Dublin struggle to start and restart

All-Ireland SFC Semi-final: Kerry 1-15 Dublin 0-16In the end there were two points in it, an apparently simple conclusion to yesterday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football semi-final. The record books will say Kerry reached another final, but packed into those two points are a world of regrets for Dublin, incidents that could have turned the match the way of the Leinster champions and spared them the emptiness of another semi-final defeat.

Kerry could identify their own list of might-have-beens, but winners don't have to agonise over missed opportunity for the next 12 months. That's Dublin's fate after a dauntless and furious comeback, which nearly rescued a match that with 15 minutes left they trailed by six.

The counties came into this surfing the wave of nostalgia generated by the historic nature of the rivalry, but the teams quickly settled down to the business of progressing to an AllIreland final against Cork.

The physical collisions had a rancorous undercurrent and the first half especially was at times dark spirited, but ultimately this was an intense and fascinating match.

Principal among Dublin's regrets will be the disproportionate damage they suffered in the early stages of both halves. The team has been questioned for its habit of easing up in the closing stages of matches, but yesterday they shipped 1-6 without reply in disastrous periods just after each throw-in.

Within four minutes of the start they trailed by three and within eight minutes of the restart they had leaked 1-3 to lose their half-time lead. With that, the match moved beyond their reach and was never recaptured.

Referee John Bannon was central to some of the more recriminatory post mortems with Dublin protesting a decision not to allow Shane Ryan an advantage in the closing 10 minutes.

Kerry made no secret of their unhappiness at Bannon's appointment and would claim the high free count against them vindicated that view - and some obvious Dublin fouls went unpunished - but the simple truth was they fouled a lot and were lucky not to lose Paul Galvin to a red card.

That incident can be re-examined by the authorities, but after the farce of last week's punch by Noel O'Leary on Graham Geraghty being effectively recategorised as a yellow card offence, there's probably not the remotest chance Galvin will serve a suspension.

Dublin had destiny in their hands, but compromised it without any intervention from the referee.

Sub Ray Cosgrove was set up with an inviting goal chance in the 58th minute after a strong run by clubmate Darren Magee, but shot wide. More inexplicable was goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton's decision to solo the ball out on his own 45 before kicking it straight at Kieran Donaghy. This was in the 67th minute when Dublin had just cut the margin to a point, 0-14 to 1-12 and Kerry were creaking.

The turnover in possession was clinically punished with Kerry moving the ball around, as they so effectively did when the match was on the edge, until the gap presented itself and replacement Seán O'Sullivan fisted a point to stretch the lead to two.

Deepening Dublin's frustration will be the knowledge this was as good a chance as they've had in the past 30 years to defeat Kerry. After just 20 minutes the champions' totemic centrefielder Darragh Ó Sé had to leave the field injured and, although he returned before the end, Dublin had 40 minutes to make hay in his absence.

Instead, Tommy Griffin came in and handled a lot of ball and the rest of the team held their composure.

And Kerry had leaders elsewhere. Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy might have made their names as prolific scorers, but yesterday their roles were largely constructive and were excellent in use of the ball.

Donaghy came out to the middle for most of the match and won good possession, which he distributed well. Captain Declan O'Sullivan was declared man of the match and posed a constant scoring threat, finishing with 1-4 from play. His last point, the closing score, put the match to bed and summed up the difference between the teams.

Dublin had cut the margin to a point with just a minute to go, but Kerry got possession and kept the ball as the clock ran down before O'Sullivan manoeuvred the space to kick a point.

The afternoon started with the champions threatening to overwhelm Dublin. They won the first five kick-outs and sprinted to a three-point lead. Dublin looked scattered and Mark Vaughan reflected the uncertainty by not doing better with a goal chance and missing an easy free. The Leinster champions recovered and when Alan Brogan turned Marc Ó Sé in the 19th minute his point levelled the match.

Kerry missed good chances - including a couple of horrendous wides from Séamus Scanlon - and Dublin posed an increasing threat to lead at the break, 0-8 to 0-7.

The second half began in a flurry that would cost Dublin dearly. Within three minutes Killian Young finished a counter-attack by directing the ball in to Declan O'Sullivan whose turn beat Paul Casey and allowed him get in a shot which squeezed past Cluxton.

A couple of classy points from Bryan Sheehan followed, the second a 55-metre free, and by the 43rd minute the margin was five, 1-10 to 0-8. By the 50th the margin was out to six after Tomás Ó Sé injected some drive into a lethargic passing movement and scored and then Eoin Brosnan galloped in for another.

Kerry maybe took the foot off the pedal, but to Dublin's credit they refused to go down easily. Ciarán Whelan and Shane Ryan got on top at centrefield and although Darragh Ó Sé re-entered the fray with 12 minutes left Whelan continued to deliver magnificently with support from the introduced Magee. But Ó Sé did win two big balls, one of which led to a score.

The trend was with Dublin and the margin shrank steadily. Bryan Cullen, led up front by the wide-roaming Declan O'Sullivan, kicked two points on his travels and the match was in the melting pot. Twice the margin came down to a single point, but Kerry always seemed to have the extra belief and calculation to hold out for a win to cherish now and in the future.

KERRY:1 D Murphy; 2 M Ó Sé, 3 T O'Sullivan, 4 P Reidy; 5 T Ó Sé (0-1), 6 A O'Mahony, 7 K Young; 8 D Ó Sé, 9 S Scanlon; 12 P Galvin (0-1), 10 D O'Sullivan (capt; 1-4), 11 E Brosnan (0-2); 13 C Cooper (0-3, one free), 14 K Donaghy, 15 B Sheehan (0-3, one free). Subs: 26 T Griffin for D Ó Sé (21 mins); 8 D Ó Sé for Griffin (58 mins); 18 S O'Sullivan (0-1) for Galvin (62 mins); 20 Darren O'Sullivan for Brosnan (65 mins). Yellow cards: P Galvin (10 mins), D O'Sullivan (18 mins), A O'Mahony (23 mins), T Ó Sé (33 mins), B Sheehan (45 mins), K Donaghy (53 mins), M Ó Sé (62 mins).

DUBLIN:1 S Cluxton; 2 D Henry, 3 R McConnell, 4 P Griffin; 7 B Cahill (0-1), 6 B Cullen (0-2), 5 P Casey; 8 C Whelan, 9 S Ryan; 10 C Moran, 13 J Sherlock, 12 B Brogan (0-1); 14 C Keaney (0-4, two frees), 11 A Brogan (0-3), 15 M Vaughan (0-5, four frees). Subs: 25 R Cosgrove for Sherlock (41 mins), 21 D Magee for B Brogan (54 mins), 22 T Quinn for Vaughan (69 mins). Yellow cards: J Sherlock (23 mins), M Vaughan (23 mins), A Brogan (37 mins - first half), C Moran (40 mins), R McConnell (52 mins), C Whelan (75 mins). Attendance: 82,157.

Referee:John Bannon (Longford).