Too many limp rivals leave Dublin untested

All-Ireland SFC Quarter-final/Dublin v Westmeath: Relationships expert Paul Simon used to reckon that there were, conservatively speaking, 50 ways to leave your lover. Step on the bus, Gus. Make a new plan, Stan and so on. In this bewildering modern world there are probably at least 50 ways to reach an All-Ireland semi-final. You can make a comeback, Jack, go imperceptibly, Billy, look stern as a serial killer, Pillar, and so on.

Dublin, for all their good intentions, have ended up taking possibly the worst route. Some climbers go up the arduous north face of Everest. Dublin have ascended on an escalator. Their only serious test this summer has been against Longford and back then we didn't even know that Longford were a serious test. We just thought that Dublin were palsied.

In the span of an odd summer which reads like an O'Byrne Cup campaign thus far, Dublin have done all they can do. It's not their fault that virtually every time they go out they face a set of limp jerseys. They may pay the price for it, though. Every team knows more about itself when it has hung by the fingernails from a precipice for a while. Dublin's manicure is still intact.

Paul Caffrey spoke briefly on Saturday without giving much away. In the pauses and between the lines, the text of his thinking was clear, however. Bigger tests are to come. The season turns into an avalanche from here on it. The trick is to stay standing.

"It is all about the result," said Caffrey, conceding that the quality of the game left something to be desired. Dublin must be tired of getting themselves mentally geared for great battles only to find that
they have some light skirmishing to do the next day.

The question was asked in the micro sense on Saturday. With the game won at half-time, how did Caffrey keep his team focused? Caffrey, presumably with an eye to matching Kerry in all departments, answered the question with a question. "Did it work?"

"Well, the second-half performance was nowhere near as good as the first," we say.

"Well then it didn't work."

The good things and the bad things? Work rate first. "I think it would be a trait of this team (that) from one to 15 everyone gets involved in the work. Not just individuals."

And the increased sloppiness in the second half? "We would be awful disappointed with the turnovers created."

Midfield? "Our midfield gave us a great platform today. Bigger tests ahead."

The game's physicality?

"Gaelic football is a physical game. We give them and we take them."

Westmeath? "In fairness they have had better days in Croke Park. They never stopped trying. Like ourselves scoring wasn't too easy today."

Would a sterner test have been nice? "It is all about two weeks time now. Today is done and dusted. Can't do anything else about today. Westmeath were game out there, that's all we contend with."

At least the subs got a run? "Every day we bring in four or five."

You said that you hoped this year to improve on last year. Some satisfaction there? "It's all about the next day. I don't buy into that at all. We were beaten in the quarter-final last year, we weren't good enough. We'll see this year how good we are. Thanks lads."

Tomás Ó Flatharta was more forthcoming about what condition Dublin are in. "They beat us in every sector. We have no excuses. We were way behind at half-time. We weren't getting the scores. It's a disappointing day for us."

After Offaly and Laois we announced grandly that it would be impossible for any team to be given more handy midfield possession than the Dubs were granted. On Saturday, Westmeath begged to differ, giving Dublin so much ball that they might have qualified for tax exempt status as an aid agency.

"Out around the middle they were winning a lot of high ball and all the breaks," said Ó Flatharta. "When you are winning ball in the middle and kicking it fast into the forward line, it is very hard to mark them.
They are the form team at the moment . . . Dublin seem very organised all over the field."

So, it's all about the next day. Dublin come out of the weekend knowing that they have a match in two weeks' time but not knowing who they will be playing. They have emerged as serious contenders and part of that evolution will be the feeling that they need a tight semi-final to hone them for September.

It's a problem. Ciarán Whelan and Shane Ryan have been superb all summer but even they must have a feeling that it would be useful to know one day of combat in a flooded midfield with every ball being fought over like a pardon in a prison.

Saturday was a game that will be scrubbed quickly from the memory banks. Caffrey was brief but he was right. The next day matters. History is history.