Dublin 3-23 Wexford 0-9GREAT SHIPS never sink in harbours but great ships were never built for harbours. Dublin start yet another All-Ireland voyage this morning knowing they have sustained no damage in the tranquil waters of Leinster. If their ship is great enough to make it to September remains to be seen.
The real swabbing of the decks starts this morning though. Another Leinster title, the fourth in succession was banked yesterday in Croke Park by means of a ruthlessly efficient second-half performance which saw the local favourites outscore the challengers from Wexford by some 20 points.
Those who drifted into Jones Road looking for romance or excitement were among the throng who left early with the rather more pragmatic hope of getting a jump on the traffic. The game expired as a spectacle not long after the interval with Dublin running in three goals and seven points before Wexford added anything to their own half-time total.
A humiliating excursion for Wexford's footballers who achieved the unlikely feat of losing the provincial final by a greater margin than their hurlers lost the hurling edition of the same.
If anything Wexford paid the price for their lack of cynicism. Blessed with sharp fast forwards they attempted to move the ball quickly among themselves and had a little success in doing so. Dublin this year are more tactically flexible than they have been through any of their recent excursions and they funnelled players back crowding the workspace. Most notably Conal Keaney kept dropping deep as Dublin dug it out and hit the ball early into the prairies of space left in Croke Park. In the second half they ran poor Wexford ragged.
Dublin push on into the familiar slopes at high altitude. This their fifth provincial title of the decade has yet to yield the summit of All Ireland final appearance and though Paul Caffrey and his team are keen always to talk up the value of the Leinster brand anything less than a big day out in September will see this expedition condemned as a failure.
Dublin will argue it is not their fault that this Leinster campaign (the scalps of Louth, Westmeath and Wexford hang from the belt) reads like half a league Division Three programme. They can point out that not only did they do all they can do by beating whatever is put before them but yesterday they did that with a relentless efficiency surprising in a team which has been here so many times before.
And Dublin have improved incrementally. Shane Ryan, man of the match yesterday, is a considerably better footballer than he was half a decade ago. His partner in midfield Ciarán Whelan has late in life extended the range and duration of his contributions to big games. Dublin's forwards, so long the target for derision since the days of their incessant rotation policy, looked clinical yesterday and if they can continue to extract ever better performances from Diarmuid Connolly they may have added just enough to get them over the chasm which separates them from success.
The defence, which cannot be stockaded for the concession of nine points in a Leinster final (five from play), still looks as if it is built for Leinster's calm seas and not the cruel seas beyond and yesterday's new boy Kevin Nolan was withdrawn after 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, Ross McConnell, honed as a full back last season, and this, got just eight minutes of play.
For Wexford the second-half meltdown was the stuff of nightmare. As Jason Ryan, their whip smart young manager, pointed out afterwards that Dublin like to start each half of a game in explosive fashion. In the first half Wexford clung on. In the second they were thrown clear and concussed.
The best laid plans of yellowbelly men went awry and Dublin powered into the breaking ball in the middle third of the field. That disparity between the hunger and muscle of the middle eight of both sides was the key to the winning margin. Dublin turned over very little ball and drove into the breaks as if their lives depended on it.
The first half had been a period of testing each other out. Dublin started strongly but the first score of the day came to Wexford, Mattie Forde the repository of so many hopes linked beautifully with Colm Morris down the left wing and floated a lovely point into the Hill end.
Alan Brogan responded in similar style a few minutes later and then Wexford had the last period of the game where they might have done serious damage. Ciarán Lyng floated a free over to restore the one-point lead and a minute later he took possession and turned and his goal chance was blocked courageously by Collie Moran.
Moran spend a lot of the afternoon at full back and if missing three Thursday night training sessions in succession to attend disciplinary hearings produced this kind of performance every time perhaps the GAA's disciplinary system might come to be appreciated in a different light.
After that Wexford never led and Dublin took it in turns to torment them.
After a quiet start at centre forward Jason Sherlock switched with Mossie Quinn for a while and pocketed two points from his stint closer to goal, his contribution overshadowed immediately though in terms of style at least by a take and burst from Shane Ryan which finished with a point.
Dublin led by three at the break but their was no buzz of anticipation among the 80,112 attendance. Just a sense of business and usual and the knowledge that Dublin having the wind and all the experience for the second half was the equivalent to having all the cards.
So it proved. Goal one came on 52 minutes when Keaney picked out Alan Brogan with a fine long-range pass and Brogan repudiated those who feel he doesn't pass enough by slinging a smart handpass to Diarmuid Connolly who slotted home.
Three minutes later Brogan cut in from the right for goal two and with the Wexford defence not wholly discounting the possibility of another Brogan pass left him enough space to sidefoot a clever shot to the net.
The game was all but over. Mark Vaughan was introduced for Connolly, two young players who appear to have swapped places in the pecking order. Vaughan scored Dublin's third goal in seven minutes when his daisycutter shot bobbled off Anthony Masterson and on in to the Wexford goal. The Hill exulted in this plenitude and offered worshipful thanks.
DUBLIN:1 S Cluxton; 3 P Griffin, 2 D Henry 30 C Moran; 5 K Nolan, 6 B Cullen, 7 B Cahill (0-1); 8 C Whelan, S Ryan (0-1); 14 C Keaney (0-6, four frees), 11 J Sherlock (0-3) 12 K Bonner; 13 A Brogan (1-3), 10 D Connolly (1-3), 15 M Quinn (0-6, five frees, one 45). Subs: P Casey for Nolan 24 mins, P Flynn for Bonner 55 mins, M Vaughan (1-0) for Connolly 57 mins, R McConnell for Griffin 62 mins, D Murray for Sherlock 65 mins
WEXFORD:1 A Masterson; 2 N Murphy, 3 P Wallace, 4 B Malone; 5 A Morrissey, 6 D Murphy, 7 C Morris (capt); 8 T Howlin, 9 B Doyle; 10 R Barry (0-1), 11 E Bradley (0-2), 12 A Flynn; 13 C Lyng (0-4 all frees), 15 M Forde (0-2), 14 PJ Banville. Subs: P Colfer for B Doyle 27 mins, D Walsh for N Murphy 31 mins, R Stafford for Howlin 39 mins, S Roche for A Flynn 59 mins, C Byrne for Banville 59mins.
Referee:G O Conámha ( Galway).
