Up for discussion: Yesterday’s All-Ireland SFC final victory by Dublin.
Chatting were: Brendan O’Brien, John Fogarty, Tony Leen and Terry Reilly.
TERRY REILLY (Irish Examiner assistant sports editor): Ok lads, that was some end to the season. Have the Dubs ended this Kerry side’s reign of dominance or will they be back stronger next year?
BRENDAN O’BRIEN (Irish Examiner staff writer): Kerry lost five key men after the 2009 final and who knows how many they’ll see walk away this winter and most of them will probably be in the defence. That forward line will keep them competitive but there could be a few difficult years ahead.
JOHN FOGARTY (Irish Examiner GAA correspondent): I think it’s just so early to make that call. Gilroy said after that he doesn’t want this to be a one-off. Dublin were always on a pedestal but they’re on a perch that everybody will be desperate to knock them off next year.
TONY LEEN (Irish Examiner sports editor): After Kerry lost the All-Ireland in 2002 and the semi in 2003, they went on to play in the next six finals, winning four. I doubt they’re going to go away.
FINTAN O’TOOLE (Irish Examiner staff writer): They’re not going to fade as a force but it will be interesting to see if Marc Ó Sé’s prediction of retirements is played out. Agree with Brendan, defensively they could be hit hard if a couple of them walk away.
JOHN FOGARTY: Kerry will come back stronger. There will be a couple of retirements but the pain from yesterday will sustain them more so than that from Down last year. This was Dublin. In a final. Salt fermenting in wounds.
TERRY REILLY: Have they got new players to blood?
JOHN FOGARTY: David Moran and Buckley will give options at midfield where they were good yesterday for the first 20 minutes. Shane Enright will come in, Daniel Bohan... can he finally make the breakthrough into the team?
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: Not nearly enough. Look at their bench yesterday. A lot of young, inexperienced guys who will need time to reach the level required.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: I’ll throw Peter Crowley into the mix as well as an emerging defender but he is shy on experience.
TONY LEEN: The biggest losses of all with be the O Sés, they are an incredible family. If and when Tomás and finally calls it a day it will leave a massive hole in the dressing room, never mind the defence. Bohan and Enright look to be the most able replacements but there’s no doubt Jack O’Connor will need to come up with a couple of quality backs. Crowley is a talent but too light and inexperienced for 2012 I reckon.
JOHN FOGARTY: Only three substitutes used, does say something. Could Galvin also do a Brosnan and be reinvented as a half-back?
TONY LEEN: Would be less a reinvention as a return. This is a hobby horse of mine but I know Jack sees this as too much robbing peter to pay Paul, excuse the pun. However he has tried him at centre back in 2009 when they were on training camp in Portugal.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: One positive for Kerry yesterday I felt was that Darran O’Sullivan and particularly Bryan Sheehan stepped up to the mark. They capped off very good, consistent seasons and are no longer the fringe players they were a few years ago.
TERRY REILLY: Kudos to Pat Gilroy for turning that team around, with seven minutes to go it looked all over. With the monkey off their backs will Dublin get stronger from now on?
TONY LEEN: You would think that but just like Cork losing key attackers this year, what happens if they lose Bernard Brogan to an injury. Very reliant on him
JOHN FOGARTY: McManamon has to be a starter next year. Merits more than the super sub moniker. He’ll get an All Star nomination for two marvellous cameos if nothing else.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: That’s the big question for the Dubs. I see similarities with Cork last year — a big athletic team that won in less than swashbuckling fashion and they will need to improve again next year.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Mentally at least Dublin are now in a good place, yesterday will instil great confidence going forward and they clearly have resolve. Think there are shortcomings, particularly in attack though. Not sure if McManamon is suited to starting, does his best work off the bench I reckon.
JOHN FOGARTY: Another game that Dublin would have lost either last year or the year before. We saw a team evolve in character before our eyes this year.
TONY LEEN: I think we have worthy champions if not fully deserving champions for the second year in a row. Harsh if true statement?
FINTAN O’TOOLE: That’s probably a fair summation. I think every neutral is delighted for a player like Alan Brogan getting an All-Ireland medal just as they were for Graham Canty last year. But like Cork last year, Dublin did enough to get over the line. That’s all that matters when it comes to getting your first All-Ireland.
JOHN FOGARTY: As Barney Rock pointed out on Morning Ireland, Dublin lost once this year. Kerry lost three times, all by a point, twice to Dublin and once to Cork. We had two excellent teams in the final. I don’t like saying teams deserve All-Irelands but you can understand why Dublin won given the fortitude they built up this year. The cliched never say die attitude.
TERRY REILLY: What was the story with Cluxton leaving the celebrations and did he kick away the match ball Tomás Ó Sé gave him?
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Fascinating character. When was the last time a scoring hero in sport did not engage with the media?
