FOOTBALL ANALYST:ANYONE WHO competes in elite sport is fully aware there is a very thin line which separates success and failure. Unfortunately for Dublin, that extra step towards achieving a national title is proving to be very difficult to take and yesterday's defeat, albeit by the narrowest of margins, left quite a number of questions unanswered about their ability to finish a job when the going gets toughest.
The contrast with Cork is quite stark, in fact. Here we had a match which seemingly had slipped from Cork’s grasp with 20 or so minutes left and, yet again, Conor Counihan’s team showed, firstly, the quality it possesses and, secondly, the fabulous strength-in-depth in the squad.
One of the big differences in the winning and losing of this match was the impact made by the substitutes when they were called upon: Cork’s made real impressions, with Denis O’Sullivan and Fiachra Lynch really catching the eye; and Dublin’s substitutes, by comparison, just were not up to the standard required for this level.
It was a disappointing result for Dublin, who were by far the better team for 50 minutes. But then matches aren’t won in that time – a team must go to 73 or 74 or 75 minutes, whatever is required, to win. I think the experience gathered by this Cork team over the past few years was vital. They again demonstrated character, and, yet again, they showed composure when getting into scoring positions as the match neared the death. This was one department where Dublin failed abjectly.
Once Bernard Brogan went off injured, Dublin’s game plan seemed to go with him. Brogan is the team’s talisman and, even though they still had a comfortable lead at the time of his injury and could well have even limped over the line in his absence, the worrying thing is that nobody else really assumed the leadership role.
One area that left me baffled, I must admit, was Dublin’s failure to have a left-footed kicker for that late free. Mossy Quinn’s confidence seemed to have gone by that point and for him, a right-footed player, to take on the free seemed a poor decision. Why wasn’t a natural left-footer like Ger Brennan given the responsibility? And there were other instances of poor decision-making in the Dublin forwards late on, with some rushed and poor attempts at points, which only served to highlight the void left by Brogan.
Dublin’s game plan is a high-energy, high-octane one. I feel it needs to be more measured, especially for the championship. We had situations where Paul Brogan – who had a fine game defensively for a long time on Donncha O’Connor – went on solo runs for almost the length of the pitch and, on at least two occasions, lost possession. His primary duty has to be concentrating on defensive matters and to let other players further out the field run at the opposing defence.
Paul Brogan wasn’t the only Dublin player to go on these long solo runs, there were other examples and time and time again it resulted in them simply running into traffic and Cork more often than not emerging with the ball and launching attacks of their own.
Dublin might be better served with a more simple method of letting the ball do the work and it would also save a lot of energy. In this regard, if you look at the workrate and the amount of ground covered by Michael Dara Macauley, there is no way he can maintain that effort for the entire 70-plus minutes. It’s just not humanly possible.
The match exemplified the difference between one team searching for a national title and another team who have already developed this winning habit. Cork have now won the last three national titles – two leagues and an All-Ireland – and the scary thing for every other team in the country is that I reckon they won this league title when only playing at 80 per cent of their ability.
And, of course, they have Graham Canty to come back into the team and he will shore up the centre of the defence.
Kevin McManamon’s running and general play was excellent for Dublin for much of the game and I think Dublin have found a real gem here. But when the hard questions were asked towards the end, it was Cork – with the confidence, experience and simply the know-how of getting a job done – who were the ones able to provide the answers.
Donncha O’Connor really took on the leadership role in the last 20 minutes when it had looked as if the game had slipped away on them and Ciarán Sheehan proved he is a young man with an old and wise head on his shoulders. He had a fine game.
Where does this defeat leave Dublin? It can go two ways. They can learn from it, and they must, and the management can look back on the league campaign as a whole and say they have made progress. They can reflect on it and discover there is a very fine margin between winning and losing. But they don’t have the inner composure that is needed to win titles. Not yet, at any rate.
I think the Dublin players will have to look at themselves individually and, then collectively as a team. Some obvious failings were highlighted – one of which was the inability to maintain the high-octane game to the very end, the other being the substandard quality of subs introduced – and these need to be addressed by management and by the players. This defeat could actually be a blessing in disguise for Dublin and, if they can learn from the defeat and come in a little under the radar for the championship, it could serve them well.
But the defeat will be a serious test of character for the players and it will be interesting to see how they respond.
Dublin got to experience the strength in depth of this Cork team and their character at first hand. For every other team with championship ambitions watching the game, Cork’s ability to get the job done was a lesson. They have developed a winning culture and everyone – including the subs introduced at various stages – were clued in on how to keep going right to the very end.
