Assured finish helps Dublin to a flattering triumph

Leinster SHC Dublin 0-25 Laois 0-16  WE WEREN'T entirely convinced by the scoreline and nor was Anthony Daly. Dublin won as expected but hardly in the fashion expected – and when Daly was asked straight afterwards what Dublin would need to find in the two weeks before meeting Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final he didn't flinch.

“Balls and stomach, first and foremost,” he growled. “Balls and stomach and heart and be willing to get in and be hurt. We didn’t do enough of that. Against Kilkenny? We were cleaned in the air here. What will Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney do to us?”

The Dublin manager wasn’t exaggerating. There’s nothing wrong with scoring 25 points – especially when scoring 23 from play (they were only gifted a paltry six frees in all). But with 10 minutes remaining they were only up by four, and Laois, who were already down to 14 men, just missed a great chance to close the gap to three. Whatever so-called superiority Dublin had, they were slow to express it. And they didn’t have any superiority in the air.

So, Dublin outscored Laois six points to one in the last 10 minutes – during which time Laois were reduced further to 13 men – and Dublin also finished looking the fitter and stronger team. But then Laois finished with 17 wides, compared to just five for Dublin, and if Laois had converted a few more of those then things might well have been different.

Laois manager Niall Rigney didn’t offer any excuses afterwards, beyond his team not being clinical enough in front of goal. That was no understatement. Laois did everything else that was asked of them on the day; they contested hard, they stood up for every ball, and played with the sort of spirit that hardly deserved a nine-point defeat. But, as Rigney also pointed out, they’re still young and still improving and in another year or two will have the experience to convert more of their scoring chances.

It still made for an entertaining game, albeit for the disappointing crowd of 3,861. Dublin never once looked comfortable until those closing 10 minutes, during which the likes of Peter Kelly, Shane Durkin and Simon Lambert finally began to show some real authority. Earlier on Dublin’s attack was more limited, with only Liam Rushe showing up well and Alan McCrabbe typically busy, and John McCaffrey steadying midfield as usual.

David O’Callaghan retired early in the first half as a precautionary measure given his recent hamstring injury, but there was a greater scare late on when full back Tomás Brady pulled up suddenly with a hamstring strain, and he’s already in danger of missing the Kilkenny game in Croke Park on June 20th.

What Laois had over Dublin for the first half was enthusiasm, the balls and stomach that Daly was talking about. Their team play was impressive, Michael McEvoy and Conor Dunne driving plenty of ball into the forwards – with Zane Keenan, John Brophy and Willie Hyland taking advantage.

They were level with Dublin six times in the first half, including on the half hour mark, Brophy collecting his second point from play, with all the time in the world. Dublin ended the half two points in front, but Laois had fired a costly eight wides.

The second 35 minutes essentially saw Dublin get stronger as Laois got weaker, the superior fitness and confidence of last year’s Leinster finalists starting to emerge. Still they didn’t have it easy. Laois came out and hit four more wides in the first five minutes, while Dublin tacked on three points, and with that came the first visible signs that Laois were perhaps starting to doubt themselves.

Losing wing back Brian Campion to a second yellow card on 45 minutes was a major blow and his second booking seemed harsh enough. Still, the Laois wide-fest continued. Dublin’s full-back line cleared a lot of ball, but at times Laois shot too soon, without being under pressure, and that was a sure sign of inexperience.

Points were exchanged evenly enough up until 60 minutes, when Dublin led 0-19 to 0-15. Keenan then had a great chance in front of goal to close the gap to three points, yet inexplicably fluffed his shot. Another sign of inexperience – and, as if on cue, Dublin imposed some class, hitting six points without reply; including two from Kelly, a beauty from Lambert, and one more each from Dublin’s midfield pair of McCaffrey and Durkin, who thus ended up contributing 0-7 between them.

That was closing time for Laois, who with two minutes remaining also lost substitute Colin Delaney for a second yellow, thus finishing with 13 men and a nine-point defeat. Not what they expected and not what they deserved.

DUBLIN:1 G Maguire; 2 N Corcoran, 3 T Brady, 4 O Gough; 5 S Hiney, 6 J Boland, 7 M O'Brien; 8 J McCaffrey (0-3), 9 S Durkin (0-4); 14 S Lambert (0-3), 10 P Kelly (0-3), 12 P Ryan (0-2); 13 D O'Callaghan, 11 L Rushe (0-4), 15 A McCrabbe (0-5, one sideline, one free). Subs:22 K Flynn for O'Callaghan (22 mins), 27 L Ryan (0-1) for Flynn (52 mins), 19 P Carton for P Ryan (56 mins), 28 S Ryan for Brady (66 mins), 29 R Trainor for Gough (68 mins). Yellow cards:J McCaffrey (52 mins), T Brady (58 mins), P Kelly (70 mins).

LAOIS:1 E Reilly; 2 J Delaney, 3 D Maher, 4 C Healy; 5 B Campion, 6 M Whelan (0-1, free), 7 M McEvoy; 8 C Dunne, 9 J Walsh (0-1); 10 J Fitzpatrick, 11 Z Keenan (0-2), 12 W Hyland (0-6, three frees); 13 T Fitzgerald (0-1), 14 N Foyle, 15 J Brophy (0-3). Subs:17 C Delaney (0-1) for Foyle (46 mins), 22 J Purcell (0-1) for Fitzpatrick (48 mins). Yellow cards:B Campion (six mins, 44 mins), J Brophy (14 mins), C Delaney (62 mins, 68 mins). Red Cards:B Campion, C Delaney.

Referee:Cathal McAllister (Cork).