McManamon returns to haunt Kingdom

Dublin 3-18 Kerry 3-11

The portents were all there as the sides gushed four first-half goals and swapped the lead six times: Kerry just don’t win Croke Park classics.

Go on, look back over the years. You’ll struggle to find a game where they came out on top of an epic. Armagh in 2006? Good but not great. Go fish and keep fishing.

This will rank up there with the best ever seen but that will provide cold comfort for Eamonn Fitzmaurice after his side endured a lot longer of this semi-final than they had been expected to.

Had Declan O’Sullivan not shot wide in the final minute of normal time, Kerry might have had something to protect. Instead, as they went in hunt of a lead and pushed up only for Michael Darragh Macauley’s fingertips to unlock their entire defence following a midfield mix-up which prompted Kevin McManamon to don his super sub cap once more.

The 2011 All-Ireland final goal hero was again the personification of composure as he deftly lifted a left-footed shot over the advancing Brendan Kealy and provoked an almighty crescendo of celebration among most of the 81,553 in attendance.

Kerry right there and then were beaten but Dublin weren’t convinced. Diarmuid Connolly followed up with a point and then Eoghan O’Gara cracked a shot off the bar and across the line although Dean Rock was on hand to ensure it crossed the whitewash.

It was the second seven-point win for Dublin this Championship but like the Leinster final win over Meath it was a misleading margin.

On paper, the difference between the counties might deceive those who review its attributes in future but it was a blockbuster in every sense.

Stephen Cluxton, who remains the leading All Star contender for goalkeeper, was forced to pick the ball out of his Hill 16 net three times in the first 20 minutes. Jim Gavin was that spooked he called ashore two of his defenders by the start of the second half and yet they were just two behind at the break, 3-5 to 1-9.

Against Kildare, Dublin had shown an ability to absorb a shock to the system. Here they were confronted with three and each time they came back.

But what was most impressive was their speed of recovery. After James O’Donoghue tidily finished a dazzling move involving Colm Cooper and Donnchadh Walsh in the seventh minute and then Walsh beat Cluxton after being spotted all alone by Cooper five minutes later, Dublin were trailing by five.

In just four minutes, they were a point ahead as they reeled off 1-3 without reply. Shane Enright was all at sea when Paul Mannion rose to direct a Connolly ball past Kealy with a perfectly-timed palmed effort. Cluxton followed that up with a free and then Bernard Brogan, showing a marked return to scoring form, added one from play and a free.

Cooper, thriving at centre-forward, landed a close-range right-footed point to level it in the 18th minute before Walsh, a real nuisance for Jack McCaffrey, was brought down by Cluxton for a penalty.

O’Donoghue’s shot was true and good but Dublin were back up and running with scores from substitute Philly McMahon and Cian O’Sullivan.

Cooper and O’Donoghue were on the mark once more to push Kerry out to three ahead but Ciarán Kilkenny, who was dutifully shadowed by Fionn Fitzgerald before being replaced in the 43rd minute, was the final scorer of the half.

As if sensing Kerry wanted to make the most of the first half, the period where they had been so potent in previous games, Dublin pushed 13 men behind the ball in the final six minutes of the half.

With Denis Bastick on for an out-of-sorts Ger Brennan and O’Sullivan switching to defence, Dublin were more adventurous following the interval as much as Kerry had to make do with a Paul Galvin point when a slight Darran O’Sullivan mistake foiled a goal chance.

Galvin’s second score in the 44th minute stretched Kerry’s advantage to four but Dean Rock was the first off the mark in a purple patch that amounted to five Dublin points without reply in as many minutes.

With Kerry struggling on their kick-out, Dublin even managed to squeeze in a goal chance although Kealy was level to Brogan’s shot.

Dublin were blessed, though, when Jonny Cooper escaped a second yellow card in the 56th minute when he upended his namesake Colm with a trip.

The Kerryman then dusted himself off to convert the free but Rock, who had scored two points in all of his previous four Championship games coming off the bench, stayed true to form on the hour mark.

Kerry, with scores from O’Donoghue and Declan O’Sullivan in the space of a minute, went ahead for a third time with seven minutes left. But with more than a shade of 2011 their lead was a bar of soap. Connolly, even though Cluxton had advanced up some of the field to take it, coolly booted over a free after Andrews had been felled by Jack Sherwood.

McManamon then took his cue. As a heartbreaker for Kerry and hero for Dublin, he may be typecast but there are worse pigeon holes.

Scorers for Dublin: B Brogan (0-6, 2fs), D Connolly (0-4, 1f), P Mannion, K McManamon, E O’Gara (1-0 each), D Rock (0-2), MD Macauley, S Cluxton (free), P McMahon, C O’Sullivan, C Kilkenny, P Andrews (0-1 each).

Scorers for Kerry: J O’Donoghue (2-3, 1-0 pen), C Cooper (0-4, 2 fs), D Walsh (1-0), P Galvin (0-2), Declan O’Sullivan, Darran O’Sullivan (0-1 each).

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; K O’Brien, R O’Carroll, J Cooper; J McCarthy, G Brennan, J McCaffrey; MD Macauley, C O’Sullivan; P Flynn, C Kilkenny, D Connolly; P Mannion, P Andrews, J O’Donoghue. Subs for Dublin: P McMahon for K O’Brien (17), D Bastick for G Brennan (ht), D Rock for C Kilkenny (43), E O’Gara for P Mannion (60), K McManamon for B Brogan (65).

KERRY: B Kealey; M Ó Sé, M Griffin, S Enright; T Ó Sé, F Fitzgerald, P Crowley; A Maher, J Buckley; D Walsh, C Copper, P Galvin; Darran O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan, J O’Donoghue. Subs for Kerry: E Brosnan for M Griffin (blood 49-50), D Moran for J Buckley (50), E Brosnan for S Enright (52), K Donaghy for P Galvin (53), A O’Mahony for M Griffin (62).

Red card: A Maher (70+2, second yellow).

Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath).