It was a foul, says Brogan

Bernard Brogan has praised referee Cormac Reilly for awarding the injury-time free which he said sent Dublin through to the Leinster SFC final.

Kildare hearts were broken in last Sunday's semi-final when Brogan knocked over the disputed free, which he won after tangling with Lilywhites substitute Andriú Mac Lochlainn.

Television replays suggested that it was not a foul and some media commentators have criticised Reilly's decision, with one newspaper columnist dubbing it "a joke, a sick joke in Kildare's case".

But the Meath match official was well-placed to make the decision and the TV cameras did not pick up the clash between the two players in its entirety.

"I was sure in my own mind that it wasn't a free. It's a cruel way to end a game of football," admitted MacLochlainn, whose manager Kieran McGeeney felt his defender had "done nothing wrong".

In his 'Dub Hub' blog, which was published today on the Dublin County Board website, Brogan said: "I feel that I was fouled for the late free that gave us the winning point. Pat Gilroy was pretty clear about what his view of the incident was afterwards and I agree with him.

"On a number of occasions before that, I felt I was being fouled and there was one incident just before where I was being fouled and the referee decided to play an advantage and I was falling over taking a shot and got no advantage, so I felt I was due a free.

"I was just running for a ball and the defender got too close to me and my feet and his got caught up and tangled and I couldn't run freely and my way was being impeded.

"We were one-on-one going for a ball and my way was impeded and that's a free in my book. Fair play to the referee as he showed courage to make the call.

"There's been a lot of talk about it because of the time of the game where it happened - but if it had happened 10 minutes earlier it would still be a free and there would have been nothing made of it.

"That's it over with and it's not something I'm going to dwell on. As Footballer of the Year I'm getting more attention from defenders and I have to accept that."

Lifting the Delaney Cup and becoming Leinster champions is always 'a big goal' for the Dubs according to Brogan, who knows that they will have to raise their game against an in-form Wexford side.

"Pat will be happy that we cleared a difficult hurdle, but he expects us to improve for the Leinster final against Wexford on Sunday week.

"We created a lot of goal-scoring chances but only took one of them and this is just one of the many areas that we'll look to improve upon, especially because of the goal threat posed by Wexford.

"Wexford are lying in wait and they will be seriously motivated to win their first Leinster title since 1945. We'll have to be ready to match their desire and work-rate."