Dessie Farrell: Dublin were 'patchy' in 16-point victory over Meath

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell and Adam O'Neill of Meath. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Leinster SFC quarter-final: Dublin 3-19 Meath 0-12 

And the hits just keep on coming.

A 40th consecutive Leinster senior championship win for Dublin and a 10th straight win for Dessie Farrell in the competition was delivered in unspectacular circumstances.

Nevertheless, the 16-point margin, the same difference as was between the teams in the Leinster final 10 years ago, speaks for itself and once more of a dormant event that in its current format and prominence in the calendar should have been pronounced dead quite some time ago.

As players, Farrell and counterpart Colm O’Rourke contributed to the valued product that once was the Leinster SFC but in victory and defeat both were coming to the same conclusion yesterday evening that the flogging of the dead horse has to stop.

Meath were competitive here for about two thirds of the first half when Dublin looked unsure of themselves particularly on kick-outs which were once again being initiated by Stephen Cluxton.

But thereafter Dublin minus suspended Brian Fenton not so much turned on the charm as the cogs of the machine. Up 1-8 to 0-6 at half-time, it didn’t appear Dublin would trouble their 13-point margin in their Leinster semi-final of two years ago yet they were the one team stringing scores together.

Mannion’s goal in the 59th minute pushed them 10 ahead. Substitute Paddy Small fed the ball across and it eventually found Mannion to finish clinically. Small’s additional time point matched the 2022 difference and Con O’Callaghan drilled in a third goal after Meath goalkeeper Billy Hogan was turned over to complete a rout.

“I thought we performed patchy, which would be the best way to describe it,” Farrell assessed. “There were some decent spells and some poor spells so my initial reaction is that it was a mixed bag overall. Of course, sometimes you look at the video and see something else but that's my first assessment."

Meath were on top of the kick-outs in the opening half but Dublin flipped that metric on its head in the second half. Like Dublin, Meath had made a late change to their goalkeeper as Seán Brennan was carrying a knee issue but O’Rourke wasn’t for one second blaming Hogan.

“They pushed up a line of four in the full-forward line and (another) line of four and took their chances that if it went over that line we wouldn’t do them the sort of damage that Derry did to them.

“Of course, they completely hemmed us in and a long kick-out to Cian McBride was about all that we were left with. I wouldn’t fault Billy Hogan on that. It was just a systems failure all over the pitch.” 

Seán Bugler of Dublin reacts after scoring his side's first goal. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Up to Seán Bugler’s 20th minute goal, there was enough fair exchanges to temporarily forget the sense of inevitability looming over the game. Despite being fouled during his run through the centre, Bugler was able to keep him composure after receiving a pass from McGarry to finish high to the net. He had also overcarried too but O’Rourke wasn’t in the mood to complain afterwards.

Aside from lacking enough pace to expose Dublin’s lack of cohesiveness, Meath’s issue was not making more of Cluxton’s kick-outs not reaching their intended targets. Five times they turned over his restarts but little came off them.

Against such opponents, Meath had to be clinical and they weren’t. Eoghan Frayne was wasteful with one effort that he struck wide while an early Cathal Hickey shot was struck tamely into the Dublin goalkeeper’s hands.

In their own half, Meath’s discipline had been solid early on and they were frustrating Dublin with the accuracy and intensity of their defending. However, Dublin built on the goal with a couple of Mannion points, one from a free, to go five up in the 23rd minute.

Frayne and Jordan Morris sent over points to make it a one-score game a couple of minutes later as Cluxton was having his kick-out issues but Dublin bounced back with two scores from Basquel coming either side of a converted Con O’Callaghan mark.

A Frayne free finished out the scoring for the half that left both teams asking questions of themselves.

Farrell appreciated the likes of Cluxton and Mick Fitzsimons making their seasonal debuts were lacking match fitness but he cited no mitigating factors for how rough the team were around the edges in the opening period.

"There shouldn't be rust, except maybe for the fellas coming back. Other fellas have a lot of football played. I just thought it was a little bit flat. The atmosphere, it seemed like a dull affair at times and maybe that was part of it. But that shouldn't be an excuse. We'll review it and see what was going on for us at times."

After another hosing that now brings the aggregate difference between Dublin and Meath these last nine Leinster SFC meetings to 108 points, Farrell’s team aren’t the only institution that needs a second look.

Scorers for Dublin: P. Mannion (1-6, 0-3 frees); C. O’Callaghan (1-2, 0-1 mark); S. Bugler (1-0); C. Kilkenny (0-3); C. Basquel, J. Small (0-2 each); N. Scully (mark), C. Costello, C. Murphy, P. Small (0-1 each).

Scorers for Meath: J. Morris, E. Frayne (2 frees) (0-3 each); P. Campion, R. Jones (mark), M. Costello (free), J. Conlon, C. Caulfield (0-1 each).

DUBLIN: S. Cluxton; E. Murchan, M. Fitzsimons, S. MacMahon; S. Bugler, J. Small, C. Murphy; T. Lahiff, B. Howard; P. Mannion, R. McGarry, C. Kilkenny; C. Basquel, C. O’Callaghan (c), N. Scully.

Subs for Dublin: J. McCarthy for C. Basquel (50); P. Small for B. Howard (52); C. Costello for P. Mannion, K. McGinnis for R. McGarry (both 52); P. Ó Cofaigh Byrne for J. Small (65).

MEATH: B. Hogan; H. O’Higgins, A. O’Neill, D. Keogan; S. Coffey, R. Ryan, C. Caulfield; R. Jones (c), D. McGowan; D. Campion, M. Costello, C. Hickey; J. Morris, E. Frayne, J. Conlon.

Subs for Meath: J. O’Connor for D. Campion (h-t); C. McBride for D. McGowan (46); R. Kinsella for R. Ryan, M. Murphy for J. Morris (both 58); A. Lynch for J. Conlon (62).

Referee: T. Murphy (Galway).