Dublin easily pick Tyrone lock
Mayo may have only beaten them by a point in last year’s quarter-final but that examination exposed their over-reliance on the double sweeper system, their shooters’ poor conversion rate and free-taking difficulties.
They returned this year with all of those issues apparently resolved.
On the basis of form and having comfortably beaten teams of a similar strength to those Dublin had seen off, it was forecast they would give the champions a run for their money. They did nothing of the sort.
When Con O’Callaghan made the most of Ronan McNamee’s slip in the fifth minute to blast a goal, Tyrone were put in a position in which they were never going to be comfortable.
It had to be them leading or at least in touch. When O’Callaghan sent over his second score in the 19th minute Dublin were five points up and out of reach.
O’Callaghan’s goal had originated from an intercepted pass, one of many Dublin seized on throughout the game. Paul Mannion twice ripped the ball out of an opponent’s possession and at the other end forced a save from Niall Morgan in the 13th minute.
Tyrone were relying on frees and shots from distance. They had four points to their name by the 18th minute but the two from play, Tiernan McCann’s, a pot-shot, and Colm Cavanagh’s, which followed an abundance of recycling, were hard scored.
Everything Dublin were doing was completed with speed.
The ball seemed to be in play for inordinate amounts of time, which suited them. That they had to work the ball back often mattered little, Brian Fenton’s 21st minute point an example of their patience.
A minute before, Tyrone were that slack at a kick-out that Stephen Cluxton was able to find an unmarked Philly McMahon in the middle of the field.
Colm Cavanagh, who was impressing in cutting out some of Dublin’s attack, was blessed not to be sent off in the 34th minute when he raised his foot towards Fenton.
A yellow card was his punishment.
He, along with Niall Scully, who earlier could have been black-carded for taking out Tiernan McCann from a play, and John Small, who was stopping Peter Harte in every way, were also fortunate to stay on the field.
Dean Rock duly converted the free for the Cavanagh foul on Fenton prior to Harte sending over Tyrone’s first score in 18 minutes and Dublin went into the break 1-9 to 0-5 ahead.
Harte scored the opening two points of the second half, one of them for a foul by Small, but Tyrone weren’t making any sizeable impact against the Dublin defence. Substitute Declan McClure added presence in the middle but his attempt at a point after a Mannion score was foolish when he didn’t even bother to look at the posts.
Jack McCaffrey and Niall Sludden exchanged scores as both sides worked their benches and replacement Kevin McManamon rattled the crossbar in the 49th minute.
He also won a free which Rock sent over in the 51st minute to sent Dublin into an eight-point lead. McCaffrey then looked nailed-on for a goal a minute later but fired his shot wide of the goal.
Dublin’s worse spell came between the 56th and 58th minutes when they coughed up three points in a row, to make it a six-point game.
Substitute Paul Flynn restored order and while Declan McClure came back with a point of his own Flynn was again on target in the 66th minute.
With his first touch, another replacement Eoghan O’Gara palmed in Dublin’s second goal two minutes later, finishing off a slick move involving Eric Lowndes, who had been mistaken for Diarmuid Connolly by the Dublin contingent on Hill 16, and Darren Daly.
O’Gara added a point and insult was added to Tyrone’s injury in additional time when Cluxton kept out Harte’s penalty following a shove by Philly McMahon on Colm Cavanagh.
At the other end, Flynn was also denied by Morgan but made up for it with a point in the same move.
And that was that, Dublin had shown themselves superior to everything Tyrone threw at them even if the challengers looked wrought with doubt when the structure they had put so much faith in had been broken as early as five minutes in.
Jim Gavin, though, wasn’t of the mind Dublin had beaten them by replicating them.
“I don’t think we beat Tyrone at their own game, they’re a superbly well managed and coached team and have got some fantastic players. They’ve got a fantastic defensive system, counter-attack really hard and you could see that any time they got a bit of space they could punish us. We just did our best there today.”
Their best can’t be toppled at the moment. Mayo have the scars of the last two years to prove that. They don’t need to be told.
C O’Callaghan (1-2); D Rock (0-5, 4 frees); E O’Gara (1-1); P Flynn (0-3); P. Andrews (0-2); C Kilkenny, B Fenton, P Mannion, J McCaffrey (0-1 each).
P Harte (0-4, 3 frees) C Cavanagh, N Sludden (0-2 each); S Cavanagh (free), T McCann, D McClure (0-1 each).
S Cluxton (c); J Cooper, C O’Sullivan, M Fitzsimons; P McMahon, J Small, J McCaffrey; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully, C O’Callaghan, C Kilkenny; P Mannion, P Andrews, D Rock.
P Flynn for N Scully, K McManamon for P Andrews (both 45); D Daly for J Small (53); E O’Gara for D Rock (63); E Lowndes for P Mannion (66); D Connolly for C O’Callaghan (70).
N Morgan; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; C Cavanagh; N Sludden, T McCann, P Hampsey; C McCann, M Donnelly; S Cavanagh (c); D Mulgrew, P Harte, K McGeary; M Bradley.
D McClure for C McCann (30); R Brennan for K McGeary (h-t); D McCurry for D Mulgrew (43); R O’Neill for M Bradley (50); C Meyler for S Cavanagh (55); P McNulty for R McNamee (60).
D Coldrick (Meath).
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