Ger Cunningham happy with Dublin display

Towards the end, as Kilkenny began to fashion what would have been a comeback of ridiculous proportions, thoughts turned to 2012, when Dublin scored six goals here in Nowlan Park and still lost, thanks to the concession of three late goals.

It wasn’t to be. History refused to repeat itself, and Dublin held out to secure a win that Brian Cody had no truck with, even if his silent smile when asked about Jonjo Farrell’s first-half sending-off spoke a thousand words.

“I’ll let ye decide on that lads,” Cody said, “I won’t talk about referees. Obviously, it had a huge bearing on the game — there was nobody hurt. That’s all I know. I don’t know why he was sent off. The referee made a decision and that was it.”