GAELIC GAMES:NOT FOR the first time, an Easter Rising in Dublin fell apart. The long wait for a national title for the Dubs goes on after Cork, trailing by eight points in the second half after watching man after man hobble off, delivered a chilling master class in composure and sent out a timely message to All-Ireland pretenders across the land.
The reigning All-Ireland and league champions retained their spring title by doing just enough here. The 21 points they kicked – 18 of those from play – were enough to eclipse Dublin’s handsome tally of 2-14 by a single point.
The day confirmed the staggering depth of football talent available to the Rebel County and also drew uncomfortable comparisons to Dublin’s collapse against Cork in last summer’s gripping All-Ireland semi-final.
Afterwards, in the gloomy room beneath Croke Park reserved for post-match inquisitions, Dublin manager Pat Gilroy sighed before answering what will be the first of many quiz sessions on the mental strength of his squad.
The pop psychology is for the ale houses and Dubs of yesteryear penning opinion columns. Not for a moment does he believe his team lack the mental toughness for big days.
“If I really believed that, then I should walk out the door here and never be in front of this team. This team has more character and more guts to put up with the kind of stuff that surrounds them every day. And they get back out there and they train and they work. And I tell ya, they are the most honest guys.
“They will get stick for this. It was an eight-point lead and they lost. We have to deal with that. Because that is our job.
“We are the Dublin team and we have to listen to that. And when we have the All-Ireland some day – that is when we will stop hearing that.”
It was a fair point. Cork, of all teams, know how painful and slow the transition from contender to champion can be. Yesterday, their methodical dismantling of Dublin’s high-octane opening underlined all that they have become.
It was going so perfectly for the Dubs, when Bernard Brogan took a sideline ball from Tomás Quinn and hammered a beautiful goal in front of the Hill to make it 2-11 to 0-10 points.
In the 40th minute, Diarmuid Connolly floated another gorgeous score and the Hill was singing; summer beckoned and the neon score read 2-12 to 0-10. Then, it all went weirdly quiet. Then, Cork owned the day.
“We have been in situations like that before,” said Cork’s Paddy Kelly. “Maybe not as drastic but it was a strange enough old game. When we were eight down the game went flat and we tacked on a few scores.
“I think that the Dubs took their foot of the pedal. And then we were within touching distance and we had the momentum and the Dubs couldn’t stop that.
“We didn’t force scores and kept the scoreboard ticking over. But it is hard to explain what happened.”
One thing that happened was that Bernard Brogan pulled up and had to leave the field with 20 minutes remaining. Brogan was stunning at times yesterday but the idea that Dublin’s collapse revolved around his departure is too simplistic; Cork had conjured three quick points before he left. The reversal was already in progress.
The Dubs, scintillating in a first half in which Kevin McManamon seemed to land points at will, suddenly could not buy a score.
Scapegoat moments illuminated the pale blue performance: Tomás Quinn missing a free that he will flog himself for; Dean Kelly, faced with the fabled sight of the Hill goal in front of him, blazing a chance wide.
But in truth, the problem was that a suddenly callow Dublin team were faced with a Cork team that is now tremulous with self-belief.
Not even the sight of John Miskella, Paul Kerrigan and Fintan Goold hobbling off could lessen that.
In the last half hour, the Rebels went to work. Donnacha O’Connor landed two of his turn-on-a-dime-and-fire points. Patrick Kelly was immensely influential and chipped three beautiful points. Noel O’Leary wandered up field and cracked over a point from over 50 metres.
Slowly and remorselessly, they swallowed Dublin up. It fell to Ciarán Sheehan to land the killer score, with two minutes left.
“It can be difficult having a seven- or eight-point lead,” counselled Cork manager Conor Counihan.
“People are looking, they see the finish line and focus can be lost for a while. We have a fair bit of experience built up as well and can maybe exploit that kind of thing but we can’t afford to do that because another day we mightn’t get away from it.”
The peculiar thing was that even when the Dubs still had the lead, the outcome of the match felt inevitable. For the local fans in the crowd of 36,438 – most of whom were sandwiched into the Hill – it made for tough, compelling viewing.
The first game, the Division Two final between Laois and Donegal had been a diverting curtain-raiser, with Laois’s storming second-half haul of eight points in a row not quite enough to undo a Donegal performance built around the powerful majesty of Michael Murphy, the big forward with the lightest touch. That game felt like a distant memory as Cork served up a lesson not just to Dublin but to all teams that now, as of this Easter Monday, they are primed for another big summer.
