All-Ireland SFC semi-final: Tyrone 0-23 Dublin 0-16
Dublin capitulated in the end. Tyrone absorbed maybe 15 minutes of dull pressure, holding on to a lead that took the strain, like old rope. Then the siege lifted, and they ran amok. In the space of five convulsive minutes, they kicked the last five scores of the game, ransacking Dublin’s kick-out and looting as they went.
The final margin didn’t reflect how tense and close and scrappy the second half had been, and maybe it exaggerates Tyrone’s superiority, but not grossly. Their counterattacks were more dynamic, their finishing was sharper and their defence reduced Dublin at times to the kind of staccato keep-ball that the new rules have defanged.
Dublin led for less than two minutes in the game and drew level for the last time eight minutes into the second half. Unperturbed, Tyrone kicked the next three points. Dublin couldn’t generate a period of menacing dominance or significant momentum and apart from one uninterrupted sequence of three points in the middle of the first half, their scores came in unthreatening bursts of ones and twos.
With 12 minutes to go they trailed by only a point and their season had reached a moment where needs must. In the time that remained they kicked just one score.
Immediately afterwards Dessie Farrell resigned as Dublin manager after six seasons in the role. After another wave of consequential retirements in the off-season Farrell had tried to refashion the team with squad players and emerging players and the remnants of the old guard, but it never amounted to a critical mass. Dublin retreated into the pack, surrendering their Leinster title and their perennial status as front-runners for the All-Ireland.
“It’s been a privilege,” said Farrell. “As a player and coach, I’ve been involved with Dublin for the guts of 40 years. It’s a long time, it’s been very much part-and-parcel of my life. And the players. I’ve had a ringside seat in many ways to some of the greatest warriors who ever played the sport. I’ve been involved with some of them from under-13 right the way through to today. I’ve seen them grow from young boys to young men, to older men. That’s a journey I’m so grateful for.”
For Dublin, it is the second year in a row that they have been eliminated in the quarter finals; for Tyrone, it is the first time they have progressed beyond this stage since they won the title four years ago. In the most open championship in memory, they have a puncher’s chance now.
In the absence of goals, two-pointers moved the dial. Tyrone ended the game with five from eight attempts, an extraordinary strike rate; Dublin were zero from three, all of them in the final quarter when they were chasing the game.
Every time Brian Howard approached the arc in space the Hill were baying for him to shoot, but his only attempt in the second half trailed wide. Con O’Callaghan had a failed attempt too, but the pivotal miss came five minutes from the end.
With just a point between the teams, Stephen Cluxton stood up to a free, a little more than 50 metres out, but his attempt failed at the near post. Tyrone scored from the restart and kicked for home.
Dublin will reflect on two goal chances, both of which fell to Cormac Costello. The first effort, early in the game, was speculative; the second, early in the second half, was clear-cut. Rory Brennan sold himself cheaply on a straight ball and Costello was clean through, but his attempted finish lacked composure and conviction and didn’t even force a save from Niall Morgan.
Tyrone’s efficiency was better. They had fewer wides and fewer shots that dropped short. Kieran McGeary was terrific in defence and attack and Dublin eventually lost control of Darragh Canavan. His brother Ruairi came off the bench to kick two points, and Tyrone finished the game with nine different scorers from play. It was the kind of thing Dublin used to do.
The first half had been close and decaffeinated. Tyrone exploded from the blocks with three two-pointers inside the opening 10 minutes. Dublin replied with three successive scores from turnovers, two of them inside the Tyrone half.
Costello consistently put himself in shooting positions and by half time he had kicked five points, three of them from play. But his productivity dropped in the second half and with the breeze at their backs Dublin scored just six times.
O’Callaghan came on with a quarter of the game remaining with the bottom of his left leg strapped. Within a couple of minutes, he scored an artful point, but a long-range effort went wide, and he left another kick short from relatively close range. Dublin needed a bolt of lightning; from the blue sky, nothing came.
TYRONE: N Morgan (0-1-1, tpf, 45); C Quinn, P Hampsey, N Devlin (0-0-1); P Teague (0-1-0), R Brennan, K McGeary (0-1-0); B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, P Harte (0-2-0), C Daly (0-0-2); D McCurry (0-0-2, 1f), M Donnelly, D Canavan (0-0-3). Subs: B McDonnell (0-0-1) for Brennan (44 mins); E McElholm (0-0-1) for McCurry (52); A Clarke for Quinn (56); R Canavan (0-0-2) for Harte (63); M O’Neill for McGeary (68).
DUBLIN: S Cluxton (0-0-1, a 45); E Murchan, D Byrne, S McMahon; B Howard, J Small, L Gannon; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, K McGinnis (0-0-1); S Bugler, C Kilkenny (0-0-1), N Scully (0-0-1); P Small (0-0-2), C Costello (0-0-6, 2f), B O’Leary (0-0-2). Subs: C Murphy for McGinnis (44 mins); C O’Callaghan (0-0-1) for O’Leary (50); L Breathnach (0-0-1) for Scully (56); T Lahiff for Ó Coffaigh Byrne (58); R McGarry for Bugler (65); T Clancy for Murchan (68).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
