Dublin will flatter to deceive again

ALL-IRELAND SHC QUARTER-FINAL:

If there’s been a second disappointing aspect it was the Leinster final. Ugh.

What made the latter even more enervating was the fact we’d been here before, at O’Moore Park two years ago when Dublin had seen Kilkenny coming from so far off they inhaled too deeply on the fumes of their palette of potential hopes and fears and wound up performing a creditable impression of a bunny on a darkened, vehicle-filled road.

Here they’d only seen them coming for eight days and they still got constipation.

The early wides from Ryan O’Dwyer and Joey Boland – they needed to go over. The penalty point from Conal Keaney – they needed to go under. The 14th minute yellow card for O’Dwyer – death, taxes etc – had him minding his manners thereafter when Dublin needed him to be carrying the battle to the enemy. The deliveries from deep so flat as to ask JJ Delaney and Jackie Tyrrell no questions at all. In one dismal five-minute spell approaching the interval, Boland was done for too many steps and Peter Kelly and Shane Durkin, both with time and space on their hands, were blocked down. It did get any better thereafter.

Their failure to make the leap forward in creative terms since last August is no sin and no surprise, and credit to Colm Cronin for bringing a measure of verve to the attack against Kilkenny. But we thought Dublin were past the stage of trying to bring opponents down to their level with seven-man defensive configurations. And they thought they were past the stage of fixating on big-name opponents. Turns out we were wrong and they were wrong. At least they won’t make the mistake of underthinking how to go about combating Tipperary and at least their lack of pace in midfield shouldn’t count for too much.

Eamon O’Shea’s reaction after the Offaly game — and whatever about Offaly’s deficiencies couldn’t they have contrived some way not to concede two goals in the opening four minutes? — was sensible and accurate. There are indeed better teams out there than Tipp. But this is the midway point of the summer and the eventual champions are rarely out in front at the midway point. They certainly weren’t at the same stage last year. The longer Tipperary stay in the tournament the more frictionless their attacking grooves, the more instinctive their understanding and — in short — the more dangerous they’ll become. Will Dublin hurl better tomorrow than they did on July 6? Undoubtedly; Brazil would probably hurl better. Could they go close to winning? Closer that we imagine. Does this entitle us to take a flier on them? No.