LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL Dublin 0-14 Meath 0-12: THE GRAND stage was set yesterday for the first mass spectacle of this year's football championship: Dublin and Meath, the busiest box office in the GAA.
No matter what the prevailing hierarchies, the neighbouring counties always provide the tension of high-quality drama. This time, however, was like grand opera with the sound turned off.
On the face of it, it should have been no different to usual. But despite a fine crowd and a narrative that ebbed and flowed there was something unaccountably lifeless about the contest.
Dublin were emphatically better but the cutting edge of their attack was the least convincing aspect of the performance and consequently the winners had an absurdly meagre two points to show for their 70 minutes of comfortable superiority.
Both sides are under new management and Dublin had engaged in serious restructuring. Meath had taken the last meeting to a draw, two years ago, and know that the fixture obeys its own rules.
It ebbed and flowed. Dublin initially looked too good but lost the initiative before regaining, losing and retrieving it again. A half-time lead of six points was the least the Leinster champions were worth but Meath three times reduced the leeway to two, including at the very end.
Any student of the history of this relationship would assume that the stadium was vibrating for most of the second half, the Hill heaving with the familiar claustrophobic apprehension that Meath were picking apart a once substantial lead.
Instead not even the challengers appeared to believe in their chances of causing an upset. For five minutes in the first half they led but their efforts at tightening the noose when Dublin briefly looked like struggling, maybe the old folk memory of their neighbours’ reputation for being imperishable flickering into doubt in their mind, lacked conviction and ruthlessness.
Dublin quickly subdued any anxieties and stayed in front but, unable to drive home their authority on the scoreboard, remained within reach, ultimately giving the match the appearance of a parody of the counties’ more celebrated contests.
As early as 50 seconds into the match, Darren Magee found himself on the end of a great move when a pass from Bernard Brogan set the big centrefielder free on goal but his shot ran tamely wide. It was a sign of things to come and Dublin would shoot 17 wides – some scarcely believable – before referee Marty Duffy whistled the end after a puzzlingly short injury-time given the lengthy attention required by the injured Mark Davoren in the second half.
Dublin’s manager Pat Gilroy, after his first championship match, was relieved and not inclined to go too deeply into the team’s shortcomings. He emphasised that the only thing Dublin really needed against Meath was a win.
Gilroy’s checklist will make for mixed reading. His new full back line at times struggled, Alan Hubbard getting bounced around by Cian Ward – most glaringly in the lead-up to Brian Farrell’s first point in the 44th minute. Full back Denis Bastic was satisfyingly anonymous albeit greatly helped on occasion by Caoimhín King’s one-sidedness.
The half backs were the best line. Paul Griffin read the play well and restricted Stephen Bray to a point before the Navan O’Mahony’s player had to retire injured in the second half.
On either side of him Barry Cahill and Ger Brennan covered an immense amount of ground with the latter launching several attacking runs, which yielded a first-half point and a couple of wides including one of three fisted attempts – surely the least forgivable wide in the manual.
Brennan also carried too much possession into contact and lost it, particularly in the second half.
Meath will have nightmares about how ineffective their centrefield proved. Dublin’s new-look pairing of Magee and Ross McConnell dominated the zone despite the physical advantage held by Mark Ward and Nigel Crawford. Manager Eamonn O’Brien made changes in the second half but never got parity around the middle.
Having fallen three behind in the opening 10 minutes Meath proceeded to rattle off the next five scores.
Cian Ward, normally an assassin from placed balls, missed a couple of frees that could have increased the pressure on Dublin, who responded to the threat by their best phase in the match, stringing together eight unanswered points in the 15 minutes before half-time.
Alan Brogan was as usual the most impressive forward, dropping back to link the play from defence into attack and getting close enough for three points. The recurring problem of his reluctance to bring others into play was again in evidence but he was a calm presence on the ball.
Davoren’s debut at full forward was promising, which made the knee injury that forced him to be stretchered off all the more disappointing for Dublin. A scan will reveal the extent of the damage but up until that his ability in the air and speed was a constant problem for Meath.
Two points at the end of the first half as well as some good runs were an accurate indication of the threat he posed. Another debutant Paul Flynn worked hard but will have been disappointed by his tame effort at a goal chance early in the match.
At 0-11 to 0-5 the match was Dublin’s to lose, a prospect they appeared to treat like a challenge.
Meath cut the deficit immediately with a run of four points: King, Ward from a 45, the useful Shane McAnarney and Farrell, who impacted more noticeably in the second half, all knocked over points within 10 minutes of the restart.
Conal Keaney’s free taking was reliable and of Dublin’s three second-half points, the corner forward supplied two with Brogan scoring the other. Despite such a low yield the scores were sufficient to keep Meath at bay.
Gilroy injected into the match the reserves of experience on the bench. Ciarán Whelan joined the fray with Jason Sherlock in the 50th minute. Even though the champions continued to manufacture chance after chance the conversion rate was abject.
Meath were unable to take heart from this and so fell to the biggest two-point defeat in quite a long time. Satisfactory for Dublin in one sense – but strange.
DUBLIN: 1 S Cluxton; 2 D Henry, 3 D Bastic, 4 A Hubbard; 7 B Cahill, 5 P Griffin, 6 G Brennan (0-1); 8 R McConnell, 9 D Magee; 10 P Flynn, 11 P Andrews (0-1), 12 B Brogan (0-2, one free); 13 C Keaney (0-5, all frees), 14 M Davoren (0-2), 15 A Brogan (0-3). Subs: 19 C Whelan for McConnell, 26 J Sherlock for B Brogan (both 50 mins); 28 P Burke for Davoren (55 mins); 25 D Connolly for Andrews (60 mins); 27 B Kelly for Flynn (70 mins). Yellow cards: Cahill (12 mins), Brennan (15 mins), Cluxton (43 mins).
MEATH: 1 P O'Rourke; 4 E Harrington, 3 K Reilly, 2 A Moyles; 5 S Kenny, 6 N McKeigue, 7 C McGuinness; 8 M Ward (0-1), 9 N Crawford; 12 B Meade, 11 S Bray (0-1), 10 S McAnarney (0-2); 13 C Ward (0-4, two frees, one 45), 14 C King (0-1), 15 B Farrell (0-2). Subs: 20 C O'Connor for M Ward (42 mins); 18 B Sheridan for McAnarney (47 mins); 19 B Regan for McKeigue (51 mins); 17 P Byrne for Bray (57 mins); 21 J Sheridan (0-1)for Meade (67 mins). Yellow cards: McGuinness (26 mins), M Ward (38 mins), Farrell (43 mins), Bray (51 mins), Moyles (52 mins).
Attendance: 75,250.
Referee: M Duffy(Sligo).
