Fenton times upturn in form to perfection

PEAKING: Conor McManus of Monaghan and Brian Fenton of Dublin after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Dublin and Monaghan at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

That old black magic of Dublin’s cast Monaghan aside to metamorphose a final scoreline hardly in keeping with the game.

Reference point? The 2013 All-Ireland semi-final. Like Monaghan here, Kerry were bettered by seven points and yet that Éamonn Fitzmaurice team had had been a point ahead as late as the 68th minute, level up to the 70th only to be pulverized in additional time.

That had been a classic – this wasn’t anything close as Dublin for swathes agreed and adopted to Monaghan’s rules of engagement – but the Leinster champions’ finish was again a flourish. Level on the hour, they eventually bent Monaghan into submission, substitute Dean Rock’s goal capping off a job well done.

Ten years ago, Brian Fenton was another two years away from making his debut and starting an unbeaten run of 45 championship games but his winning memory was all so lucid here. It was he who put Dublin ahead for the sixth and final time in the 61st minute and after Jack McCaffrey follow suit the midfielder added his second in the 69th minute.

Before Rock’s goal came a Rock free and Dublin could dart their thoughts towards July 30 on the back of Fenton and the old guard’s defiance. A spoiler of Rory Beggan’s kick-outs for much of the game, the Raheny man’s recent upturn in form couldn’t be coming at a better time.

It’s clear what this means to him and the rest of Dublin’s stalwarts. Cheering forced turnovers and frees long before the end, Fenton’s intent was clear. Captain James McCarthy’s scream to the heavens at the final whistle spoke of his fervour.

Manager Dessie Farrell can talk about the amount of youth in the group but 15 of the 21 players who saw action on Saturday were on the winning All-Ireland final panel five years ago. 

“They’ve won All-Irelands, we haven’t,” Vinny Corey explained in the post-match press conference.

In fairness to Farrell, he didn’t shy away from admitting experience counted in this game.

“You can’t coach it. You can’t give it to young fellas. They’re brilliant and they’re full of energy. They want to be involved and they want to be part of it. But there are certain things that life experience teaches you. How to close out big games like that is one of them. We’re fortunate to have that type of experience and depth in the squad.”

Dublin’s appetite for destructing Monaghan’s possession of the ball never waned. Corey bemoaned the statistics after the game that highlighted the winning and losing of the game. “I haven’t seen it back but I think around the 65th, 66th minute it was 15-13 and we were reasonably happy. We finish the game strong and we knew if we got more time we could make it a one-point game and going down the stretch it was very much on.

“But Dublin seemed to turn the screw from that point, just in the last seven, eight minutes. They punished us badly all day on turnovers. They could have hit 1-10 off turnovers so that’s disappointing but credit to Dublin they put the squeeze on us and we didn’t have the answers. I don’t think it’s a fair reflection on the game and the effort the boys put in.”

As he scored back-to-back points to level the game on the hour mark, Conor McManus seemed not just to be raging for Monaghan but against the dying of the light. As he later held onto the ball for too long searching for support or a free, the illumination was diminishing but he more than justified his start here.

Monaghan know what they’re good at and appreciate their limits. They weren’t going to hit Dublin with a blitz – they never scored more than two points in succession – but their opponents only went ahead by three points for the first time with that Fenton score.

Imitating some of what their manager was so good at, Monaghan’s near-hand tackling and shepherding of Dublin’s attack was commendable. The deadly Cormac Costello was the only forward making any sort of an impact in the opening half and Dublin’s lead was minimal at the end of it, 0-8 to 0-7.

The only goal chances in that period fell to Monaghan but Conor McCarthy’s off-balance shot came off the metalwork while Ryan McAnespie was blocked. Nothing else came Monaghan’s way as Stephen Cluxton, who gave one of his best kick-out displays in the championship, extended his SFC clean sheets to a stunning 13 times and over 1,000 minutes.

“Obviously, if you’re not conceding goals, it’s huge,” noted Farrell. “Particularly in tight games where the scoring isn’t that free-flowing. A goal makes a big, big difference. It gave us a bit of daylight, albeit very much at the end. It’s significant to be able to keep a clean sheet in tight games like that.”

When Farrell felt his team were slightly anxious, it mattered too. The height of the Mayo win, particularly that stellar second half, was always going to be difficult to replicate.

“We didn’t play particularly well, I think it was a nervy performance from us, a semi-final type performance if you like but ultimately showed enough composure and had a good last 10 or 15 minutes and it saw us over the line.”

Scorers for Dublin: C. Costello (0-7, 3 frees, 1 mark); D. Rock (1-1, 0-1 free); C. O’Callaghan, P. Mannion (1 mark), B. Fenton (0-2 each); P. Small, L. Gannon, J. McCaffrey (0-1 each).

Scorers for Monaghan: C. McManus (0-5, 3 frees, 1 mark); R. Beggan (0-3, 45s); S. O’Hanlon, M. Bannigan, G. Mohan, R. McAnespie, J. McCarron (0-1 each).

DUBLIN: S. Cluxton; E. Murchan, D. Byrne, M. Fitzsimons; B. Howard, J. Small, L. Gannon; B. Fenton, J. McCarthy (c); P. Small, C. O’Callaghan, N. Scully; P. Mannion, C. Basquel, C. Costello.

Subs for Dublin: C. Kilkenny for N. Scully (29); J. McCaffrey for C. Basquel (44); L. O’Dell for P. Small (63); D. Rock for P. Mannion (69); T. Lahiff for C. Costello (70+2).

MONAGHAN: R. Beggan; C. Boyle, R. Wylie, K. Duffy (c); K. O’Connell, K. Lavelle, C. McCarthy; K. Hughes, G. Mohan; S. O’Hanlon, M. Bannigan, R. McAnespie; C. McManus, D. Hughes, D. Ward.

Subs for Monaghan: K. Gallagher for D. Ward (44); J. McCarron for K. Hughes (46); C. Lennon for D. Hughes (temp 51-54); R. O’Toole for C. Boyle (60); S. Jones for R. McAnespie (66); C. Lennon for K. Lavelle (69).

Referee: S. Hurson (Tyrone).