Two hungry teams scrapping about in the mire at Ballyshannon yesterday. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fun, but it was important to them both and as Dublin came off the field bruised but successful, they celebrated in a manner more appropriate to a team who have just annexed silverware.
Why not? So often in the recent past they have managed to be considerably less than the sum of their parts. In yesterday's fun they rediscovered a side of themselves they thought they had mislaid. They went a man down when they lost Darren Homan and they endured a second-half rally from Donegal and still they had enough resolution to finish well. It's been a while.
Donegal will nurse some regrets this week. They lack a couple of big, ignorant mullocking players in the middle third of the field and have a surfeit of the sort of sharp, clever players the county has always managed to produce. They nipped the ball around for spells yesterday, but went almost half an hour in the middle of the game without scoring.
The teams got to half-time yesterday with nothing significant between them on the scoreboard. Dublin had six points, Donegal five, but Homan had gone for early ablutions having felled Martin Coll while in the locality of the referee. Over their tea, Mickey Moran's men would have fancied their chances. Brian Roper was nicking little bits of possession around the middle and using the ball well each time, Adrian Sweeney, at full forward, was lively and John McCafferty was showing well. Plus Dublin's recent second-half performances have been so anemic as to encourage all-comers.
Instead, Dublin reeled off the first five points of the half. Before the break, Dessie Farrell and Vinny Murphy had been doing the donkey work up front, but after Farrell clipped a quick point from the throw-in, Senan Connell and Colin Moran weighed in with a string of points in the opening 10 minutes of the half. It wasn't an exhibition of football, but it was as pleasing to the Dublin bench as anything they have seen in quite a while. Moran is a fine talent, strong and decisive on the ball. Connell's development has been slower and only on occasions has he looked like the player he is at club level. Wayne McCarthy's pace and perception will be of greater value when the ground is harder.
Murphy added another point on 12 minutes and Dublin were looking comfortable. Critical to this resurgence and to Dublin's ultimate survival was the performance of Ian Robertson. In terms of physique and intelligence, there are few players of his ability around today and if it weren't for injuries, Robertson would be a major star by now. Yesterday he calmly inserted himself into the thick of things when the going got tough and made the difference.
The match still had an ugly edge to it and, as one Donegal expert pointed out in the press box, it was odd to see a Dublin team looking so raw and naive. Those are the signs of the times, however. In the midst of it, referee Seamus Prior seemed unsure as to what to do.
From the Donegal bench, Mickey Moran played his cards as best he could, using all five subs before the hour was up. Dublin were defending well, however, and the half-back line presented more of an obstacle than has been the case recently.
Some 20 minutes of Donegal pressure yielded just three points, two of them frees. Their best opportunity, which fell to Brendan Devenney, was squandered when he burrowed towards Dublin's goal and failed to see Tony Boyle screaming for the ball on the far side of the square.
Donegal had introduced all five of their substitutes before Noel McGinley's hamstring retired after an hour. The last 10 minutes were played out on parity in personnel terms, but despite not scoring, Dublin had begun to reassert themselves by the time the game ended.
"It's not the points," said Farrell afterwards, "relegation doesn't enter into the equation. It was the test of character that was important. We're looking to the summer, we're not too interested in the league. We came through a test today and we celebrated."
DONEGAL: T Blake; E Doherty (0-1), M Crossan, N McGinley; M Coll, S Carr, D Diver; B Monaghan, J Gildea; B McLoughlin (0-1), T Boyle (0-1, free), B Roper; J McCafferty (0- 2), A Sweeney (0-2, one free), S Cassidy. Subs: J McGuinness (0-1) for B McLoughlin (19 mins), R Sweeney for Crossan (32 mins), Hegarty for Coll (41 mins), B Devenney for Cassidy, P Campbell for S Carr (both 57 mins).
DUBLIN: D Byrne; M Cahill, P Christie, C Goggins; S Ryan, J McGee, P Andrews; D Homan, E Sheehy; S Connell (0-1), I Robert- son (0-1), C Moran (0-2); D Farrell (0-3, one free), V Murphy (0-1), W McCarthy (0-2, frees).
Referee: S Prior (Leitrim).
