Does extent of Dublin dominance diminish their achievements?
Cavan's Martin Reilly has a chance snuffed out by Dublin players, from left, Stephen Cluxton, Jonny Cooper, and David Byrne at Croke Park. Photo by Piaras Ă“ MĂdheach/Sportsfile
And the hits just keep on comin’.
At least Cavan didn’t lie down here but there was more than just a scintilla of fatalism about their behaviour on Saturday evening. Afterwards, their group huddled and applauded and patted each other’s backs. A first Ulster title in 23 years and from the preliminary round, they have every reason to cherish it but coming after a 15-point rinsing it just didn’t come off well.
At least Thomas Galligan showed he cared, his second yellow card at the end an indication of his frustration following a game when he cut a lonely furrow up front. The first long ball into him, a straight one which was also too long and gave him little scope to attack, came in the 49th minute. By that stage, Cavan were nine points in arrears as they would be going into the second water break shortly afterwards. Long before that, their main man looked more a decoy than a weapon to try and hurt Dublin.
Demented work-rate and directness were their calling cards but only the former was on show in the first half when Ciarán Brady was superb and Cavan as a whole were better without the ball than with it. Too often they won back ball with deft dispossessions only to lose it soon afterwards. In those quick exchanges of the ball from one team to the other, Dean Rock prospered and kicked four points from play before the break.
“We tried to go long,” insisted Mickey Graham. “We tried to run at them, we tried to get width and they were just so well prepared for everything we threw at them but, look it, you can’t fault the lads, they gave it a go at least. We could have come up here and decided we’re going for a moral victory and park the bus but we didn’t. I thought that was brave of the lads too.”Â
Indeed, Cavan didn’t look to contain but they didn’t play to their strengths either, which Graham might admit following deeper reflection. They had earned the respect of Dublin, though, whose manager Dessie Farrell has previous experience of being stung by underdogs at underage level. It was the long ball in that had spooked him.
“It was the type of game where you were one long ball into the square and it hitting the back of the net away from a resurgence,” he reviewed. “Cavan would have been fired up by that because they were within touching distance for a long period.
"Then at the end obviously with (Robbie McDaid’s 69th-minute) goal at the end we crept away from that. For passages, as a manager, I can assure you it wasn’t comprehensive as it might have looked.”Â
However, Dublin’s control of this game was never in question. They won each quarter - the first by three points, the second by two, the third by four, and the fourth by six. But for desperate interventions by OisĂn Kiernan and Martin Reilly, and Philly McMahon drilling a ball wide, the margin could have been something like that seen against Laois and Meath.
There is no denying their utter superiority is making Gaelic football boring but that is no slight on an outstanding bunch of footballers whose desire to better themselves doesn’t yet know any bounds. But what was a success story for the GAA in Dublin is threatening the competition fabric of the sport’s premier showpiece.
Dublin's players don’t care, not during the Championship anyway and who could blame them, and as somebody yet to win a senior All-Ireland as manager Farrell certainly doesn’t. “To be honest, I don’t concern myself with it. As a manager of a team, engaging in that type of thing is a distraction.
“But what I can say is when we’ve got to All-Ireland final stages as this Dublin team have done over the last number of years, on several occasions there has only been a bounce of a ball in it so it would be very presumptuous to think it will be anything other than the same in two weeks whoever we play.”Â
But then the last time Dublin met either of the other semi-finalists - Mayo - they were 10-point victors. And the average winning margin in this Championship - 17.5 points - is greater than any of their seven previous paths to the final this past decade - 3.8 in 2011, 10.2 in ’13, 13.2 in ’15, 8.6 in ’16, 14.8 in ’17, 13 in ’18, and 14.85 last year.
So does the ease with which they are breaking teams threaten to sully their efforts? “I think that's for others to decide and make a judgement call,” Farrell suggested. “We are just going about our business. In a lot of ways, it has been a very challenging year for people around the country, it has been well documented.
“It is no different for the players, they have struggled with the challenges of a very long season, massive disruption, massive uncertainty. The lads have applied themselves brilliantly, knuckled down when they have been asked to, and I am happy for them. They are here on merit.”Â
They most certainly are and their relentlessness was again on show on Saturday. Where Dean Rock left off at half-time in scoring four points from play to help Dublin into a 0-12 to 0-7 lead, Con O’Callaghan took over in the second half with a further three. All the while, those architects of execution, Brian Fenton and Ciarán Kilkenny, were spending Cavan with their intent, each providing four points.
Farrell had good cause to be upset with some sloppy play in the first half when percentage shots and passes were not taken. But semi-finals are for winning and Dublin did much more than that.
Scoring the first three points of the second half put Dublin beyond the horizon for Cavan.
The ease with which Dublin are winning. Cavan didn’t disgrace themselves but they wouldn’t have beaten Dublin’s reserves on Saturday. Think about it: Evan Comerford; Philip McMahon, Rory O’Carroll, Cian Murphy; Eric Lowndes, Cian O’Sullivan, Brian Howard; Michael Darragh Macauley, Tom Lahiff; Kevin McManamon, Cormac Costello, Aaron Byrne; Paddy Andrews, Paul Mannion, Colm Basquel. Scary.
Dessie Farrell isn’t going to get the credit he deserves until he guides Dublin to an All-Ireland title but he’s about 76 minutes away from one now.
We won’t say football but then Dublin aren’t a model to follow because they can’t be followed.
Farrell looks like he will be picking from a full deck for December 19. Killian Brady had to retire from the game in the first half after suffering a knock.
A lot of mix and matching done by Cavan at the outset. The decision not to play direct ball into Thomas Galligan left him at a loose end for too much of this game. Dublin’s match-ups were on point.
The undefeated-in-Championship-football Brian Fenton is making another run for footballer of the year. He, Con O’Callaghan, and his biggest challenger right now for that award Ciarán Kilkenny were excellent here. Ciarán Brady had a fine first half for Cavan as did Dean Rock for Dublin.
Ciarán Branagan seemed intent on letting the game flow particularly in the first half. Cavan had a big shout for a penalty in the second half but it was turned down. The decision not to black or yellow card Jonny Cooper was a borderline call.
A sixth straight final for Dublin on Saturday week, their eighth in 10 seasons. And in that period they have yet to lose one.
D Rock (0-6, 2 frees); R McDaid (1-2); C Kilkenny (1 mark), C O’Callaghan, B Fenton (0-4 each); P Small (0-2, 1 free); B Howard, C Costello (0-1 each).
M Reilly (0-3); O Kiernan (0-2); J Smith, R Galligan, C Brady, G McKiernan (free), C Conroy (free), C Madden, J Smith (0-1 each).
S Cluxton (c); M Fitzsimons, D Byrne, J Cooper; R McDaid, J Small, E Murchan; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully, C O’Callaghan, S Bugler; J Small, C Kilkenny, D Rock.
B Howard for S Bugler (48); P McMahon for J Cooper (51); P Mannion for P Small (55); C Costello for N Scully (64); C Basquel for D Rock (70+1).
R Galligan (c); K Clarke, P Faulkner, K Brady; C Brady, L Fortune, J McLoughlin; J Smith, G McKiernan; O Kiernan, C Conroy, G Smith; M Reilly, T Galligan, C Madden.
C Smith for K Brady (inj 18); S Murray for C Conroy (35); N Murray for K Clarke (46); C Brady for C Smith (51); S Smith for C Madden (64).
T Galligan (second yellow, 70+3).
C Branagan (Down).
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