Dublin stay cool to earn replay after extra-time

O'BYRNE CUP/Dublin 2-15 Meath 1-18:IT'S ON January days like this that the body can only take so much, and, after much huffing and puffing and gasping for cold air in this O'Byrne Cup quarter-final at Parnell Park yesterday where exhausted players were literally out on their feet, the survival instincts of both Dublin and Meath prevailed as even extra-time failed to separate these arch rivals.

With the new National Football League looming and few free dates in the diary, a draw was probably the result nobody, least of all the respective managers, would have wanted. But it was the fairest outcome, as each team – Meath at the death in regulation and then Dublin with the last kick of the ball in extra-time – took it in turns to salvage something from a game that swung one way and then the other.

In the end, it took the cool head and accurate boot of Dublin substitute Colin Daly to level the game for the last time, with a kick from near the sideline that curled between the posts.

Meath, though, were the team who rescued the match in normal-time and took it into extra-time with a point from Niall Mooney fully five minutes into injury-time.

In fact, Dublin, leading by a point as referee Eddie Kinsella had a hard look at his watch, could have won the match by putting the ball dead but Bernard Brogan’s decision to take a shot which fell short proved ill-judged, as it allowed Meath goalkeeper David Lyons to launch a final move that swept upfield and resulted in Mooney’s equalising point.

“I’m not sure they were aware the ball had to go out of play (before the referee could blow the final whistle) . . . thankfully we got the chance and took it,” remarked Meath manager Eamon O’Brien.

Dublin manager Pat Gilroy took a charitable view of his team’s decision to keep the ball alive.

“They were pretty knackered and the old minds weren’t working as well as they could. But, look, this is the time (of the year) to be making mistakes,” he said, while Dublin captain Paul Griffin claimed; “It’s still a bit of learning curve, we’re learning the nuances of the (new) rules.”

Certainly, this was typical early-season football with its fair share of mistakes and poor handling, but also sufficient numbers of fine scores – both goals and points – to keep the healthy attendance in good voice throughout and on tenterhooks to the death.

Although the game was scrappy at times, there was no lack of intensity with many well-contested battles, especially the midfield duel between Dublin’s Eamon Fennell (before he retired with a blood injury) and Meath’s Conor Gillespie.

The match finished 1-11 to 0-14 after normal-time, with the Dublin goal arriving in the 50th minute when Dean Rock set up Kevin McManamon – grabbing the first of his brace – who finished with aplomb. That goal levelled matters and two minutes later Bernard Brogan, who’d been introduced as a substitute, grabbed a point that put Dublin ahead for the first time in the match.

Meath’s response was to produce three unanswered points – from Graham Reilly, Stephen Bray and David Bray – to edge two points clear only for Dublin to regain the upper hand with three successive points: a fisted effort from Michael McAuley, a neatly taken score from defender-turned-forward Alan Hubbard, and another fisted point from Bernard Brogan that seemed to set Dublin up for victory until that last-gasp equaliser from Mooney.

In the first period of extra-time, it seemed as if Dublin had finally found a way to end Meath’s resistance, as a wonderful point from David Henry was followed by a Bernard Brogan pointed free and, then, a wonderfully taken goal by McManamon. He claimed the ball 20 metres from goal after a handling error from Niall McKeigue, sprinted behind the Meath defensive cover and gave Lyons no chance with right-footed shot.

That goal just before half-time in extra-time put Dublin four points ahead, the biggest margin in the match, but Meath’s spirit was showcased by a Joe Sheridan goal in the 83rd minute when David Bray’s long pass was nudged into Sheridan’s path by the impressive Jamie Queeney.

Queeney, indeed, was probably the best player on view and he notched his seventh point of a productive afternoon in the 88th minute that put Meath a point clear and seemingly headed for the semi-final until Daly’s late equalising point.

It means Dublin will have to take a rare trip to Navan: it is 21 years since they last played a match at the venue.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; P Conlon, P Casey, C McCormack; A Hubbard (0-1), S Murray, D Nelson; E Fennell, M McAuley (0-1); D Henry (0-2), T Diamond (0-1), J Brogan (0-1); K McManamon (2-0), B Kelly (0-1, free), D Kelly (0-2). Subs: D Rock (0-1) for B Kelly (35 mins), P Griffin for J Brogan (35 mins), B Brogan (0-3, one free) for D Kelly (45 mins), D Kerrigan for Diamond (49 mins), K Bonner (0-1) for Murray (60 mins). Blood replacement: G Brennan for Fennell (54 mins). Extra-time subs: C Daly (0-1) for McAuley (80 mins), B Sexton for Henry (82 mins), J Brogan for McCormack (88 mins).

MEATH: D Lyons; D Dalton, J Macken, E Harrington; S Kenny, C McGuinness, G Reilly (0-1); C Gillespie, M Ward; P Byrne, J Sheridan (1-2, one sideline, 45), N Mooney (0-3); D Bray (0-3, two frees), J Queeney (0-7, two frees), E Gilsenan. Subs: G O’Brien for Kenny (9 mins), B Meade for Ward (35 mins), N McKeigue for Harrington (43 mins), S Bray (0-2) for Kennedy (54 mins). Extra-time subs: S McAnarney for Byrne (82 mins), S Sheridan for Mooney (85 mins).

Referee: E Kinsella (Laois).

The Dublin-Meath replay is this Wednesday in Navan (7.45pm) with the winner playing DCU in next weekend’s semi-finals, while Kildare will play Louth.