LEINSTER SFC SEMI-FINAL: Dublin 2-11 Wexford 1-10THIS IS beginning to amount to cruel and unusual punishment if you're a Wexford footballer. Just like in last year's Leinster final, they came to Croke Park knowing they had the beating of Dublin somewhere within them, if only they could answer the door in their Sunday best when opportunity came knocking.
And just like last year, they found it for a time but then they lost it and couldn’t get it back. If the sign of a promising team is that they make champions act like the title means something, then Jason Ryan’s side can take heart. But it’s hard to imagine that means a whole lot to them this morning.
Yet again, Wexford come away from an encounter with Dublin feeling they left it behind them. Whether they did is in the eye of the beholder – while they did push Dublin to the pin of their collar for a long time, it would be stretching the truth to say they looked like nailed-on winners at any stage.
But they have every right to feel that they ought to have made it a closer-run thing. And that one day, some way, they’ll find themselves ahead of Dublin when the music stops.
Not this time though. Dublin came through here even though they played for half an hour with 14 men after Diarmuid Connolly’s latest brain-freeze earned him a straight red card early in the second half.
They came through even with both Brogans off-form – just like last year, Bernard finished the game on the bench – and with Ger Brennan pulled by Pat Gilroy before half-time.
Unsettled as they were, they still kept Wexford scoreless for the final 20 minutes as they ran up the 1-3 that won them the game.
“We expected to be under that much pressure,” said Gilroy afterwards. “The big difference between Wexford and maybe some of the teams in Division Three is their fitness and conditioning is up to the level of Division One teams, without question. So they can put you under pressure and sustain it for a long time.
“They were very well organised, as they always were. I don’t think we took the right options always in the first half and we had a lot of chances that we wasted. Now, they missed some too but Wexford are a good team. There’s an expectation out there that we’re going to steamroll them, but we don’t expect that. We expected a dog-fight like that.”
It’s a slow reveal, this 2012 Dublin team. There was no way they were as good as the arias being sung to them in the wake of the Louth massacre made out. Not this early in the summer, not with such a patchy league behind them.
This felt like more their level and it will have done them no end of good to dig one out when the going was heavy. They were strong across the middle here, with Paul Flynn and Bryan Cullen both dynamic and Michael Darragh Macauley looking especially muscular and thrusting when he came on for the second half.
And in Kevin McManamon, they had the stand-out figure in the game. His hard-running style would sometimes put you in mind of Gordon D’Arcy – his default pose is the ball tucked under the oxter with his other arm outstretched in readiness for a hand-off. Stationed at full forward yesterday, he was a threat every time he got possession and his 1-3 was crucial on an afternoon when other members of the Dublin forward line were offering very little.
On another day, it could have cost them. They scored 2-11 but Wexford will certainly feel it was a total they could have matched and probably bettered.
Ryan’s side had the better start, Red Barry slipping a clever low finish past Stephen Cluxton on 10 minutes for the game’s first goal and Ben Brosnan following up with a couple of fine points soon after. Brosnan was terrific in the first half, during which he kicked four points from play.
We didn’t know it then but the three wides that went alongside them foretold a grizzly second half for the player who was Wexford’s sole All Star nominee last year.
Dublin took a while to find their feet but they were never too far away. Connolly goaled on 21 minutes after gutsy work from McManamon put him clear, bringing them to within a point.
Brosnan and McManamon quickly swapped points and when Cullen sniped his first of the day on 26 minutes, they stood at 1-5 apiece and every score had come from play.
A rat-a-tat three-point spurt from Wexford in first-half injury-time left them 1-8 to 1-5 ahead at the break and in with a serious shout.
But the second half was a disaster for them. Ryan admitted afterwards that the worst thing that could have happened was Connolly getting sent off in the 41st minute. It woke the Hill and sent some electricity through Gilroy’s team. Dublin immediately reeled off three quick points; Wexford’s shooting started to go to pot. Ryan’s team ended up kicking 11 wides in the second half, six of them from Brosnan alone.
Dublin raised the tempo and pushed on for the win. McManamon knifed the deciding goal on 52 minutes, collecting a neat pass from Bernard Brogan and beating Anthony Masterson with a cultured finish. It put Dublin 2-8 to 1-10 ahead and from there, they were never caught.
Never looked likely to be, either. Of all the truths to tear at Wexford’s soul when they look back on this game, that must be the worst.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton (0-1, free); P McMahon, R O'Carroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, G Brennan, K Nolan (0-2); E Fennell, D Bastick; P Flynn, A Brogan (0-1), B Cullen (0-2); D Connolly (1-1), K McManamon (1-3), B Brogan (0-1, free). Subs: C O'Sullivan for Brennan (30 mins); MD Macauley for Fennell, (h-t); E O'Gara for B Brogan (62 mins); C Kilkenny for McManamon (69 mins); R McConnell for Bastick (70 mins).
WEXFORD: A Masterson; G Molloy, L Chin, B Malone; D Murphy, A Flynn (0-2), A Doyle; D Waters, E Bradley; PJ Banville (0-1), C Lyng, C Morris; B Brosnan (0-4), S Roche (0-2, frees), R Barry (1-1). Subs: P Byrne for Lyng, (51 mins); J Leacy for Morris (60 mins); N Murphy for Doyle (64 mins); J Wadding for Molloy (69 mins); J Holmes for Malone (70 mins).
Referee: Rory Hickey (Clare).
