DUBLIN'S fourth win, but the first to provide hard evidence that a credible senior team is again being assembled in the capital. If Dublin's three previous wins had been against weaker opponents Cork - also unbeaten - were supposed to fully examine their credentials at Parnell Park yesterday.

The visitors, however, delivered a frightfully lame first half performance which manager Jimmy Barry Murphy described as appalling". They improved sufficiently to test Dublin's mettle in the second half, but the winners resilience confirmed the impression of a team steeled by spirit and self belief.

Dublin are now on top of Division Two but, with three teams going up, Cork should also make it.

Dublin's defence was particularly impressive. Every defender produced important moments but the wing backs, Liam Walsh and Ruairi Boland, impressed repeatedly with their quick, tenacious play - long raking clearances from both were a recurring feature. Corner back Sean Duignan executed a number of difficult takes under pressure, but the entire defence excelled at covering and tackling.

The Cork forward line was smothered and scoreless in that first half. Barry Murphy replaced "two of them early in the second and matters improved - but many of the attacks were still frustrated by the concentrated tackling of Dublin's defenders.

In midfield, James Shiner Brennan was an influential rallying force. Dublin's second Kilkenny import, Eamonn Morrissey, supplied a lethal cutting edge at right corner forward. The half forward line scrapped for a lot of possession - and won a lot too.

The one significant flaw in Dublin's performance was its lopsided nature: 1-6 on the board after 15 minutes, just four more points from the remaining 45. Nine first half wides was indicative of their dominance in this period but the attack lost its compact shape in the second half. Morrissey, roving out from his corner, faded from the game during this period.

Morrissey had enjoyed a torrent of ball in the first half and quickly went to work on it, firing over the first two points of the game before six minutes had elapsed. And when another long clearance from Boland, in the 13th minute, dropped in around the house, Morrissey swooped on the break and flashed it home.

When wing forward Conor McCann scored from Morrissey's assist two minutes later, Jimmy Barry Murphy had seen enough - he switched Fergal Ryan from the other corner to take up marking duties on Morrissey.

Cork finally scored in the 18th minute, wing back Sean Og O hAilpin returning a poor clearance all the way. Midfielder Alan Cummins added a second but Dublin had hit some fine points from distance by then and led at the break, 1-7 to 0-2.

Cork outscored Dublin 1-4 to 0-3 in the second half, the goal coming in the 38th minute when goalkeeper Brendan McLoughlin - who was sound all through - failed to control substitute Barry Egan's low shot to his midriff. Brennan drilled one over in reply as Cork were kept at bay in this fashion, Dublin replying to each opposition score, bar the last.

Cork full forward Alan Browne cracked a shot off the crossbar in the 60th minute.