For Dubs a corner turned, history re-written
“I’m feeling a bit surreal,” he whispered. “It was a bit of an anti-climax at the end because we never really got going. We felt there was a lot more in us but all of a sudden it was over and we were All-Ireland champions.”
And, like that, a corner turned and history rewritten.
Dublin are the season’s story now, rewarding the capital’s GAA toilers and recruiters for back-aching efforts for more than a decade and a half.
But, as that intoxicating feeling of a first Sam Maguire in 16 years wash over the Dubs, the postmortem won’t even wait for daylight in Kerry.
Four point in front with seven minutes remaining, one can make a case for a Kerry collapse as easily as one for Dublin’s resilience and self-belief.
Strictly speaking neither are correct. This dramatic final – well, dramatic from the 63rd minute forward – hinged on one turnover ball by Declan O’Sullivan and Dublin’s ravenous desire to maximise it.
Simplistic? Not a bit. Kerry were four points to the good, 1-10 to 0-9 and Dublin’s well of motivation was draining fast. They had been outscored 0-8 to 0-1 in a 23 minute second-half spell as good as anything Kerry have produced this year or last. What was worse for Dublin was that the Kingdom had stood toe-to-toe with their younger foes and frankly, out-stared them. The crowd sense was of a final that had taken a decisive turn and shape. Dublin were as dead as brown bread, as they might say.
Until.
Thirteen minutes earlier Pat Gilroy had sent for the one real game-changer he had in reserve, Kevin McManamon. Now he was hareing towards the Hill about to turn history on its head. He slipped inside a desperate effort of retrieval by Declan O’Sullivan and beat Brendan Kealy.
Cue the madness. Whatever limitations Dublin can be accused of, waiting for an invitation to kick in a half-open door isn’t one of them. Even before Gilroy came in to add his structure and shape, the Dubs were the last team in the world you’d want to incentivise.
Point from Kevin Nolan and Bernard Brogan – his sixth, even though well held by Marc Ó Sé – edged Dublin in front.
The madness was only beginning.
Colm Cooper was fouled, though not compensated with a free by Cavan referee Joe McQuillan, who was guilty of getting a number, I’d estimate at five, big decisions wrong. Kieran Donaghy equalised nonetheless moments afterwards. Ger Brennan lost a Dublin free through retaliation which might have seen him sent off (he was earlier booked) before McManamon got on the ball again.
In the mood, he’s a dinking, jinking ball of trouble for the opposition, and he lured Barry John Keane into a foul. Stephen Cluxton coasted forward like a man heading up the aisle for communion and aced the biggest free of his life.
“He’s done it about one million times from that exact position so we were fairly confident,” beamed Pat Gilroy afterwards.
Justified? Does it matter? Gilroy mentioned afterwards the kicks in the teeth this group of players have been on the end of. Dog Day Afternoons. This wouldn’t be one. Two years back, shortly after being humiliated by Kerry in the 2009 quarter-final, Gilroy’s nascent squad spat out their issues and problems behind closed doors in Corduff, Monaghan. That was a turning point, he revealed last night. Never again would they buckle under the weight of expectation or the sight of the green and gold.
Startled earwigs how are ya.
“We were going to keep going until the end and more if need be,” he said after the final yesterday.
A new order in football? We thought the same after Cork’s overdue success last year, but for certain, this success – a first since 1995 — removes a lot of psychological baggage. Now it’s about the want to do more.
Kerry will regroup, but this one will hurt, more than the 2002 loss to Armagh. They were the better side for the first, third and most of the fourth quarter and were seven minutes from a deserved victory when they were torpedoed in the mouth of the harbour.
Privately they are furious with referee McQuillan. But Jack O’Connor wasn’t biting on that issue afterwards, though he couldn’t resist mentioning the referee’s decision to penalise Eoin Brosnan for handling the ball on the ground when all the evidence – live and replayed – showed that he had fly-kicked a scrambled clearance from the Kerry goal area in the 52nd minute. Bernard Brogan levelled the game at 1-6 to 0-9 with the free.
Notwithstanding that, Darran O’Sullivan, Tomás Ó Sé and Colm Cooper were the embodiment of the energy and intensity that gives a lie to the view that this Kerry group is on its last legs. Tactically the management got little wrong, the move of Donaghy to the left wing in the first half causing a dilemma for Dublin. Paul Galvin’s introduction was earlier than anticipated (23 minutes) and his aggression in the tackle was too much at times for the official who pinged him twice for Dublin frees that gave them a 0-6 to 1-2 half time edge.
The sides were level at 1-5 to 0-8 but strangely the game was dangling shapelessly ten minutes after the break. This final sell-out was waiting for someone to get a grip and after that controversial Brogan free Kerry took a hold with four straight points.
In truth, no-one could have seen what came next.
It’s instructive to look at possible contenders for man of the match from the winners. McManamon for his 20 minute cameo, Cluxton for his two points, Michael Darragh MacAuley? Slim pickings.
Of course, it’s uncool to diss All-Ireland champions – but Dublin shouldn’t fret over the whys and the how of getting over the line.
This season, they’ve travelled the tough road, both in terms of the opposition and the weight of expectation. And, as we suspected here, their strategy of being there or thereabouts with ten minutes remaining – and then seeing where the dice falls – has served them well.
Those who feared Pat Gilroy’s men would freeze with the winning post in sight are eating their words now.
DUBLIN (How they rated): S Cluxton 8, C. O’Sullivan 6, R. O’Carroll 6, M. Fitzsimons 6, J. McCarthy 5, G. Brennan 6, K. Nolan 6; D. Bastick 6, MD MacAuley 7, P. Flynn 5, B. Cahill 5, B. Cullen 5; A. Brogan 7, D. Connolly 6, B. Brogan 7.
Subs: P McMahon (5, 46); K McManamon (8, 50); E. O’Gara (6, 56); E. Fennelll (6, 62).
KERRY (How they rated): B. Kealy 8; K Young 7, M Ó Sé 7, T. O’Sullivan 7; T. Ó Sé 7, E. Brosnan 6, A. O’Mahony 6; A. Maher 6, B. Sheehan 8; Darran O’Sullivan 8, Declan O’Sullivan 6, D. Walsh 5; C Cooper 7, K. Donaghy 7, K. O’Leary 5.
Subs: P. Galvin (6, 24); BJ Keane (6, 50); D Bohan for Brosnan (5, 63).
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