National Hurling League Division One B/Tipperary 4-15 Dublin 1-9:For the hurlers of Dublin the past week must have felt like getting sucked into a vortex of despair. Having been asked to play three important league games away from home in the space of seven days, Dublin began by beating Limerick and went to Belfast on Wednesday and got shaded out. And finally in Nenagh yesterday a jaded side got comprehensively run through the blender by a remorseless Tipperary.
As lessons come, the week was harsh and memorable. Eight days ago the Sunday sports supplements were joining the hurling world in granting benediction to Dublin's hurling revolution. A week on, Dublin are apparently back to the drawing board.
Manager Tommy Naughton struck the correct note when he declined to make excuses but pointed out Dublin need to get over the "one swallow makes a summer" syndrome.
"If we draw with Kilkenny or beat Galway we haven't won an All-Ireland," he said. "If we lose a game it's not all doom. We're a first-division side. We have to learn. We hoped to make the quarter-finals because we put ourselves into that position but we're happy to have stayed in the division."
And for Dublin hurling this morning that should be enough. The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, and for Dublin to have retained their status in a division not originally intended to accommodate them is adequate achievement for this league.
There were no excuses offered up yesterday but the schedule of the last seven days and the injury toll in the camp were mitigating circumstances in this hiding.
Missing several key players already, Dublin found things getting worse early in Nenagh when one of their finds of the spring, Kevin O'Reilly, had to be replaced. By then Dublin were already in deep trouble.
Yesterday's first half may have gone a long way to ending the debate about who will wear the Tipp number 14 jersey this year. Danny O'Hanlon, whose two goals against Kilkenny were a fine calling card, scored two more yesterday and had beaten Stephen Hiney to the first two balls before he even started doing damage in earnest.
O'Hanlon already had a point on the board when he latched on to a pass from Hugh Maloney and buried the ball in the Dublin net. There were 11 minutes gone and Tipp led by 1-3 to no score.
Dublin looked tired and players were picking up knocks and injuries all around the field. Tipperary just continued doing what they had to do. In midfield Thomas Stapleton and Shane McGrath were strong and forceful while the half-back line snuffed Dublin out all afternoon.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors as the continual pressure saw rivets popping in the Dublin back line.
O'Hanlon, full of bustle and aggression, added a second and both Kelly brothers helped themselves to a goal, Eoin's being an especially memorable score taken from a tight angle during one of the few moments in the afternoon when he escaped the attentions of Tomás Brady.
Brady - along with Ronan Fallon, imperious again at centre back - was one of Dublin's few successes, and it is difficult to imagine what the Dublin players said to each other when they went in at the break trailing 4-7 to 0-3.
The second half didn't redeem Dublin but there was enough in it to suggest they were worthy of better than a 15-point hammering and the Tipp defence will need grinds before the summer term.
Dublin, while not exactly humming with energy, extracted a series of frees, two penalties and a few scoring chances, and the introduction of Emmet Carroll toward the end demonstrated the possibilities of damaging Tipp with pace. All that is for another day though.
Those watching Tipp with an eye to the summer will have been pleased with the maturity of the performance offered by young Pa Bourke and by the familiar hustle of John Carroll when he was added to the mix. There exists the possibility Eoin Kelly won't have to carry the forwards entirely on his own this summer.
Dublin's revival late in the game may have had as much to do with Tipp's relaxed posture as anything else, but there was some hope and pride taken from the fact of having fought for 70 minutes. Two penalties might have been enough on another day to create a cliffhanger but the first, taken by Stuart Mullan, was poorly struck and easily saved. And the second, from Emmet Carroll, was too close to the death to offer hope.
Tipperary march on to be honed by the competitive fare of the late league stages.
Dublin ponder what might have been and tomorrow will appreciate that what might have been could have been far worse than securing another year in the top grade.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; E Buckley, P Curran, C O'Brien; B Dunne (0-1), C O'Mahony (0-1), H Maloney; S McGrath, T Stapleton (0-1); R O'Dwyer, D Egan, P Bourke (0-5 two frees); E Kelly (1-3, two frees), D O'Hanlon (2-1), P Kelly (1-2). Subs: J Carroll (0-1) for Egan (half-time), L Corbett for Kelly (56 mins), P Ormonde for Buckley (69 mins), J Woodlock for O'Dwyer (70 mins).
DUBLIN: G Maguire; G O'Meara, S Hiney, T Brady; M Carton, R Fallon (0-2, frees), D O'Reilly; J Boland, D Qualter; K Dunne, D O'Dwyer, J Kelly; K O'Reilly, P O' Driscoll, K Flynn (0-1). Subs: S Mullan (0-5) for O Reilly (16 mins), A McCrabbe for O'Driscoll (43 mins), E Carroll (1-1, goal a penalty) for Boland (56 mins), K Ryan for Qualter (64 mins).
Referee: D Connolly (Kilkenny).
