Alan Brogan: Dublin facing real challenge
The rampant Leinster champions are back at the same stage of the competition that they bowed out in 2014 when a battle-hardened Donegal unexpectedly picked them apart with a patient and ultimately ruthless display.
Dublin approached that tie following four games they’d won by an average of 15 points. This year, their average winning margin is up to almost 17 points, prompting fears they may once again be under prepared for what lies ahead.
Last weekend, Dublin overcame Fermanagh by eight points though led by 13 with five minutes to go, securing an August 30 clash with Donegal again or Mayo.
“We would have felt that it was a contest, certainly in the first half,” said Brogan, who appeared as a second-half substitute. “Then for the last 10 minutes or so we got sloppy, that will give us something to work on.
“Look, it probably is a challenge for us that we’ve won games quite easily going into an All-Ireland semi-final. But there’s other counties in the same boat. Mayo are after winning the Connacht final in a similar vein.
“No, it is a challenge for us but there’s a lot of experience in the group as well. We’ll talk about it, we’ll try to overcome that challenge by whatever means necessary.”
Brogan insisted that Dublin have plenty of scope for improvement generally ahead of the semi-finals. They took, for example, around 40 minutes to break down Westmeath’s defensive structure in the provincial final and berated themselves for the sloppy concession of 1-3 to Fermanagh in the closing minutes last weekend.
The 33-year-old father of two suggested that the four-week break between games should help.
“It doesn’t happen too often,” he said of the extended layoff.
“There’s pros and cons to it. One of the pros is that we’ll obviously take it relatively easy this week, then we’ll have two weeks where we will be able to get a good bank of training done.
“We maybe wouldn’t have had that when there’s only a three-week break. It’ll give us an opportunity to get a good couple of in-house games and a good couple of training sessions under our belt, which would be important for us.”
Two-time All-Ireland medallist Brogan said Dublin were happy to move on from the unusual incident which saw them concede their first goal in this year’s championship to Fermanagh’s Sean Quigley.
The burly full-forward charged into goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton, forcing man and ball across the goal line and referee Padraig O’Sullivan surprisingly awarded the goal.
“It was a bit bizarre,” said Brogan. “It was funny because usually they don’t show the clips (of controversial incidents) on the screens but they did show that.
“That didn’t do the referee any favours. He had a big decision to make and I’m sure looking back now he probably sees that it was a barge or a push. Luckily for us, it wasn’t in an All-Ireland semi-final or a final because it could have hurt us a lot more.”
