Determined Dubs quick off the mark

Dublin 1-18 Cork 2-09

Almost identical to Saturday’s one, Cork had fallen by six points in Croke Park and the manager was naturally disappointed when his team had the chances to make a better fist of it.

He said at the time: “We created quite a few opportunities, but we didn’t take them and clearly Dublin were the hungrier team.”

Two years on and not much has changed. After this latest seven-point defeat to Dublin, he was preaching a similar message, having seen his side denied a couple of goals by Stephen Cluxton’s agility.

In general play though, had John O’Rourke and Colm O’Neill found the net either side of the half, the scoreline would have belied the stark differences between the teams.

As Counihan stated plainly: “Our performance wasn’t good enough. There was no doubting Dublin were a far superior team. First half, we had a lot of chances and we probably didn’t take them.

“They controlled their kick-outs very well for a period of the first half, got it up fast, got the scores inside and every time we seemed to come back and get within striking distance, they seemed to push on.”

Cork did manage to exact revenge on Dublin in the Division 1 final a couple of months later but clearly a better pre-season campaign has stood to Dublin.

In a game bereft of bite in front of a largely unexcited 28,693 Croke Park crowd, the home team never went behind in the game, from the time Bernard Brogan pointed after just 23 seconds. It was the first of six points for the 2011 footballer of the year and Paddy Andrews stuck over five points as Dublin’s midfield dominated both their own kick-out and Cork’s.

An Aidan Walsh goal in the 12th minute followed by a couple of Kerrigan points woke Cork up but they went into the break deservedly four points behind, 0-11 to 1-4.

They narrowed the gap to three on two occasions early in the second half but even when Donncha O’Connor matched Diarmuid Connolly with a penalty goal in the 52nd minute, it only brought them to within four of Dublin. It was the closest they got to Dublin from here-on, though Cluxton had to be level to an O’Neill shot five minutes from time, which would have cut the gap to two.

Even if his team did kick 12 wides, Counihan could glean some highlights from the night. Eoin Cadogan, for one, coped admirably on Andrews initially and then Brogan for the majority of the game after Jamie O’Sullivan struggled on him in the early stages.

With Michael Shields not available due to an infection and Graham Canty kept on the bench, the Thomas Clancys were drafted into the defence. Andrew O’Sullivan started in place of Alan O’Connor, who was ill during the week, at midfield and O’Rourke, who pointed thrice, replaced the named Ciarán Sheehan at half-forward.

“I think most of the young fellas we brought in would have done reasonably well at different stages, but we certainly have a lot of work to do based on that tonight,” said Counihan.

The same could not be said for the likes of Pearse O’Neill and Fintan Goold, who would have been too quiet for Counihan’s liking. He insisted Cork had come to Dublin aiming to put in a performance but then the hosts had much to say in depriving them of that. They were simply more alert and Jack McCaffrey turned out a display that more than suggested he will be vying for a spot in the Dublin half-back line come the summer. Jim Gavin felt his team could have won by more.

“If you are asking me about the performances, it wasn’t consistent enough for me. Cork’s two goals [chances] and the penalty that led to the second goal, that wouldn’t be good enough.

“So we are going to have to have a harsh look at that. A lot of frees given away, they got lots of scoring opportunities, we could have been more clinical with ours and we have a lot of work to do around the middle of the field.

“So yes, we won and we are glad to win, but there is a lot of work to do over the next few weeks.”

Gavin also reported Paul Mannion’s injury, which held up the game for several minutes in the first half, was not thought to be serious, although he did suffer concussion.

Scorers for Dublin: B Brogan 0-6 (3fs), P Andrews 0-5, D Connolly 1-2 (1-0 pen), J McCaffrey 0-2, MD Macauley, P Ryan, C O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cork: D O’Connor 1-2 (1-0 pen, 2fs), A Walsh 1-1, J O’Rourke 0-3, P Kerrigan 0-2, F Goold 0-1.

Subs for Dublin: P Ryan for Mannion (inj 28), C O’Sullivan for Macauley (46), C Reddin for Quinn (54), D Nelson for Cooper (63), S Carthy for Ó Conghaile (67).

Subs for Cork: C Sheehan for O’Neill, G Canty for Cahalane (inj) (both 50), A O’Connor for Goold (56), B O’Driscoll for Walsh (63).

Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois).