Dessie Farrell: Dublin's 2023 standards won't be enough this year
Dublin manager Dessie Farrell. Picture: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
A 20-point victory for Dublin, a 14th consecutive provincial final place secured and a fresh Leinster county left dazed and seeing stars.
Boss Dessie Farrell has warned his Dublin players, however, that if they're to retain their All-Ireland title, standards will need to be even higher than this.
Paul Mannion pulled the strings as the holders cruised to yet another provincial final, handing Offaly, who'd they'd last faced in the Championship in 2007, a rare dose of capital punishment.
All-Star Colm Basquel, Con O'Callaghan and Niall Scully had strong games too and struck the goals.
The Dubs had a dozen different scorers in all and will return to Croke Park on May 12 for a shot at Louth, a repeat of the 2023 decider.
Yet aside from playing up their 'consistency across the 70 minutes' and sticking to 'our principles of play', Farrell wasn't overly excited.
He said the reality is that the All-Ireland holders will have to hit new levels of performance if they're to retain the Sam Maguire Cup.
He didn't mention Jim McGuinness or Mickey Harte by name but appeared to be talking about them when he highlighted how 'new managers' have raised standards this year.
"I've seen a big improvement in the standard of the competition out there, in terms of what other teams are doing," said Farrell.
"It comes from new managers in different counties and managers who have been there already who have evolved their teams' performance to another level.
"So I have no doubt, and we are very clear on this as a group, that what was done last year and the level we got to last year, will not be good enough this year.
"The challenge is there for us to improve for sure."
The 20-point margin flattered Dublin a little as they tagged on 1-5 in garbage time when the game was long since up.
Basquel's goal didn't arrive until stoppage time but it was still a strong and slick performance overall, full of power and precision.
"When the game is sort of done and dusted, it's easy to default back to minding your own house or looking after your own agenda, or just conserving energy and not bursting a gut for your team-mates," said Farrell. "But by and large we didn't see much of that, so that was encouraging."
Farrell handed last year's All-Ireland winning captain James McCarthy his first start of 2024.
There was no Jack McCaffrey though and if the challenge in the All-Ireland series really is as great as Farrell expects, they may need the Clontarf flier.
The Leinster final will pit two Dublin legends against each other on the sideline, Farrell and Ger Brennan.
"Some of the elements that they've displayed to date shows us quite a nuanced sophistication about what they're doing," said Farrell of Louth.
Offaly gave it their best effort for as long as they could but from the moment O'Callaghan netted in the 18th minute, it looked a done deal.
Dublin led 1-5 to 0-2 at that stage - yet seemed to be just finding their feet in the game.
The disparity between the teams was highlighted in a couple of minutes midway through the first-half.
Keith O'Neill, Offaly's best forward, struck a beauty from the outside of his right foot on the right wing. It was his team's first score after 16 minutes but Dublin responded with an almost casual score from Cormac Costello.
Soon after, O'Neill claimed an advanced mark in a similar spot on the right wing and curled over another great score.
Dublin won the next kick-out and started a sweeping move that ended with Mannion feeding King Con for the opening goal.
Scores just came so much easier for Dublin who led 1-10 to 0-4 at half-time.
The one big positive for Offaly was that they outscored Dublin by a point, 0-6 to 0-5, between the 41st and 66th minutes.
That was down to their determination not to throw in the towel and the quality of players like Lee Pearson and Dylan Hyland.
But there was still 12 points between them and Dublin nonchalantly reeled off 1-5 in the closing minutes.
Offaly will return to action in mid-May in the Tailteann Cup.
"It's something we probably haven't grasped in recent seasons, the Tailteann Cup," said manager Declan Kelly. "That's something we spoke about in the dressing-room afterwards."
Dublin scorers: C Basquel (1-3, 1 free); C O'Callaghan (1-2); N Scully (1-1); C Costello (0-4, 2 frees); P Mannion (0-3), J Small, L O'Dell (0-2 each); C Kilkenny, C Murphy, B Fenton, K McGinnis, S MacMahon (0-1 each).
Offaly scorers: D Hyland (0-5, 2 frees, 1 45); K O'Neill (0-3, 1 mark); L Pearson, C Flynn, J Hayes (0-1 each).
Dublin: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, S MacMahon, C Murphy; T Lahiff, J Small, E Murchan; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully, C Costello, C Kilkenny; P Mannion, C O'Callaghan, C Basquel.
Subs: L O'Dell for O'Callaghan & K McGinnis for Costello (53); R McGarry for Mannion & D Newcombe for Murchan (55); T Clancy for McCarthy (63).
Offaly: I Duffy; L Pearson, D Dempsey, D Hogan; C Egan, P Cunningham, J Furlong; E Carroll, J McEvoy; K O'Neill, R McNamee, J Hayes; N Poland, J Bryant, D Hyland.
Subs: R Egan for Poland & C Flynn for McNamee (h/t); K McDermott for Bryant (54); C Donoghue for McEvoy (59); J O'Brien for O'Neill (66).
Ref: P Faloon (Down).
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