Impressive Dublin withstand late rally to claim title

UNDER-21 FOOTBALL LEINSTER FINAL:Dublin 0-12 Laois 0-9

A DUBLIN team littered with serious candidates for inclusion in Pat Gilroy’s senior line-up come this summer’s championship proved clinical enough to fend off a late rally by Laois in yesterday’s under-21 provincial decider.

Familiar themes unfolded here.

Laois, as is their wont, produced moments of exhilarating football, but lacked the necessary control to reel in Jim Gavin’s Dubliners, who now meet Cork in an All-Ireland semi-final on April 18th.

“It’s a massive achievement for them,” said Gavin. “You can hear the singing inside (an unprintable but rousing tune). Any time you put on the county jersey, it’s important to know you don’t own that jersey, you are holding it for the next generation coming on and representing those who have gone before them as well.

“They need to live in the moment, the next 24 hours. Tomorrow, I’ll be taking the cup back off them and preparing for Cork.”

As Gavin spoke, his captain Cian O’Sullivan trotted by to join his team-mates in song. The Kilmacud Crokes defender excelled throughout, only denied the man of the match award by the importance surrounding Dean Kelly’s three points. But it was the solid, versatile defender at the core of so much positive Dublin activity – be that shadowing the excellent Zach Tuohy or assisting club mate at full back, Rory O’Carroll, with the unenviable task of keeping tabs on giant Leaving Cert student Donie Kingston.

It can be cast in stone for the next decade – contain Kingston and the Laois blade will be blunted. The teenager has a potentially epic future in the game. In front of an adoring Portlaoise crowd, he brought his physicality and delicate touch to bear on the end game with two scores — one a work of art, followed by a tricky free — to make it a two-point game with three minutes to play.

Dublin regained their composure, easing ball up the left for another Kilmacud Crokes man, corner forward Barry O’Rorke, to smartly draw a free. Dean Rock, much like his father Barney used to do in a previous generation, confidently registered his third placed point of the afternoon.

This forced Laois to hunt a goal, something that never looked likely to occur. They came again, but John Cooper gathered a late, lofted free before feeding possession out to Kelly, who ran down the clock.

Laois will reflect on an opening half hour when they largely played the role of passengers. Besides Tuohy, a former AFL target, shrugging off Niall Brogan and O’Sullivan for a quality point their only retorts to seven Dublin scores were two Kingston frees.

True, midfielder John O’Loughlin tested the mettle of Kevin Nolan (the fourth Crokes man) and Ger Reddin overcame injury to make an impact at centre back, but every Dublin player moved ball at pace, profiting from nearly every foray into the scoring zone. Rock belting over a 45 and O’Rorke’s fine, angled effort were the pick of the bunch.

Laois had one chance to change the game’s course, but Jason Moore’s weak effort on goal drifted wide despite a kind bounce.

Paddy Andrews and Paddy O’Connor moved Dublin into a 0-9 to 0-3 lead six minutes into the second half before the Laois revival finally began.

Tuohy landed a quality score before O’Loughlin punched over the bar to make it a two-point deficit. However, regrettable wides stalled Laois’s momentum and quelled the eagerness of a partisan crowd.

Kelly then showed admirable poise to nail two points, entering the final ten minutes, that reaffirmed Dublin’s dominance. But Laois, to their credit, rallied again.

At too many vital junctures they were relieved of possession with Dublin’s power and control giving credence to the notion that O’Sullivan, Nolan and Paddy Andrews could all feature for the seniors once this competition runs its course. The same should also be said of Reddin, Tuohy and Kingston for Laois, but this merely enhances the 15-man display given by the new champions.

“Cian did lead by example at centre half back,” said Gavin. “Rory played well at full back, Nolan in the middle, but I wouldn’t single anybody out.

“We’re playing Cork (next). We played them in a challenge game a couple of months ago, but you can’t really read too much into challenge games. We were just focusing on Laois today . . .

“The guys are going to enjoy themselves. It is important that they treasure days like today. They need to live in the moment, playing for their county. Certainly, we will have a look at Cork next.”

DUBLIN:D McDonnell; C Moore, R O'Carroll, H Gill; J Cooper, C O'Sullivan (capt), N Brogan (0-1); C Murphy, K Nolan; P O'Connor (0-3, two frees), P Andrews (0-1), D Kelly (0-3); B O'Rorke (0-1), L Sweetman, D Rock (0-3, two frees, 45). Subs: T Furman for L Sweetman (39 mins), J Sheanon for P O'Connor (44 mins), N Devereux for N Brogan (50 mins), J Whelan for C Murphy (60 mins).

LAOIS:M Dowling; R Kehoe, J Scully, N Gorman; R Ryan, G Reddin, S Shortall (0-1); J O'Loughlin (0-1), D Meredith; C Boyle, Z Tuohy (0-2), D Kingston (0-5, three frees); J Moore, B Glynn, J Doyle. Subs: A Doran for J Moore (37 mins), J Mulhare for R Kehoe (54 mins), K Lillis for R Ryan (57 mins).

Referee:E Craul (Wicklow).