ALL-IRELAND UNDER-21 FC SEMI-FINALS: Cork 1-10 Dublin 1-9:THAT ALL too familiar look of devastation was not visible on Dublin faces as they trudged off the pitch at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
A feeling of numbness seemed to permeate instead – 16 wides, to Cork’s four, will do that to a team that have only themselves to blame for ensuring the pangs of defeat will resonate a long time.
Such a collection of miscues is the predominant statistic from this All-Ireland under-21 semi-final. Sure, Cork are a fine side, littered with quality, particularly captain Colm O’Neill (who eventually limped off with a hamstring injury, making him a doubt for the May Bank Holiday Monday final against Down), but Dublin blew a great chance. Countless times over.
“I’m gutted for the guys to be honest,” said manager Jim Gavin afterwards. “They put in serious effort. They take great pride in playing for Dublin. I couldn’t question their commitment out there. Right until the end, they battled hard. They just couldn’t put the ball over the bar.”
This hardly proved a decent advertisement for under-21 football. Despite ancient rivals meeting for the first time at this age grade, only 874 punters paid through the turnstiles.
The Leinster champions failed to avail of the wind in the first half, trailing 1-4 to 0-4 at the interval, with O’Neill’s well-taken goal the difference after some inexplicably wayward shooting.
Ironically, the guilty men are those responsible for getting Dublin to this juncture in the first place. Paddy Andrews is expected to feature at the highest level this summer, possessing enough talent to play as a back or forward.
Yesterday he was the central cog in the Dublin attack. He had three wides before the break, adding as many after, with one solitary point to show for an industrious performance. Like his fellow starting forwards, the magic never revealed itself.
Cork were not as ruthless as Mickey Harte’s side but O’Neill, David Goold and Ciarán Sheehan, an equally adept hurler, made hay while Dublin’s swagger stumbled.
They eased into a five-point lead when O’Neill gathered a quick free from Shane McCarthy, held off the attempted fouls of Colin Moore before blasting home the Cork goal on 23 minutes.
Gavin reacted by sending on Ballymun’s Ted Furman who promptly landed a point on what turned out to be his best day in sky blue. Dean Rock and Paddy O’Connor also contributed frees but skewed a few in the process.
Like Paddy O’Connor before him, Andrews did wriggle into space early in the second half only to see a tame shot easily gathered by goalkeeper Anthony Seymour.
Down the other end, Sheehan and Goold continued a fine shooting exhibition, off scraps, to move Cork further clear before Dublin finally got to grips with the day. Full forward Luke Sweetman gathered a long ball and laid off to Barry O’Rorke who finished to the net from an acute angle. Andrews found his range seconds later to give them the lead entering the last quarter.
There followed four Dublin wides and four excellent Cork points. O’Neill was causing havoc for both corner backs but the scope to switch on to his deadly left boot came too easily.
Furman bagged a third point while other replacements David Quinn and Nicky Devereux played with a poise absent from their starting team-mates.
With three minutes remaining and play camped near the Cork goalmouth referee Martin Higgins was drawn to an incident down the other end and, acting on the umpires’ advice, showed McCarthy a straight red card.
There were more chances to at least force extra-time with the ever competent Cian O’Sullivan proving a solid initiator of attacks but this was not to be Dublin’s day.
A Quinn score brought it back to the minimum entering injury time and as seconds ticked away Sweetman took a free in roughly an area similar to so many of the previous 15 wides. He opted for a cross-field ball to onrushing wing back John Cooper but it was marginally over-cooked.
Furman then saw his shot fall short before an Andrews sideline drifted past the far post to make it wide number 16.
A day to forget for Dublin – but they won’t. “They’re an ambitious group of men but unfortunately, they just fell short of those ambitions,” added Gavin.
CORK: A Seymour; S McLoughlan, R Buckley, N Galvin; C O'Driscoll, A Walsh, B Daly; C O'Donovan, K O'Driscoll; C Sheehan (0-3, one free), S McCarthy, C O'Driscoll; C O'Neill (1-4, two frees, capt), D Goold (0-2), P Honahan . Subs:M Collins (0-1) for C O'Driscoll (44 mins), J Fitzpatrick for C O'Neill (53 mins).
DUBLIN:D McDonnell; C Moore, R O'Carroll, H Gill; J Cooper, K Nolan, N Brogan; C Murphy, C O'Sullivan; P O'Connor (0-1, free), P Andrews (0-1), D Kelly; B O'Rorke (1-0), L Sweetman, D Rock (0-3, three frees). Subs: T Furman (0-3) for P O'Connor (25 mins), N Devereux for N Brogan (37 mins), J Sheanon for D Kelly (47 mins), D Quinn for B O'Rorke (50 mins), N Coughlan for D Rock (56 mins).
Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).
