Dubs win by eight points against Tipp

Dublin 1-21 Tipperary 1-13

The Brogan brothers, Alan and Bernard, exploited a tiring Tipperary defence as Dublin advanced in the All-Ireland qualifiers at Croke Park.

The Brogans shot 0-11 between them to drive Pat Gilroy's men to victory in a dour contest which gave little indication as to Dublin's All-Ireland credentials.

Tipperary tried their utmost to test the recently dethroned Leinster champions, but faltered in the second half as the Dubs broke clear.

After an edgy first half, Gilroy's charges got their Championship challenge back on the rails with an improved second-half showing.

Michael Darragh MacAuley and Barry Grogan traded goals as Dublin led by 1-9 to 1-7 at half-time.

Grogan led Tipp's scoring with 1-5, but Dublin, with their bench proving influential, pulled through in front of just 22,107 spectators.

In rain-soaked conditions, Kevin McManamon got a glimpse of the Tipperary goal in the opening seconds but failed to find the target. It was left to Alan Brogan to open the scoring for Dublin, with Ross McConnell and Bernard Brogan (free) making it 0-3 to 0-0 by the six-minute mark.

The Dublin team showed five changes to the one that succumbed to Meath last time out, with experienced campaigners like Bryan Cullen, Conal Keaney and Barry Cahill among the players to miss out.

Tipperary, who conquered Laois in the last round, opened their account through wing forward Stephen Hahessy, but Dublin pressed on for a 0-6 to 0-1 lead as goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton and Bernard Brogan converted three placed balls between them. Cluxton stepped up to knock over a '45', taking over from the benched Tomas Quinn.

While Dublin's wides tally mounted to five, Tipp's talismanic forward Grogan struck a free over off a post and Conor Sweeney, in the left corner, scored from play to reduce the arrears to three. Then, in the 19th minute, Dublin engineered their only goal when Eoghan O'Gara turned and raced in from the right to pass for the advancing MacAuley to fist home and crown his first Championship start with a goal.

Alan Brogan had time and space to follow up with a point, making it 1-7 to 0-3, but a slip by Dublin full-back Rory O'Carroll in the 21st minute allowed Grogan slide home a well-taken goal in response. George Hannigan's pinpoint through ball was latched onto by Grogan who cut past Cluxton and fired home in front of a sparsely populated Hill 16. Grogan added a free to make it a three-point game.

The remainder of the first half was evenly contested with Dublin clearly rattled by the concession of that goal. Philip Austin nailed a point and Grogan and Sweeney tagged on two more frees, in between scores from Bernard Brogan and McManamon at the Davin End. Indeed, Dublin would have been celebrating a second goal by the break if O'Gara had not clipped a late shot wide.

Tipp kept in the hunt as the second half started, with scores from Grogan and Sweeney sandwiching a single effort from Bernard Brogan

There were a lot of wides and frees conceded, but Dublin managed to add some much-needed cushion to their advantage, helped by a run of points from substitute Eamonn Fennell, Alan Brogan and O'Gara.

The life was sucked out of the game as, by the hour mark, Dublin were armed with a 1-17 to 1-10 buffer and had one foot in the next round. Substitute Conal Keaney came on and kicked two points, Ross McConnell raided forward to score and Bernard Brogan continued to cause problems for the Tipp defence, taking his haul for the afternoon to seven.

Their overall effort could not be questioned, but the Premier County side, hit by recent squad withdrawals, had no answer. Their closing points from Grogan, substitute Brian Coen and Brian Mulvihill were cancelled out by MacAuley, man-of-the-match Alan Brogan and Keaney.

So, at the final whistle, it was a case of mission accomplished for Dublin who will be pleased with this return to winning ways, but they had enough shaky moments to still leave a question mark over their ability to mount a serious challenge for All-Ireland honours.