Dublin's frailties exposed again

Dublin 1-21 Tipperary 1-13 NO FAIR-WEATHER supporters in Croke Park on Saturday night. The rain and live television coverage conspired to keep most people away, with just 22,084 entering the turnstiles. There is also a growing feeling this Dublin team lacks the inner fibre to be worth the loyalty of floating summertime fans. A better team than Tipperary would have beaten them, and there are plenty out there.

You may have to slip back to 1973 and the pre-Heffernan revolution to hear Dublin footballers roaring at each other from the upper tier of the Hogan stand. Things change quickly in the fickle capital.

Pat Gilroy’s Dublin have a recurring flaw: they struggle to hold off any direct attacking opposition. If Tipperary’s distribution of the football, which was near impossible at times in the conditions, had been tighter they could have produced one of the most scandalous upsets in decades.

Work has been going on with this leaky Dublin defence for two winters. New building blocks are in place. They need time to cement together. The defending starts with wing forwards Paul Flynn and Niall Corkery employed to run until they are fit to drop. Then they are replaced.

Michael Dara McAuley came in for Eamon Fennell in midfield and proved to be another in the mould of new Dublin: hard-working, honest but in desperate need of this type of experience.

McAuley had a decent game, scoring a goal and a point while in perpetual motion. He ended up in the forwards as Fennell, an injury concern last week, arrived after half-time to bring some steel to the middle.

The problem at the break was the scoreline. Dublin had taken 20 minutes to open up an impressive 1-7 to 0-3 lead. Alan Brogan skinned his marker Paddy Codd for an early point. Younger brother Bernard was nailing frees while Stephen Cluxton put his accuracy to good use with a 45.

McAuley punched the goal on 18 minutes to the top corner after Eoghan O’Gara had driven hard to the end line. Alan Brogan added another point soon after.

They would have had more only Kevin McManamon had the wrong boots on.

Tipperary’s George Hannigan was out around the middle. He looked up and saw Dublin’s young fullback Rory O’Carroll slip. Barry Grogan duly received snappy possession, rounded Cluxton to make a game of it. Momentum swung.

Grogan followed his goal with a free into the half-empty, defiant, but ultimately drenched Hill 16.

When Philip Austin made it a two-point game it was apparent Tipp had settled into a contest they believed they could win.

There followed a wealth of handling errors and downright poor passing from both teams. Tipperary were worse, but not much.

Fennell’s arrival saw the immediate positive of Alan Brogan pushing closer to goal. Now all they had to do was get him, or Bernard, the ball.

Grogan brought Tipp within a point, but Dublin got down to some serious work thereafter, isolating individuals and choosing the direction of their passes with an improved common sense.

O’Gara should have scored two goals, but he finally got a point, while the Brogans combined for another, and the arrival of Conal Keaney saw him take over the right-sided, short-range frees. He kicked three of them.

Dublin eventually outworked and outsmarted their opponents, with a little bit of Brogan class ensuring a late spate of points from Grogan, Brian Coen and Conor Sweeney had little affect.

Few positives can be gleaned in such conditions, but not so long ago Galway and Kerry served up a classic on a worse day in Croke Park. The report card on Gilroy’s reign will come soon as a team are bound to get a run on them.

“I’ll tell you now and I won’t back away from it. I was quite surprised that the Dubs fought so hard out there,” said Evans afterwards. “I was very surprised. They didn’t fight against Meath and they definitely didn’t fight against Wexford.

“They surprised me in that. So that would lead me to the thought that maybe Gilroy is going down the right road. That the guys that he has fused together, that the guys that he did bring in – they came in at the right time and they helped.

“Our thoughts at half-time were ‘Japers, we are still in it’. I thought we would kick on. I thought you would see some cracks if we went at them in the second half. And at them we did. We brought it to a point.

“But they steadied. Some may say we made mistakes. Others would say they fought hard. We came believing we could beat Dublin. We didn’t go into Kerry thinking that. We did think that going into Laois. As a result of that win, we felt Dublin were vulnerable.”

Kerry! How far off is Dublin to your native county, John?

“A long way. I think Kerry would have rattled them in the first half. A lot of teams would have.”

Evans gave us one more great line when asked about his future. “My father always said: ‘Always know where you start and you’ll never lose sight of where you are going’.”

Gilroy and David Henry had already spoken. Not happy with the defence but still alive and working hard. What of the team changes?

“You play the guys who are putting it in and are actually performing in the practice sessions,” explained Gilroy. “If you do that then the practice sessions mean a lot more to people. The risk was not to play them really, because they were the fellas doing it for the last two weeks.”

DUBLIN:1 S Cluxton (0-1, 45); 2 M Fitzsimons, 3 Rory O'Carroll, 3 P McMahon; 5 K Nolan, 6 G Brennan, 7 D Henry (capt); 8 MD McAuley (1-1), 9 R McConnell (0-2); 10 P Flynn, 11 A Brogan (0-4), 12 N Corkery; 13 B Brogan (0-7, three frees), 14 E O'Gara (0-1), 15 K McManamon (0-1). Subs:19 E Fennell (0-1) for P Flynn (half-time), 20 C Keaney (0-3, three frees) for K McManamon (43 mins), 18 B Cullen for N Corkery (54 mins), 22 P Casey for K Nolan (68 mins). Yellow cards: David Henry (24 mins), Michael Dara McAuley (34 mins), Ross McConnell (47 mins).

TIPPERARY:16 P Fitzgerald; 2 P Codd, 3 R Costigan (capt), A Morrissey; 5 C McGrath, 17 N Curran, 7 B Fox; 8 G Hannigan, 6 B Jones; 10 S Hahessy (0-1), H Coghlan, P Acheson; B Grogan (1-5, five frees), 13 P Austin (0-2), 15 C Sweeney (0-4, one free). Substitutes:20 P Coen (0-1) for S Hahessy (28 mins), 19 B Mulvihill for B Jones (46 mins), 9 K Mulryan for P Acheson (55 mins), 21 A Rockett for H Coghlan (64 mins), 18 E Kearney for P Codd (69 mins). Yellow cards: Stephen Hahessy (8 mins), Ciarán McGrath (21 mins), Brian Jones (30 mins), Brian Fox (59 mins).

Referee:P McEnaney (Monaghan).