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: Apparently. Wonder if that ball will resurface on eBay at some time. Remember Mark McGwire’s home run record ball? That got something like 2.2m in auction!
TERRY REILLY: If Cluxton was from Mayo they’d be selling that ball and the boot that kicked it to the Yanks every six months for the next 50 years!
JOHN FOGARTY: Kerry, so unlike them, appeared to think they had the game won... had they assumed they were facing the Dublin they knew and had beaten?
TERRY REILLY: It was strange the way they seemed in so much control and then gave the ball away for the goal. For it to be Declan O’Sullivan must have been a dagger in Jack O’Connor’s heart.
JOHN FOGARTY: In the post-match press conference, it didn’t appear it had sunk in with Jack O’Connor.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: All the pre-match analysis made redundant by that one play by one of the greatest forwards of all time.
TONY LEEN: What are the views on the performance of Joe McQuillan. Chatting to folk last night, most of them Kerry admittedly, he got FIVE key calls wrong. One not giving Killian Young a first half free when tripped (Dublin scored off the turnover), 2) the ludicrous Eoin Brosnan hand on the ball decision (Brogan scored free), 3) Cooper fouled in the top left corner close to the death 4) not sending Ger Brennan off in the final few moments and 5) as a result of that indiscretion, not awarding the free to Kerry instead of throwing up the ball.
TERRY REILLY: Thought Kerry were above moaning about the referee?
TONY LEEN: They are. I’m not. Is he above scrutiny?
JOHN FOGARTY: Paul Galvin also merited a yellow card for three personal fouls in a row when coming on but he didn’t get it. That said, McQuillan wasn’t great for Kerry. The Brosnan call was unusual and Brennan was lucky to stay on the pitch at the end.
TONY LEEN: “unusual” call? A rephrase there perhaps!
JOHN FOGARTY: No, it was unusual in the sense I’ve rarely seen such things given.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Well I think from the Cooper foul that in the subsequent passage of play, Donaghy scored his point. But the Brosnan decision was a bad call and Brennan should have got his second yellow card. There were stages in the second half when I thought Dublin were imploding once more with their fouling in defence. Gave away cheap frees.
TERRY REILLY: A lot of players on Twitter were abusing McQuillan during the match, he didn’t have a great game for either side bit Kerry will feel they got the raw deal. Happens every year.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: At least 50 seconds between the Cluxton free being awarded and being kicked.
JOHN FOGARTY: Yet again, another time-keeping issue. Wexford must be whispering a told-you-so about their hooter motion which ended up on the scrap heap.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: For what it’s worth, that was Joe McQuillan’s fourth time reffing Dublin this summer. Not saying that had anything to do with anything.
JOHN FOGARTY: McQuillan was familiar with Dublin but if I remember he blew them up a lot against Tyrone. Getting away from the referee for a second, the discipline of the Dublin defence in the first-half was exceptional.
TONY LEEN: What has been lost in the excitement of the finale, was how poor the first half was in skill terms. Pitch was like a skating rink, ball like a bar of soap. Kerry only scored 1-2 which, you could argue, was where Dublin won this final. They had enough possession to have scored another 1-3.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: True the quality wasn’t great in the first-half especially but I can’t remember greater tension at a game in Croke Park. I was biting my fingernails after 20 minutes and I was completely neutral!
TERRY REILLY: Did Jack make a mistake by leaving Donaghy out around the middle at the start and then not feeding him any ball when he went inside or was it down to the quality defending by the Dublin backs which prevented proper deliveries?
JOHN FOGARTY: I pointed out the possibility of Declan O’Sullivan moving to full-forward on Saturday. Donaghy was supreme around the middle for the first 15 minutes before Dublin cottoned on. I thought Jack O’Connor got his match-ups right. People saying Gilroy won the sideline battle — not so sure.
TERRY REILLY: Are you saying Dublin were lucky to win it then John?
JOHN FOGARTY: I will say their victory was tinted with fortune, as most All-Ireland wins are. I can understand why people are making comparisons with Cork last year but neither win were softly won.
TONY LEEN: Most All-Irelands are tinted with fortune? Hardly. This one will never be described as “soft” but Dublin rode their luck yesterday. Good luck to them, sometimes you need that for a first one. Good test of them now to see whether they have the stomach to go at it again.
JOHN FOGARTY: Ah, Tony, you need the breaks. Everyone agrees on that.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Back to the issue lads, Dublin’s defence was good at not letting O’Carroll be isolated. Granted Donaghy did make some brilliant catches but as demonstrated by Cian O’Sullivan’s block in the first-half, there was another defender there to help out.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: Kerry’s ball into Donaghy has been poor all year.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Thought it was better yesterday. Tomás’s great pass in for Donaghy’s fisted second-half point and Donnchadh Walsh floated in brilliant delivery for that first-half goal chance.
