Dublin 3-18 Kerry 3-11
A friend from Cork once dismissed the 1987 league final between Dublin and Kerry with a heavy dose of irony: "Of course Dublin won so that was another classic".
After yesterday’s breathtaking GAA All-Ireland football semi-final between the old rivals it’s very difficult for even the most dispassionate not to file this one under ‘C’ as well.
Kerry did everything expected of them, as the county had coped with the indignity of being conspicuous outsiders at the bookies and went in smarting from the late mugging that cost them the 2011 All-Ireland.
At various moments yesterday: during a helter-skelter first half and a bobbing, counter -punching third quarter they looked as if they had cracked Dublin but the widespread reservations about how they’d cope when Jim Gavin emptied the bench and turned up the heat in the closing were ultimately confirmed.
Wave after wave of attacks eventually wore down Kerry and late goals from Kevin McManamon – revisiting the damage he'd wrought on these opponents two years ago – and Eoghan O'Gara put a somewhat disproportionate gloss on the final score.
Picking out
Eamonn Fitzmaurice's team threw the kitchen sink at Dublin in the early stages, having decided the Leinster champions' defence was the weak link.
With Colm Cooper on the 40 probing and picking out the best ball, Kerry were lethal. Between the seventh and 20th minutes they picked their shots and finished like assassins.
Dublin’s early scores from Macauley, Brogan – not fully on song but finishing with four points from play – and Diarmuid Connolly had pushed them in front when in the seventh minute Cooper threaded the ball in to Donnchadh Walsh, who flipped it to James O’Donoghue who notched his first goal. He added a point in the 11th and a minute later Dublin were in crisis.
Cooper again masterfully spotted Walsh’s run and placed him perfectly for the goal chance, which he coolly converted for a five-point lead.
Dublin were reeling but despite the onslaught they were making inroads themselves and both Macauley, who took the first point, and Brogan, who squeezed the ball narrowly wide, had excellent goal chances. But at the other end Kerry were giving the tutorials on how to finish.
So, arguably the most important score for Dublin came immediately after Kerry’s second goal when Connolly floated a dropping ball in on goal at the Canal End and Paul Mannion rose superbly to get a decisive contact on the ball to steady the score at 1-3 to 2-2.
Points, frees from Cluxton and Brogan, who added another from play pushed Dublin in front but the irrepressible Cooper, giving Ger Brennan a miserable time, popped up with the equaliser.
Cluxton didn't have one of his happier days. Although the kick-outs went reasonably with one brilliantly flighted beyond centrefield to the ubiquitous Connolly, who had unimpeded acres in front of him (the move later broke down), overall there were glitches, none worse than the 19th-minute when he took the restart from the wrong place, saw Dublin lose possession and when Walsh – assisting in all three goals – was again on hand to catch the rebound and get pulled down by the Dublin goalkeeper who was yellow -carded.
With aplomb
O'Donoghue, who was also having a rampant time in the first half, converted the penalty with aplomb for 1-6 to 3-3. Often the steady concession of goals eventually erodes a team's confidence but Dublin hung on to get to the break just two behind, 1-9 to 3-8, helped by a couple of missed frees by Cooper and Johnny Buckley.
At the break Gavin took off Brennan, dropped back Cian O’Sullivan to mark Cooper and brought in Denis Bastick to centrefield. Although this was an improvement, it was Kerry who came out for the restart looking livelier.
A 37th-minute goal looked on for Darran O’Sullivan but Kerry had to make do with a point by Paul Galvin, who two second-half points apart, struggled to stay with the pace of the game.
Dublin flagged, taking wrong options, getting in each other's way and when replacement Philip McMahon, on smartly for Kevin O'Brien before the first quarter was out, conceded a free in from the sideline, Cooper nailed it. A minute later the margin was four, 1-10 to 3-8.
Third quarter
If Mannion's goal was crucial in the first half, the most significant passage of play for Dublin in the second half was probably the five unanswered points at the end of the third quarter.
Dean Rock came on to claim his usual couple of points, the first kick-starting the sequence. It was followed by Brogan, Paddy Andrews, Brogan from play and Connolly and Dublin led.
More importantly their motor was running and although Kerry hit back, they were the shots of a retreating fighter.
They could justly complain that Jonny Cooper should have seen a second yellow card for a reckless lunge to trip his namesake in the 58th minute but Dublin survived intact. Kerry’s Anthony Maher wasn’t so lucky and got a last-minute red card for a second yellow.
It was nonetheless to Fitzmaurice’s team’s credit that they made a last bid for the line. O’Donoghue and Darran O’Sullivan pushed them in front and when Dublin started to fluff their lines with poor shot selection, a famous victory beckoned.
Connolly equalised from a free and Declan O’Sullivan’s attempt to restore Kerry’s lead went wide. From the kick-out Macauley, who had another immense afternoon’s effort under his belt, challenged for kick-out while critically two Kerry players impeded each other.
As the ball broke, Macauley dived to flick it to McManamon. His gallop will go down in legend. At the end his left-foot shot was perfectly in the top right corner. Seventy minutes down and Dublin three up.
The rest was dreamland. Connolly perfectly curled the insurance point and in the very last minute Macauley again broke through to place O'Gara whose shot came off the crossbar and down over the line. For emphasis Rock slid in to send the rebound back into the net. To be sure, to be sure.
DUBLIN: 1 S Cluxton (0-1, free); 2 K O'Brien, 3 R O'Carroll, 4 J Cooper; 5 J McCarthy, 6 G Brennan, 7 J McCaffrey; 8 MD Macauley (0-1), 9 C O'Sullivan (0-1); 10 P Flynn, 11 C Kilkenny (0-1), 12 D Connolly (0-4, one free); 13 P Mannion (1-0), 14 P Andrews (0-1), 15 B Brogan (0-6, two frees). Subs: 22 P McMahon (0-1) for O'Brien (17 mins), 17 D Bastick for Brennan (ht), 26 D Rock (0-2) for Kilkenny (44 mins), 25 E O'Gara (1-0) for Mannion (60), 23 K McManamon (1-0) for Brogan (65 ).
KERRY: 1 B Kealy; 2 M Ó Sé, 3 M Griffin, 4 S Enright; 5 T Ó Sé, 7 F Fitzgerald, 6 P Crowley; 8 A Maher, 9 J Buckley; 12 D Walsh (1-0), 11 C Cooper (0-4, two frees), 10 P Galvin (0-2); 13 Darran O'Sullivan (0-1), 14 Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), 15 J O'Donoghue (2-3, one goal penalty). Subs: 18 D Moran for Buckley (50 mins), 19 E Brosnan for Enright (52 mins), 17 K Donaghy for Galvin (53 mins), 24 A O'Mahony for Griffin (62 mins), 21 J Sherwood for Crowley (66 mins).
Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath).
