Dublin have won a major battle, but not the war

DUBLIN'S WIN OVER MEATH: Tommy Lyons tells Seán Moran how Dublin's victory in the Leinster semi-final came as no surprise to him. But cautions that Kildare will prove just as big an obstacle

DUBLIN The surprise at Dublin's first win over Meath in seven years was largely based on the respective performances of the teams in the Leinster quarter-finals.

The team that ran Meath ragged for long periods was the same that had been quite fortunate to get past Wexford three weeks ago. Dublin manager Tommy Lyons says that too much was read into that first championship outing.

"These are championship matches. People lost the plot after the Wexford match. Championship is about winning. We won. I knew these players would play well in Croke Park. It was simply a matter of conveying that to them. Unlike against Wexford, we played flat out for 70 minutes and competed."

The result and overall display were a vindication of Lyons' selection of young, talented but unproven players and also of his tactics, which exerted so much pressure on Meath's defence.

It was the third time in four years managing teams in the Leinster championship that Lyons had supervised the removal of the defending provincial champions - the other year was when Offaly, whom he managed for three years, were themselves Leinster champions.

He says that he was confident from an early stage of the match. "Within five minutes I felt we were in the shake-up. We were competing awful well and I was happy with that. I knew from the way we were moving the ball even when we weren't getting scores.

"Alan Brogan was beaten to the first three balls but he won the next, ran at them and scored a great point."

Meath's prospects weren't helped by injury to Ollie Murphy who was ruled out of the match last week and by an early injury to centrefielder John Cullinane.

Lyons disputes that these events were a major lift for his team.

"We had that last week ourselves. We lost Paul Curran last Tuesday and Dessie Farrell learned on Thursday that he wouldn't be able to compete. These things can have a galvanising effect on the team that loses players but I'm a great believer in getting on with it."

The performance conformed to what is recognised as the Lyons template for football with the team showing huge levels of industry and moving at pace, particularly in attack where the cleverly orchestrated running left Meath chasing shadows. Asked what aspect of the display most pleased him, he is in no doubt.

"Work-rate. The forward play was the result of work-rate at midfield. Anybody can see with any team that I've been involved in training that forwards are important. Forwards have to move and have to keep moving."

Meath decided to shuffle their full-back line in response to the constantly changing forward deployment. Seán Boylan's side has tended not to do well when full back Darren Fay is moved out of position, but Lyons says that the real damage was being done further out the field and that difficulties at the very back were only a symptom.

"We won midfield for key periods and our half forwards won their battles so the Meath full backs were always under pressure. It was finger in the dyke stuff. Full backs will always struggle if the half backs are in trouble. Shane Ryan was winning ball, Collie Moran was scoring and Senan Connell was pulling them all over the place."

Although Dublin didn't feature in the latter stage of the NFL, the performance of some of the new forwards like Alan Brogan and John McNally did attract positive notices. But for a player there's a long way from those modest spring tributes to justifying yourself in the championship, particularly on major occasions like Sunday's.

"I always felt that we'd had a good league," says Lyons. "There was only one bad performance and that was down in Cork. We were blooding an awful lot of players and we really horsed them that week. There were matches coming thick and fast but we had to get some championship preparation done so we decided to dog them that week.

"I think there are two simple indicators in the league. If a fella goes for the ball in the league, he'll go for it in the championship; if a fella has a good first touch in the league, he'll have a good first touch in the championship. All other factors are peripheral if they're fit and fast enough."

The victory has transformed Dublin from vague long-term prospects into contenders for prizes this year. But, in the rush to celebrate a long overdue win against Meath, Lyons hasn't forgotten that there's been an even longer wait for a win over Leinster final opponents Kildare.

"Beating Meath has been a huge issue for Dublin over the past 25 years. Meath-Dublin is a huge day out, but we've won a battle not the war. At the start of the year we set our sights on a Leinster under-21 and a Leinster senior. They were the goals we set ourselves and we've one in the bag and the other riding on a head-to-head with Kildare.

"Now we haven't beaten them since 1994 and they beat us in the Leinster final after we gave away a big lead."

Finally, on a day when the new Croke Park opened for business, the redeveloped venue's first winning manager was impressed with the facility in general, but feels that small improvements can be made.

"It was fantastic. I would like the pitch a little softer. Players are hitting the ground very hard. But the surface was just superb. But there could be improvements. I'd like a media room down at the dressing-room level.

"Players could be interviewed there rather than in the dressing-room. I think players are entitled to a bit of privacy, a bit of space. Win or lose, it can be difficult to have reporters invading your space."

Having their space invaded by reporters is, however, a familiar price of success. And one they'll be glad to pay for a while yet.