TONY LEEN: Jack O’Connor and co got only one call wrong all day — they brought Paul Galvin in too soon. I still can’t get my head around that one. If Paul was keep in reserve for impact, why spring him after 23 minutes? Kieran O’Leary was wronged being taken off at that point — and they could have done with him popping into space when the game spread a bit in the second half.
TERRY REILLY: The strange thing about the Galvin introduction was there didn’t seem to be a cheer — was that right? Did it catch the crowd by surprise too and Kerry didn’t get the lift from the supporters they should have?
FINTAN O’TOOLE: It was a strange call as O’Leary has had his best season as a Kerry player. After showing faith in him all summer, they didn’t wait long to whip him off yesterday.
JOHN FOGARTY: The problem, for me, was Galvin didn’t start early enough. He should have been in the parade.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: Galvin appeared on the sideline stripped and ready to go just two minutes after Cooper’s goal and with the Kerry support still buzzing and digesting that. And it was another four more minutes before he came on so, yeah, the ‘impact’ in terms of the affect on the crowd was certainly diluted.
TERRY REILLY: Votes on your man of the match lads and reasons why.
JOHN FOGARTY: MacAuley — the amount of tackles he brought was incredible. Anthony Maher beat him to set up Donaghy’s late equaliser but he was consistently good throughout the 70.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: No standout player but I’d just give it to MacAuley. Constant force of energy around the middle, stood up in the second-half particularly.
TONY LEEN: Well, the Dubs did not have one of the game’s top three performances over 70 odd minutes, unconventional though that is to say about the champions. I thought Darran O’Sullivan, Bryan Sheehan and Tomás O Sé were the top three players but Dublin’s most consistent was Michael Darragh MacAuley.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: If Kerry had won, Sheehan would have got it. Was the game’s dominant performer midway through the second-half.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: I’m not usually a fan of giving man of the match to subs but Kevin McManamon turned the game on its head completely by scoring the goal and winning the free that Cluxton stuck over to win it. Before he came on the Dubs were dead. After he came on they outscored Kerry 1-3 to 0-1. I’ll qualify that by saying Kerry scored three straight points after McManamon came on but his impact when it mattered was still incredible.
TERRY REILLY: And player of the year? I’ll start the ball rolling with a bit of controversy, Darran O’Sullivan for me. He was the most clear-cut consistent performer all season.
TONY LEEN: Agree but again convention suggests it’ll go to a Dublin player. Then it’ll be Alan Brogan. Although if RTÉ are picking the winner it could be anyone.....
JOHN FOGARTY: Alan Brogan’s my choice. Beats Darran by a nose. Had inspiring contributions in All-Ireland series after three man of the matches in Leinster. I was shaking my head looking at that defence and midfield chosen by RTÉ lads last night. Johnny Doyle in midfield? No, had a so-so game v Dublin and wasn’t great v Donegal after getting an early knock.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: I’d go for Darran as well but he won’t get it. I think Brogan’s form dipped since Leinster. And though it never is a factor, Darran was brilliant in the league.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: Gotta be Alan Brogan with Darran O’Sullivan a close second.
TERRY REILLY: How would ye rate the season as a whole?
JOHN FOGARTY: Not a great vintage. Like the hurling, which has been poor for a number of years, the championship was banking on a wonder final. It got plenty of drama but certainly no classic. 2010 was certainly a far better season.
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: I’d say so-so. The provincial championships are listing badly and the qualifiers saved the early to mid part of the summer. Decent All-Ireland series though.
TONY LEEN: The season? Bitty. Before yesterday the big talking point was the suffocating defence of Donegal. Micko almost pulled a big one out again against Armagh, but you’d be struggling for story lines really from the football this year. Champions went out with a whimper. I reckon the pre-final best line was Kildare so near and yet so far again. I wouldn’t write them out of next year’s equation by a long way. McGeeney doesn’t do concessions.
TERRY REILLY: Special word to Tipperary. That was another unbelievable turnaround — are they the force to look out for in future?
BRENDAN O’BRIEN: All-Ireland winning minors don’t guarantee All-Ireland winning seniors. Any Laoisman will tell you that but congrats to Tipp.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Incredible end to an incredible story. Remarkable decision by Colman Kennedy to go for goal when the simple point option was on.
JOHN FOGARTY: What a victory, what a victory, as Effin Eddie might say. Some way to win it too. A smarting defeat for the much-fancied Dubs. Something’s brewing nicely in Tipp.
FINTAN O’TOOLE: Brendan’s cautionary tale is relevant but Tipp at least continuing to travel in the right direction.
TONY LEEN: The Tip minors proved a great story too. I wonder is that the first nod to a new competitive Munster a few years down the road.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/ve0hR_wXErg/post.aspx
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