Dublin forwards stay focused on task

NFL Division One A/ Dublin 3-15 Fermanagh 0-7:The giddy hollering from those supporters camped at the back of the goal at the church end when referee Eugene Murtagh signalled an end to the carnage at Parnell Park on Saturday night didn't make its way into the Dublin dressingroom, where a more pragmatic assessment of the mismatch - and a fair degree of sympathy for Fermanagh's performance - was to be found.

"In fairness to Fermanagh, this (performance) is not what they came up for," said Dublin manager Paul Caffrey. He could afford to be magnanimous, for his team had been anything but generous out on the pitch. Dublin played with aggression and speed and a fair amount of skill, components that when put together provided the platform for a demolition job on poor opposition.

The upshot was all six of Dublin's starting forwards scored, and the three substitutes introduced into the attacking division did likewise. A surplus of scoring forwards? Caffrey, more than anyone who has known Dublin's failings of the past, knows that is a rare position to be in. "I was pleased with a lot of the performances, and glad that our boys kept the foot on the accelerator and kept going . . . it was pleasing to see the lads go hammer and tongs at it tonight," he said.

Fermanagh played like a team facing the doomsday scenario of the big drop out of Division One. From the time Conal Keaney effortlessly scored Dublin's first point within 40 seconds of the start, Fermanagh were on the back foot and never got any forward momentum. In truth, they weren't allowed to, as Dublin's fast start set a trend that was to be continued to the end with the winners stubbornly fighting for possession and using the ball well.

Dublin's first goal arrived in the 20th minute when Mossy Quinn placed his shot low and hard beyond Niall Tinney's reach, a score that increased the home side's advantage to 1-5 to a mere point. By half-time, Dublin's fluent football gave them a 1-7 to 0-3 lead that could have been even greater, with Jason Sherlock leading the attack well from centre half forward. His wing men, Colin Moran and Keaney, were industrious too, both in scoring and supplying the inside line of the attack.

Fermanagh were starved of possession, with the unfortunate Tinney's main duty in the match to put the football on the cone for kick-outs which were duly returned to him with venom.

Fermanagh, in sinking to a fifth straight defeat of the campaign, had no answer to Darren Magee and Shane Ryan (who replaced the injured Ciarán Whelan before the start), nor to the crisp attacks of the Dublin forwards.

When substitute Kevin Bonner fisted home Dublin's second goal in the 57th minute (putting them 2-10 to 0-5 ahead), they were cruising. "Once that goal went in, it was curtains (for Fermanagh)," admitted Caffrey. But there was to be no easing off from Dublin.

The third goal, indeed, summed up Fermanagh's fate on the night. Mark Vaughan's attempt at a point hit the top of one upright, rebounded down to strike the other goalpost and fell perfectly for Diarmuid Connolly. He didn't need to be asked twice to finish the ball to the net.

Connolly was just one of those forwards to impress. Moran, finally playing football without one injury or another hanging over him, and Keaney again provided indications the wing forward positions are where they are best utilised and, if Bernard Brogan's brain at times moved too fast for his body, he increasingly looks like a player capable of being a mainstay for some time to come.

How good were Dublin? How bad were Fermanagh? Put it this way, nobody in the Dublin camp was letting the 17-point winning margin create any false dawns.

"It's all about Mayo now," said Caffrey, of next Sunday's opposition when some degree of revenge for last year's All-Ireland semi-final defeat and, more importantly, the prospect of taking another step en route to a possible league semi-final place is on the menu.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Henry, R McConnell, P Griffin; B Cahill, B Cullen, G Brennan; S Ryan, D Magee; C Moran (0-3), J Sherlock (0-1), C Keaney (0-5, one free); B Brogan (0-1), K Bonner (1-1), T Quinn (1-1, free). Subs: P Casey for Brennan (45 mins), D Connolly (1-1)for Quinn (50 mins), M Vaughan (0-1)for Brogan 55 mins), D O'Callaghan (0-1)for Sherlock (60 mins), J Magee for D Magee (63 mins).

FERMANAGH: N Tinney; R McCluskey, B Owens, S Goan; S McDermott, S Lyons, P Sherry (0-1); M McGrath, J Sherry; T Brewster, S Doherty, E Maguire (0-4, two frees); C McElroy, M Murphy, D McKeever (0-2). Subs: M Little for Doherty (28 mins), N Bogue for Murphy (half-time), C Bradley for McElroy (49 mins), R Keenan for McKeever (58 mins), P Johnston for Owens (67 mins).

Referee: E Murtagh(Longford).