WHAT was all the fuss about? Mickey Whelan may well feel tempted to ask the question. After all his tribulations, Dublin have finished third in Division Two and rounded off their National League Campaign with an impressive demolition of Laois at Parnell Park yesterday.

The losers were already promoted and into the quarter-finals but they seemed intent on a different kind of demolition job as Leo Turley and Michael Lawlor were both sent off for crude incidents in a performance that combined hapless football with roughouse tactics. One more player at least should have joined Turley and Lawlor on the sideline.

Dublin, by contrast, negotiated the skirmishes with discipline intact. "Our guys kept their composure well," remarked Whelan afterwards. They did have one casualty however. Wing forward Ciaran Whelan took a hospital pass late in the game - and ended up in hospital, concussed and needing stitches.

The manager was satisfied with his defence, where Paddy Christie looked comfortable in the troublesome full back position, and especially pleased with the finishing, which was top class - all 15 points, perhaps uniquely, came from play.

Dublin transferred the ball fluidly from defence to attack, sometimes stringing swift passing moves, sometimes playing it direct to their full forward line where Ray Cosgrove, in particular, looked sharp and lively.

Charlie Redmond also confirmed that his winter hibernation is over, kicking three, while Whelan is looking more and more settled in the front six. Dessie Farrell showed glimpses of his class in the second half, thriving, like the rest of his colleagues, on an extravagant supply of possession and liberal amounts of room.

Brian Stynes lined out at wing forward but played as a third mid-fielder, roaming all over and delivering another influential performance. Dublin, in fact, dominated midfield despite the presence of Laois' formidable Tony Maher/PJ Dempsey combination. Both were thoroughly eclipsed, in the air and on the ground, their subdued presence reflecting the collective collapse.

The team's petulance grew with the expanding margin of defeat, Dublin piling on the points, and Maher was lucky to survive an incident in the 49th minute when he flashed an elbow into Cosgrove's face under the nose of referee Tommy Sugrue. It was a sending-off offence - Sugrue, apparently, did not see fit to book him.

Turley had already gone by then, catching Christie high in the 34th minute and leaving Sugrue, in this case, with no option.

He was joined by Lawlor 20 minutes later. The Emo player had just driven a penalty wide and, as the players trotted outfield for the kickout, Dublin midfielder Darren Homan patted him on the head - literally rubbing it in.

Lawlor, frustrated, rose to the bait and kicked out at Homan. It was his second booking - exit Lawlor.

If Laois manager Michael Dempsey was disappointed by the manner in which his team's discipline unravelled, he will surely have been equally disappointed by the standard of their play: Dublin's backs didn't really have to defend, they just had to wait for a Laois player to kick the ball to them - which they repeatedly did.

Their goalkeeper, Fergal Byron, emerged with honours, however, making two point blank saves and a good reflex effort to deprive Dessie Farrell in the 51st minute.

It was all somewhat academic by then. Dublin led 0-8 to 0-3 at the interval and maintained momentum with a Cosgrove point 45 seconds into the second half. It was perhaps the score of the game: Eamonn Heery picked him out with a long diagonal ball, Cosgrove took it on the bounce, wheeled away from his man and curled it over. Good pass, good hands, good finish - this level of economy, and simplicity, was well beyond Laois on the day.

The points continued to flow, Farrell and Redmond converting from distance, Damien Delaney doing well with Laois' one solitary reply of the half.

Delaney and his colleagues have a chance to put the record straight in the play-offs. Dublin now enter that limbo period between here and D Day, June 15th. On yesterday's evidence, they are finally back on the rails. After the game, Whelan, for the first time in a while, looked relaxed and content. And the fans, instead of demanding his head, finished the game singing.