DUBLIN HAVE SOME CONCERNS
But with two months of the season to go, they’re still top dogs
It is in defence that the concerns are most pertinent
DUBLIN are not the team they were four or even two years ago. To state it is merely to acknowledge the effect of time on once-in-a-generation footballers like Michael Darragh Macauley, Paul Flynn, Bernard Brogan and Diarmuid Connolly.
However, they are still good enough.
That is the most obvious lesson imparted by the provincial series now ended. They have their faults, and they look starker now than at any time under Jim Gavin.
But their weaknesses are countered by dazzling pluses: the emergence of Con O’Callaghan, the form of Ciarán Kilkenny and James McCarthy, and the determination of Bernard Brogan to enjoy another harvest day or two as winter gathers tight around his sporting career.
What’s more, there is no team in the country that has produced a better performance than the one Dublin offered in hammering Kilspeed dare. The latter are one of the consistent success stories of the last 18 months, an improving team who, if they can survive the hazards in Division 1 next spring, are good enough to establish themselves as a top-eight or even topsix summer side.
Dublin ripped them apart, though, winning the match with not much beyond 10 minutes gone, and responding promptly and decisively in the third quarter when some unlikely notions started to revive Kildare.
None of their closest pursuers have played a match with the quality or authority yet this summer. Kerry had no difficulty in beating a wretched Cork, but the latter, a Division 2-standard team, still sweated the Kerry full back line, while the kick-out strategy pursued by Kerry was undermined repeatedly as well.
Tyrone’s surge through Ulster is asterisked by the standard of their final opposition; Down looked like what many suspected, a lower-tier team who got lucky against Monaghan in the semi-final. Tyrone should be credited for what they did to callow Donegal and their and improved score-taking does encourage the conviction they may be the team best suited to threatening a Dublin three-in-a-row.
Mayo are improving through the qualifiers and possess durability and muscle memory, and probably the flintiest collective mindset outside of the champions’ camp. However, their defence has been repeatedly breached and they cannot dream of late August or September yet.
Gavin does not have the number of worries hassling his closest rivals, and he has competition in attack thanks to the emergence of O’Callaghan, the ambition of Brogan and the continuing presence of Kevin McManamon in the replacements.
Brian Fenton is not in the form that inspired him over the past two seasons, but it was inevitable that a young player would dip from the stratospheric standards he maintained in his first two years of inter-county football.
It is in defence, though, that the concerns most pertinent to Gavin and his coaches are to be found. Remember that the Dublin teams of 2013 and 2015 played some exceptional football, not only in attack but defence.
In 2013, the highest total they conceded in a Championship match was 3-11, and that was in an All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry that provided the last extended flourish of Colm Cooper’s wonder.
In a match now regarded as one of the best ever played in Croke Park, Dublin had a rare loose day in defence. The next highest concession was in the final, when they leaked 1-14 to Mayo.
In 2015, their worst defensive day came in the quarter-finals against Fermanagh when, during a strange second half, the match already lost, the Ulster team cut loose and finished with a total of 2-15.
Generally, though, Dublin’s efforts in those two campaigns were distinguished by parsimony as much as attacking exuberance, especially in Leinster. In 2013, they conceded a total of 1-32 over three matches, an average of fewer than 12 points a game.
Two years ago, they conceded 0-30 in three matches in Leinster, an average of 10 points.
On Sunday, in contrast, Kildare took them for 1-17. In their first two matches, Dublin had conceded a total of 0-17, but they were challenged with more complex puzzles in the final. They never looked in danger of losing the match, but a vulnerability in defence that was detectable last season remains.
The brilliance of Cian O’Sullivan’s performances over the past halfdecade have been integral to Dublin, but as he battles to try and maintain that standard, teams pour time into discommoding him. The loss of Rory O’Carroll means not only are they without the best full-back in the modern game, but opposing sides are encouraged to target their defence with high balls.
Because Dublin dominate the ball against most teams, it is not a tactic they are frequently confronted with, but it has made them anxious. Paddy Brophy scored Kildare’s goal off a high ball in, and Tommy Moolick almost spun a chance out of the same kind of pass.
These are details that will be attended to between now and the quarter-finals. They are not of the magnitude of those consuming the training sessions of Éamonn Fitzmaurice, Mickey Harte or Stephen Rochford, however.
Dublin look good. With two months of the season still in play, they look good enough.