Paul Rouse: A heartbeat? Evidence there's life in provincial championships yet

It is reported that at that moment the Kildare manager Glenn Ryan turned and started walking down towards the dressing-room end of the pitch; that is what championship football can do to you.

NARROW MARGINS: wicklow manager Oisín McConville and selectors react towards the end of the game against Kildare. Pic: Tom Maher, Inpho.

You can say the Leinster championship is dead.

You can say Dublin hold the province in a vice grip and have squeezed all known life from its now decaying corpse.