Dublin hold off late Antrim blitz to keep up unbeaten run

Dublin 0-28 Antrim 2-19

Just when we’d our catchy intro to mind and match clarity neatly pencilled down Dublin went and mostly ruined it, pressing their inconsistency against inexperience and nearly allowing both to come out on top.

In the end they held off Antrim with three points to spare, affording Micheál Donoghue his first league victory as Dublin manager, for now still unbeaten too. Only this finished far less comfortable that it should have, Dublin up by 10 points twice during the second half, including with just over five minutes to play, before allowing Antrim to strike the last 1-4 of the game and bring it back to a single score.

In truth Dublin never once looked like losing, the winning of it still exposing some of that old inconsistency, accounted in part by new levels of inexperience in a team sprinkled with fresh faces and names and in need of some education at this level.

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They’ll meet again in the first round of the Leinster championship, so it wasn’t just the league points at stake, valid currency or otherwise. For Donoghue, Galway’s former All-Ireland winning manager, the nature of the performance was certainly satisfying.

“We started the game well, that was something we’d addressed before,” he said. “We’d played Antrim before, a tough and close game, and it turned out that way again. Obviously we were in a fairly commanding position, they came back and scored two goals, brought them right back into it, but we showed a bit of resilience to just get over line.

“You’re not going to dominate a game for 70 minutes, when that happens, and the opposition get in, maybe that’s an area we can work on, but in fairness the lads put themselves in that position, and ultimately we still got the two points.”

Indeed with an exciting spread of 11 scorers, Dublin weren’t shy in front of goal, even if goal chances were properly scarce. The best of those fell to Antrim, Conor Johnston setting up Keelan Molloy from close range on 52 minutes, Neil McManus shuddering the Dublin crossbar minutes before. That left it 0-21 to 1-12, Dublin replying with the next three points.

Then Molloy added a second Antrim goal in the 66th minute, again from close range, Dublin’s nerves suddenly being tested. Antrim simply ran out of road, finishing with 14 wides, manager Darren Gleeson making no secret of where the game was lost.

“It’d be easy for me to focus on the last 15 or 20 minutes,” he said, “but what happened in the preceding 50 wasn’t up to what we are looking for, no real intensity, didn’t lay a glove on them physically in the middle section of the field.

“You can’t play at this level with six or seven balls short to the goalkeeper, it’s like giving it to a quarterback now. And he is a really good goalkeeper too young [Eddie] Gibbons. We are on the back foot straight away, because we are out of shape, throw 14 or 15 wides down on top of that and a couple of goal chances and that’s a fair summation of it I’d say.”

After fighting hard to draw with league champions Waterford in round one, Dublin already had something to build on, and soon got around to just that.

Played out in the late afternoon sun at Parnell Park, positively balmy for February, Dublin were already up by seven points at half-time, then continued to put distance on Antrim, whose accuracy at times simply failed to match their physicality.

Opening with great discipline and understanding, Dublin went five points up in the first 10 minutes, Donal Burke getting them off the mark with the first of his placed balls, Donal Leavy, Cian Boland, Chris O’Leary and Conor Donohue promptly adding one each from play.

Burke finished with 0-10, five from play, the Na Fianna forward always there when need, Conor Burke from St Vincent’s growing into the game at centre back, finished with 0-2. Paddy Doyle was strong in defence alongside Eoghan O’Donnell and the bench played it’s part too, notably Darragh Power.

“It’s all a valuable lesson in experience, that’s really important,” added Donoghue. “They’re a team, trying to create their own identity. It’s been well documented, the changes since last year, but the younger lads have done really well, and you have to give them that experience. You have to trust the lads, they’ll go out and make some mistakes, but that’s the only way they’ll learn. And it will be like that throughout the league, all building towards the championship.

“But it terms of attitude and application and desire to be here they’ve been brilliant since we came up. They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them, no one is shirking any responsibility”

Antrim can definitely improve on their accuracy and range, found here in parts like when outscoring Dublin five points to one in the second 10 minutes, Neil McManus and Conal Cumming coming better later in the game too.

With league champions Waterford up next, Gleeson is aware of the need for a good start.

“We’re digging into it all the time but it’s something we have to stay at. It’s an area we really need to pick up on, and what happens when we get big scores in the game. It’s not for the want of trying, the heart part, at the end, was good from the guys, showing a bit of pride but the scoreboard is all that matters.”

DUBLIN: E Gibbons; J Bellew, E O’Donnell (0-1), P Doyle; C Donohoe (0-2), C Burke (0-2), D Gray; C O’Leary (0-3), A Mellett (0-1); D Leavy (0-2), D Burke (0-10, five frees), C Boland (0-2); F Whitely (0-2), L Murphy (0-2), P Crummey.

Subs: D Power (0-1) for Leavy (31 mins), D Sutcliffe for Crummey (46), A Jamieson Murphy for Whitely (58), P Smyth for Doyle (60), D Purcell for Murphy (64).

ANTRIM: R Elliott; P Burke (0-2), R McGarry, P Duffin; G Walsh, E Campbell, C Bohill; M Bradley (0-1), K Molloy (2-1); N McKenna (0-1), J McNaughton (0-1), N McManus (0-5, two frees); C Cunning (0-6, two frees, one 65), C Johnston, S Elliott (0-1).

Subs: N O’Connor (0-1) for Duffin (32 mins), J Maskey for McKenna (47), P Boyle for McNaughton (57), R McMullan for Elliott (65).

Referee: C Lyons (Cork).