Dublin get away with it

GAELIC GAMES/Dublin 0-13 Monaghan 1-9:CORK, HOLDERS of the Allianz League, greatly prized last year's win up in Monaghan as part of the toughening process that makes a team. Dublin aren't likely to look back on yesterday's fortuitous win in Clones as quite as character forming but they were relieved to hold out for the win and extend their record to four from four in front of a crowd of 4,150.

For Monaghan it was another frustrating afternoon and the second one-point defeat of a campaign in which their performances have been competitive despite being short of first-choice players. Yet again the tendency to start slowly undid them and although a spirited rally in the second quarter gave the home side a half-time lead, they hadn’t enough banked to withstand Dublin’s response and ran out of time a point behind despite Dublin being down to 14 after Diarmuid Connolly’s dismissal on the hour for a second yellow card.

Of even more concern to Monaghan was the injury to captain Darren Hughes in the very last minute after an accidental collision with Denis Bastick necessitated five minutes of treatment on the field before his being carried off. “The real worry for me is Darren Hughes, that he’s okay,” said Monaghan manager Eamonn McEneaney, “that it’s not a serious injury. His neck was sore and he’d numbness down the side of one arm; we’d be worried about that.”

In the opening five minutes Dublin shot four points from play with the lively Kevin McManamon, Tomás Quinn, Declan Lally and Connolly on the mark. Connolly’s second made it five without reply.

Although looking like they were about to be over-run Monaghan prevented matters getting worse with some sticky defending and good blocking. A succession of wides and shots dropped short – by the end they had missed 20 chances – left Dublin looking like they could win comfortably by defending a five-nil lead for nearly an hour. Even the first home score, a point by Conor McManus, was immediately cancelled by an exhibition response from Bernard Brogan within seconds.

But McManus, who was giving league debutant Ross O’Carroll a hard time on a slippy pitch, got in for the defining score in the 22nd minute when Paul Finlay’s dropping kick was touched past Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton. That changed the direction of the match, which would be competitive until the end. Monaghan were encouraged and Dublin lost the confident flow to their game, leaving the scoreboard untroubled for 23 minutes of the match.

Monaghan kicked on. Their defence denied Dublin space and prevented attacks from developing. The half backs, with David Hughes everywhere, began to contest the breaks so well the visitors ran out of supplies. Frees from Finlay and points by Dessie Mone and McManus left the home side two ahead at the break, 1-5 to 0-6.

Dublin made changes. Alan Brogan, who made an appreciable difference, and Bryan Cullen brought experience into the team. The introduction of Owen Lennon helped turn the tide at centrefield for Monaghan. But again Dublin were greatly helped by Monaghan’s inaccuracies, as wide after wide piled up in the minutes after the re-start once Finlay had extended the lead to three.

The chances came for Dublin however and Bernard Brogan, well marked for the most part by Kieran Duffy, kicked a couple of frees and his brother Alan equalised with a longer-range effort before replacement Dara Nelson restored the lead in the 50th minute. Dublin stretched the lead to four, 0-13 to 1-6, by the 56th minute but again the team stalled on the verge of pulling away. McGuinness and Tommy Freeman began the revival and only a block by Darren Daly prevented Lennon getting in for a goal.

The scoring dried up with 10 minutes left and Dublin just a point ahead, 0-13 to 1-9 although both sides had chances, Monaghan in particular – as McEneaney lamented afterwards. “Pat Gilroy said that to me along the sideline, in essence they didn’t deserve to win the game and if you kick eight short and 12 wide that tells its own story. We dominated the second half. We lost the middle of the field by a good bit on the breaks in the first half. We tightened up at half-time. I think if we could have got ahead of them at any stage of the second half we’d have taken them.”

Gilroy concurred. “I think we were very lucky to get away with two points. I mean, when we went down to 14 men we were really hanging on there for dear life at the end . . . but sure we’ll take them. I have to say I can’t understand why there were so many yellow (eight) and red (one) cards – I didn’t think that was a dirty game . . . but I probably do understand it, the pressure that referees are under to apply the rules to the letter of the law. I suppose they’re being forced to do it, and it’s putting them under unnecessary pressure because that game didn’t flow because of it.”

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; Ross O’Carroll, S Murray, D Daly; P Casey, G Brennan, D Lally (0-1); B Cahill, D Bastick; P Flynn, K McManamon (0-1), MD McAuley; B Brogan (0-4, 0-3 frees), D Connolly (0-3), T Quinn (0-1). Subs: D Nelson for Lally (30 mins), B Cullen for Flynn and A Brogan (0-1) for Quinn (both half-time), P Andrews (0-1) for McAuley (43 mins), P Brogan for O’Carroll (55 mins).

MONAGHAN: M Keogh; C Walshe, D Hughes (capt.), K Duffy; V Coery, D Mone (0-1), D Hughes; D Clerkin, N McAdam; J Turley, M Downey (0-1), D Morgan; C McGuinness (0-1), P Finlay (0-3, frees), C McManus (1-2). Subs: O Lennon for Morgan (half-time), T Freeman (0-1) for Turley (55 mins).

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).