Dublin stretch the gap to breaking point with win over Galway
The thought struck on Saturday evening that maybe Croke Park and football should agree to go their separate ways for a while.
Nothing permanent. Just a little break to give each other time to rekindle the fire and the affection, to find themselves, because it was hard not to conclude that something was missing when the pair of them could produce an All-Ireland semi-final with so little spark.
This was the eighth football game to be held at HQ this summer and not one has really got the heart thumping. The best of a bad bunch up to this? Kildare and Monaghan, maybe? Hardly a classic. And these two used to be so right for each other.
Maybe hurling really has stolen everyone’s hearts.
Dublin have contributed to any breakdown in this relationship more than anyone. Only Donegal have come within a country mile of them in their five outings in the capital since June and even their tentative advances were easily kept at arm’s length.
There was probably a multitude of reasons for the disappointing attendance of 54,717 – the smallest crowd for a semi-final involving Dublin since 1995 – but you have to figure that the air of inevitability that pervaded the place from the off had a part to play in it.
This should be captivating viewing. Dublin are capable of sublime football, they are on the verge of history in their quest for what would be only the fourth football four-in-a-row and yet there is a sense of want about the back end of this championship.
The questions Galway carried with them didn’t help.
Was the Monaghan loss an aberration? If they had switched off mentally, could they click back on again a week later? Were they still too young? Too raw? Were they really as good a team as some had said during an impressive league?
The best they could offer was about half an hour of hope. Thirty minutes spent with our hands over our ears shouting mangled garbage at the top of our voices just so we could block out logic and form and the inevitability of Dublin’s next step towards their destiny.
It was a pitiful return, really. Laois lasted about as long with Jim Gavin’s men in the Leinster final and they had wintered in Division 4. Galway, like so many before them, just disappeared under the blue waves when they began to rise.
They found out that it is one thing to test Dublin here and there for five or even ten-minute bursts and quite another to turn the screw to such an extent that you can still be in a position to make them snap come the game’s last act.
Mayo will continue to grow in stature in their own absence.
Dublin’s temporary difficulties didn’t appear from thin air – their full-back line has been pegged as a potential weak line for an age now but – but they did originate in a high, diagonal ball sent in towards their square.
Damien Comer’s fist to the net from Ciaran Duggan’s pass was a start but he couldn’t finish seconds later when the kickout landed at his feet and Eamonn Brannigan handed Cluxton instant redemption when his penalty effort was diverted away by the keeper for a ‘45’.
All of this happened inside a three-minute spell in the first quarter and at a time when Galway were still able to put some shape on their press for Dublin’s kickouts. It proved to be no more than an outlier period, a cruel temptress of hope.
Missing the penalty was a particularly deflating blow but Comer, Shane Walsh and Sean Armstrong all contributed to the sense of wastefulness and opportunities lost with point attempts that really should have been taken.
Gavin was sanguine about the rocky patch afterwards.
“When you’re playing against a quality team like Galway, the forwards they have are exceptional,” he said in a critique of those early scares. “They’d get on any team and they’re going to score. Particularly the way they played.
“They really pushed up on us and asked questions of our defence. So, you’re going to concede scores against a quality team. I’m just pleased the way our guys responded to that challenge and fought their way to get back into the game.”
It’s what Dublin do. You can discommode them. You can pour salt in their tea and sugar in their petrol tank and they will shrug their shoulders, see to the clean-up and continue on about their metronomic business without a huff or hassle.
That said, Galway hardly helped themselves.
They never really went back to route one. Comer drifted in and out the field and even the loss to Dublin of Cian O’Sullivan after 28 minutes couldn’t persuade them that maybe their troublesome full-forward was worth another punt into the edge of the square.
They could have certainly done with another goal or two because the Connacht champions were never going to get the better of Dublin by picking off points in a game in which they came off second best in so many different ways.
Dublin had more possession and they made more of the chances they engineered with two-thirds of theirs succeeding and only half of Galway’s. It played out exactly as you would expect in a game between multiple champs and a young pretender.
That early flurry of madness around the Dublin goal was the one time Galway had any joy in disrupting Dublin’s rhythm. Cluxton would miss just one other kick-out all day, a slightly overcooked punt over the head of an unmarked Jack McCaffrey.
And, while both sides managed an almost equal number of turnovers, it was Dublin who knew exactly what to do with theirs while limiting any damage in the other direction with the concession of numerous, clever frees in the opposition’s half.
They led 1-9 to 1-7 at the break. The goal was a thing of beauty, topped off by Con O’Callaghan after 28 minutes, before a second half in which they outscored Galway by 15 points to five before Walsh claimed a lucky three-pointer in injury-time.
Jack McCaffrey was electric. Ciaran Kilkenny, superb in close to goal this summer, was pulling all the right strings from a deeper-lying role and Brian Fenton was controlling the midfield. Paul Mannion and Con O’Callaghan claimed 1-7 from play between them.
Not everyone’s report card was spotless. Eoin Murchan found Ian Burke a tricky assignment at times, McMahon suffered on the physical Comer, even with help, while Niall Scully and Dean Rock have had more effective days in the blue shirt.
Now is not a good time to be treading water. Not with the bench contributing six points and old-timers such as Paul Flynn, Kevin McManamon and Michael Darragh Macauley bounding on eagerly for even the shortest of cameos.
“They’re great leaders, that’s the first thing I’d say about them,” said Gavin. “Their dedication and determination to play for Dublin is infectious. Leadership is all about influence and that’s what those players do.”
They look untouchable.
Scorers for Dublin:
C O’Callaghan (1-3); D Rock (0-5, 4 frees); P Mannion (0-4); C Costello (0-3, 1 free); C Kilkenny (0-3); K McManamon and B Fenton (both 0-2); P Flynn and B Howard (both 0-1).
Scorers for Galway:
S Walsh (1-5, 0-3 frees) D Comer (1-1); I Burke (0-2); J Heaney, T Flynn, M Daly and G O’Donnell (all 0-1).
DUBLIN:
S Cluxton; E Murchan, P McMahon, J Cooper; J Small, C O’Sullivan, J McCaffrey; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully, C Kilkenny, B Howard; D Rock, P Mannion, C O’Callaghan. Subs: M Fitzsimons for O’Sullivan (28); C Costello for Scully (44); K McManamon for Rock (56); MD Macauley for Murchin (57); D Daly for Small (66); P Flynn for McCaffrey (68);
GALWAY:
R Lavelle; D Kyne, SA O Ceallaigh, E Kerin; C Sweeney, G Bradshaw, S Kelly; C Duggan, T Flynn; E Brannigan, S Walsh, J Hayes; S Armstrong, D Comer, I Burke. Subs: M Daly for Armstrong (47); P Cooke for Brannigan (50); G O’Donnell for Sweeney (56); A Varley for Heaney (59); K Molloy for Kerins (66); J Duane for Bradshaw (68);
Referee:
B Cassidy (Derry).
