Sport

McCarthy catches the eye as Dublin progress

Dublin 4-14 UCD 0-12: IT DOESN’T look like the Dublin footballers have any intention of resting on those 2011 laurels.

Mon Jan 16 2012 - 00:00

Dublin 4-14 UCD 0-12:IT DOESN'T look like the Dublin footballers have any intention of resting on those 2011 laurels.

They were without many of their front-line players on Saturday night against UCD in the O’Byrne Cup quarter-final, and their play was understandably rusty at times, but their attitude and application was admirable.

Not only were they bigger, stronger and better footballers than the University students, they wanted it more too and flung themselves into every physical collision with the wholesome commitment of men whose ambition hasn’t been sated by last year’s All-Ireland Championship success.

“We’re getting back into the swing of things properly now,” said Dublin manager Pat Gilroy after the match. “Our shooting and our ball-handling wasn’t great, but you’d expect that at this time of the year. But the effort and the application was great.

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“We conceded more than I would have liked, but all things considered I was happy enough with the performance.”

The result of this match was never in doubt after Kevin McManamon slalomed his way through the UCD defence late in the first half and smashed the ball to the back of the net for a goal that put Dublin 1-9 to 0-5 ahead.

The hero of last year’s All-Ireland final played with the ceaseless industry of a man keen to establish himself as a first-choice pick in 2012 and leave the super-sub duties to someone else.

Dublin added three more goals in the second half through Bryan Cullen, Diarmuid Connolly and Seán Murray, but even more eye-catching was the brace of sweet points that talented newcomer Miceal McCarthy scored to go with the two he registered in the first half.

Gilroy revealed after the match that Bernard and Alan Brogan, Barry Cahill, Denis Bastick and Paul Griffin won’t be ready to play for the opening NFL match against Kerry. He added:

“By the middle of March we’ll know how we’re going, we will be taking the league very seriously”

DUBLIN:S Supple; C O'Sullivan, M Fitzsimons, D Daly; D Byrne, G Brennan, K Connolly; E Fennell (0-1), R McConnell (0-1); B Cullen (1-0), K McManamon (1-1), P Brogan; P Andrews (0-1), T Quinn (0-5, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45), M McCarthy (0-5, 0-1 free). Subs: D Connolly (1-0) for T Quinn (ht) S Murray (1-0) for P Brogan (44 mins), G McIntyre for B Cullen (55 mins), D Treanor for C O'Sullivan (55 mins), R Corcoran for P Andrews (56 mins).

UCD:M McGinley; M Furlong, C McConnell, J Hayes; C Carty, R O'Carroll, S Redmond; D Kingston (0-4, 0-2 frees), C Murphy; C Dias (0-1), M O'Cochlain, K Dyas (0-1); N Kilroy (0-3), A Giles (0-1), L Smith (0-1). Subs: D Maguire for C Dias (23 mins), D Larkin (0-1) for M Furlong (ht), L Cawley for a Giles, M O'Regan for L Smith (both 44 mins), L Keaney for C McConnell (52 mins).

Referee:F Kelly (Longford).