'The only blip was to concede the goal after 68 minutes'

GAELIC GAMES:DUBLIN MANAGER Pat Gilroy had composed himself by the post-match press conference. Consequently Eamonn Callaghan's goal that had nearly undone a sweltering second half's hard work merited as understated as description as 'disappointing'.

Kildare’s 1-1 at the end of the match had threatened Dublin with another wounding finale in a big match and it required the late deliverance of a controversial free to pull the game out of the fire and keep the team on course to regain the Leinster title, last won two years ago, in next month’s final against Wexford.

“It was disappointing to concede the goal when we conceded it,” said Gilroy of yesterday’s dramatic conclusion.

“I think we pushed Kildare to shoot from very difficult angles for most of the second half and it was working well, so to let a man through as far as he went; to concede a goal was very disappointing but I do think that the response to it was excellent.”

Asked about the reduced free count in the second half, Gilroy expressed himself satisfied with the whole 70 minutes – with the obvious exception of Eoghan O’Gara’s red card five minutes after the break.

“I thought our discipline was quite good in the first half as well, in terms that when Kildare got inside, we put pressure on them to shoot rather than giving up soft frees. We gave away some but I didn’t think it was a big number.

“I was very impressed by our first half and we would have liked to have continued that for the second but that changed once we lost a man, particularly in the heat, it was so difficult for the boys around the middle third.

“You were left in a situation in that heat where the work-rate side of things was going to be difficult to maintain and it was even going to be harder when you were down a man.

“We did try to shuffle things around a bit. For the most part, things were working out fine for us. We got good control of the game and we were controlling the ball well. The only blip was to concede the goal after 68 minutes. It wasn’t part of the plan.”

Captain Bryan Cullen, a merciless afternoon’s shuttling up and down the wing behind him, wasn’t convinced the tightness of the finish was a virtue in itself.

“It’s always great to dig out the close ones,” he said, “but I’d prefer a four-point win, to be honest with you. In fairness to them they kept at it and worked their goal well but I thought we probably should have held on to that four-point buffer and closed it out a little bit better.

Inevitably the Leinster final of 2009 – when Dublin also played out a rearguard action against Kildare a man short – was raised as context. Gilroy believes that yesterday represented progress.

“I think we played better today than we did in 2009. I think we were more controlled today, 2009 was a bit of a helter-skelter and we just fell over the line whereas I thought we were really in control, lost it for two minutes in the end but regained it for the last minute. But I would have been very happy with how we had managed that game, it was just a lot more controlled than 2009.”