’s draw with Armagh on Saturday while Michael Macauley is touch and go and Cian O’Sullivan good to go.

Yesterday’s win marked Dublin’s 50th senior provincial football title and they claimed it by accounting for three counties — Laois, Kildare and Wexford — who presented them with the sort of packed defences that are the norm deeper into the championship.

That will serve them well — if their forward line can click.

“The last two games have been really tough games for us,” said Gilroy. “We have been put under severe pressure in different parts of the field. Today, we were dealing with two or three men back in front of our full-back line.

“We found it difficult to break it down but we still managed to score 2-12. We did have a fortuitous goal but it is still good to have that kind of score when the entire full-forward line did not play well.”