Superb Dubs set up another Kerry decider, dash Cork double dreams
Dublin's Caoimhe O'Connor and Katie Quirke of Cork
There have been 14 All-Ireland senior football finals between the men of Dublin and Kerry. On the ladies side, though, there has never been a single All-Ireland final between the two counties.
Sunday, August 13 will see that statistic corrected after a clinical Dublin display took them through the second of Saturday evening’s All-Ireland semi-finals.
Mick Bohan’s side played much of the final quarter a woman down after half-back Eilish O’Dowd was sin-binned on 49 minutes for repeated fouling on the tireless Ciara O’Sullivan.
Cork, though, were unable to make this numerical advantage count and were unable to eat into Dublin’s then eight-point advantage.
In what was an incredibly wasteful second half from the Munster champions, they were actually outscored by 0-4 to 0-1 during the 10 minutes they played with a body extra. Indeed, they could have been outscored double what they were when you consider midfielder Jennifer Dunne had a goal disallowed on 53 minutes for square ball.
Those final 10 minutes perfectly captured the story of the game: Dublin were direct and they were so sharp with their final product, Cork were untidy and uneconomical.
The Dubs led by six at the break (1-10 to 0-7) and you couldn’t argue the difference wasn’t reflective of their superiority.
Mick Bohan’s women were able to engineer scores much, much easier and with far less energy expended than was the case for their troubled and less incisive opponents.
Dublin found a vault of white flags down the centre of the Cork defence. The pace at which they transferred possession time and again unsettled and unlocked Cork.
More often than not, it was midfielder Dunne who surged forward unmarked to get herself at the end of these moves.
The towering Cuala midfielder kicked three first-half points, sent another effort wide, and it was she who charged forward with Hannah Tyrrell for the Dublin goal on 21 minutes after Cork gifted them possession close to midfield.
Dunne, with nobody to beat, should have finished to the net after Tyrrell offloaded to her, but instead she passed the ball back to the corner-forward who did the necessary.
There is no question, though, but Tyrrell was in the square when receiving the ball back from Dunne. Referee Jonathan Murphy did engage in a lengthy conversation with his umpires to discuss the legality of the goal, at the end of which the green flag waved.
The sole major of the opening half moved Dublin 1-9 to 0-4 in front. Cork, by this juncture, had yet to register a point from play. That anomaly was corrected by Katie Quirke on 23 minutes.
But for Ciara O’Sullivan, Cork lacked a real threat to pick holes in the Dublin rearguard. The Cork half-forward found herself repeatedly fouled, contributing to younger sister Doireann having five converted frees beside her name at the half-time hooter.
Cork owned the ball for the first couple of minutes of the second half. But little they did with it. Hannah Looney was off target with a goal chance. Doireann kicked a free wide. There was another wide after Doireann attempted to float through a pass for the inrushing Daire Kiely.
And so on and so on the misses mounted across the remainder of the half.
Sub Orlaith Cahalane did inject a degree of liveliness into the Cork attack, her goal shot superbly saved by Abby Shiels. The Dublin number one also did so well to repel a Kiely effort later in the half.
Dublin didn’t require half as many chances to run out 12-point winners. Their second goal was provided by Carla Rowe on 47 minutes. Opening as it did an 11-point gap (2-15 to 0-10), Rowe’s palmed goal effectively settled the outcome.
The excellent Lauren Magee, Dunne, Orlagh Nolan, and sub Sinéad Wylde threw over late points to finish out a fine performance that returns Dublin to a first final since 2021.
H Tyrrell (0-1 free), C Rowe (1-2 each); J Dunne (0-4); O Nolan (0-3); L Magee, E Gribben (0-2 each); K Sullivan, J Egan, N Donlon, S Wylde (0-1 each).
D O’Sullivan (0-8, 0-8 frees); A Healy, D Kiely, C O’Sullivan, K Quirke, O Cahalane (0-1 each).
A Shiels; N Crowley, L Caffrey, L Magee; E O’Dowd, M Byrne, N Donlon; J Dunne, A Kane; C O’Connor, O Nolan, J Egan; H Tyrrell, C Rowe, K Sullivan.
E Gribben for Egan (HT); N Hetherton for Donlon (37); S Aherne for Sullivan (53); S Wylde for Tyrrell (56); C Darby for O’Connor (58).
M O’Sullivan; M Duggan, E Meaney, R Phelan; A Healy, S Kelly, A Ryan; M O’Callaghan, H Looney; E Cleary, K Quirke, C O’Sullivan; L Coppinger, D O’Sullivan, D Kiely.
O Cahalane for Cleary, L O’Mahony for Kelly (both HT); D Kiniry for Ryan, L Fitzgerald for Cahalane (inj, both 48); A Ring for D O’Sullivan (55, inj).
J Murphy (Carlow).
A collection of the latest sports news, reports and analysis from Cork.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
