Irish Daily Star

GOES ON AND ON

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weeks,” said O’Rourke. “It has affected his kicking out a little bit. We didn’t think there was any point putting him in the firing line after Longford. He’ll be back.”

With Brian Fenton suspended, Tom Lahiff and Brian Howard, who generally operates at wing-back, played at midfield.

This might have hindered Cluxton’s favourite short kickout to Howard, which was so significan­t in last year’s All-Ireland victory. Bugler lined out at wing-back and put in an impressive display.

Dublin boss Dessie Farrell felt their display overall was patchy, and he won’t have been pleased at how often they were turned over in the first half.

“Look, it’s a win and it’s the Leinster Championsh­ip so it’s good to get up and running.

“There were some decent spells and some poor spells so my initial reaction is that it was a mixed bag overall.

Video

“Sometimes you look at the video and see something else but that’s my first assessment.

“There shouldn’t be rust, except maybe for the fellas coming back. Other fellas have a lot of football played. I just thought it was a little bit flat.

“The atmosphere, it seemed like a dull affair at times and maybe that was part of it. But that shouldn’t be an excuse.

Farrell reckoned Dublin’s patchiness was down to Meath.

“They’re a young team,” he said. “You can give them credit. They pushed up, they pressed, they fought hard.

“They didn’t take a backward step in the exchanges which is typical of that old Meath spirit.

“They’re building. Sometimes you just don’t know what to expect in that situation. A team that has nothing to lose can go out and be very dangerous.

“We have plenty of experience in our mix and they mightn’t have that breadth of experience within their squad.

“But they’re definitely getting better and will improve this season as we go on.”

PAUL MANNION

(Dublin) Mannion hit 1-6, including 1-3 from play and it looked like there was plenty more in him. One of his points was arrowing into the top corner until Adam O’Neill got back to deflect it over the top. Sean Bugler and Con O’Callaghan were on it too.

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell and Adam O’Neill of Meath

KARL O’KANE

BY

DESSIE FARRELL says he’s blue in the face making the case for the provincial championsh­ips to move to earlier in the season.

Farrell watched his Dublin side canter away from Meath in yesterday’s Leinster quarter-final to set up a last four meeting with Offaly in a fortnight.

Dublin have won 13 Leinster titles on the bounce and handed out trouncings for over a decade now to everyone else.

Just over 21,000 fans turned up yesterday for a fixture that in its heyday would have packed out Croke Park.

“I’m blue in the face to be honest having this conversati­on,” said

Farrell.

“Nothing has changed and probably won’t in the immediate future. I think we’re missing an opportunit­y - that’s all.

“The atmosphere was strange. It’s a shame. I know that can stem from not necessaril­y the competitio­n structure, it can be the difference in the strengths of the two teams or whatever.

“But for us, a little bit like the League, we’re taking it game by game. We definitely have stuff we need to get better at.

“We weren’t looking at it through the lens of ‘What’s this doing for the GAA?’ or ‘Should we be playing in this competitio­n at this time of year?’

“You don’t have that luxury when you’re going from week to week, fortnight to fortnight. For us, it was about preparing as best we can, getting the victory and getting ready for the next day.”

Farrell says “the trajectory of the season is wrong.”

He continued: “Look, at the risk of repeating myself, we should be building.

“We’ve come from a decent enough league campaign, which seems to capture the imaginatio­n of GAA people.

“Then we move into the Championsh­ip and apart from the obvious outlier (Ulster), I think the others are sort of mundane enough at this stage. I don’t think they’re helping.

“I just think it’s probably time for a proper root-and-branch review of the competitio­n structures. I’ve been saying that for a few years now.”

Meanwhile, Meath boss Colm O’Rourke says his side can “take a lot of positives” from their first half showing.

“I thought it was an improvemen­t on a lot of our National League performanc­es,” he said.

“I suppose we improved but against Division 4 opposition (Longford) and now we came up against the very best.”

“It shows the vast gulf there is between teams. I suppose it reflects our own position.”

 ?? ?? DOWN: Daithí McGowan dejected after the game
PRECISE: Dublin’s Con O’Callaghan scores his side’s third goal of there game at Croke Park
EXPERIENCE: Dublin veteran goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton in action against Meath yesterday
SUBS: James McCarthy 6 for Basquel 49mins, Paddy Small (0-1) 7 for Scully 52mins, Killian McGinnis 6 for McGarry 61mins, Cormac Costello (0-1) 7 for Mannion 61mins, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne 5 for J Small 65mins.
DUBLIN: Leinster S/F v Offaly, Sunday April 28.
MEATH: All-Ireland Qualifier Round 1 next month.
DES: REVIEW IS REQUIRED
DOWN: Daithí McGowan dejected after the game PRECISE: Dublin’s Con O’Callaghan scores his side’s third goal of there game at Croke Park EXPERIENCE: Dublin veteran goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton in action against Meath yesterday SUBS: James McCarthy 6 for Basquel 49mins, Paddy Small (0-1) 7 for Scully 52mins, Killian McGinnis 6 for McGarry 61mins, Cormac Costello (0-1) 7 for Mannion 61mins, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne 5 for J Small 65mins. DUBLIN: Leinster S/F v Offaly, Sunday April 28. MEATH: All-Ireland Qualifier Round 1 next month. DES: REVIEW IS REQUIRED
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