The Irish Mail on Sunday

DUBLIN ROCK ON

Holders have it all too easy while Tyrone also claim facile win to set up semi-final date

- By Micheal Clifford AT CROKE PARK

THE LAST football quarter-final perhaps ever to be played only served to shine a disturbing light on what will take its place. Dublin put the tin-hat on an evening of tedium at a sold-out Croke Park by doing what they do best; putting manners on those that don’t have the ambition or the quality to stresstest them.

In doing that they once more brought into focus the notion that there is a structural solution to address a football Championsh­ip that has become hopelessly unbalanced. The hope that the brand new, shiny Super 8s can somehow showcase the business end of the Championsh­ip from next year in a more competitiv­e light felt rather distant last night.

Dublin’s winning margin, when added to that chalked up by their two principle rivals in their quarter-final romps, Kerry and Tyrone, meant that their combined winning margins came in at a whopping 36 points.

Supers Eights? More like a Terrific Three.

Dublin have, of course, long reduced the once-perceived menace of this round to a mere routine.

No one really has the stomach anymore to peddle the line that an uncompetit­ive Leinster championsh­ip could leave the champions under cooked and vulnerable in the event of, say, running into a hardnosed team from up north.

This was the fourth year on the bounce that they drew Ulster opposition in a quarter-final — the last to be played for at least three years — and this win took their aggregate winning margin to 40 points, an average of 10 a game.

This pretty much followed the pattern — including the final winning margin — of so many that preceded — underlinin­g the consistenc­y that has establishe­d them as this decade’s dominant force. Last night’s victory secured an astonishin­g eighth consecutiv­e semi-final appearance in a row.

Monaghan huffed and puffed, but never remotely threatenin­g the possibilit­y of landing the kind of knockout blow against the odds that might have convinced punters that McGregor really has a chance against Mayweather.

They did not even engage in a futile chase here; this thing done and buried long before the 28th minute at which stage the champions led by 0-9 to 0-1.

Monaghan predictabl­y sought cover in numbers but lacked the imaginatio­n and the footballer­s to transition quickly enough to give the hopelessly isolated Conor McManus and Jack McCarron the support they needed.

Dublin’s control was absolute; they owned the ball, toying in front of a Monaghan rear-guard who hoped that a 45metre cordon might somehow spook Dublin into a shooting meltdown. The opposite occurred; Dublin were controlled, while Dean Rock was conviction defined. He had nailed five frees by half-time at which Dublin were still sitting on that eightpoint lead (0-11 to 0-3). The only wonder at that stage was Dublin were satisfied to bleed Monaghan to death with a thousand cuts rather than going for an artery. The truth is that they tried but Rory Beggan stood tall in the Monaghan goal, making point blank saves to deny the excellent James McCarthy and Con O’Callaghan in the first half — Paddy Andrews horribly miscuing when following up the latter attempt.

But Monaghan’s good fortune and Beggan’s resistance – he would make another stunning save in the 52nd minute to deny Bernard Brogan – had a limit.

It came within five minutes of the restart when Colin Walshe failed to gather Brian Fenton’s sideline kick, to allow Andrews scamper free and centre for Rock to flick deliciousl­y to the net.

After that, this just descended to a night out with the Harlem Globetrott­ers as Dublin played for fun.

They even afforded Stephen Cluxton the opportunit­y to be serenaded by the Hill on the night that he set a new all-time Championsh­ip appearance­s record, when he dived smartly to beat away McCarron’s goal effort.

He followed up with another stop at his near post getting his body at Owen Duffy’s pile-driver just to make sure that there would be no blemish on his perfect evening.

After that this was as ostentatio­us display of wealth that you could dare witness on a football pitch.

Paul Flynn and Michael Darragh MacAuley, both returned after lengthy injuries to make their first bow this summer to warm ovations, which will still pale in thunder as to what will await when Diarmuid Connolly makes his return in the semi-final.

Dublin don’t have a bench, they have a hedge fund.

As for Monaghan, this had the feel of the end of the road, with a strong likelihood that Malachy O’Rourke will walk after five years, which yielded two Ulster championsh­ips.

He will have some regrets, although not too many about last night apart from the bewilderin­g decision to not start Conor McCarthy, who marked his arrival from the bench with three points to go with the four that he had nailed against Down last week.

But they were powerless here, hopelessly out of their depth against the champions in what was their fourth quarter-final appearance in the last five years.

There was a time when a stat like that could be taken as a measure of incrementa­l progress but in the land of the haves and have nots, these days it merely serves to remind that there is a ceiling in place which the rest keep banging their heads off.

And replacing it with something else is unlikely to ease their pain anytime soon.

As for Dublin, with greatness beckoning, they will take stopping from here.

 ??  ?? ROCKSTEADY: Dubs forward Dean Rock after claiming the only goal of the game and (inset) with teammate Paul Mannion
ROCKSTEADY: Dubs forward Dean Rock after claiming the only goal of the game and (inset) with teammate Paul Mannion
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