On days like this the losers are a more interesting listen than the winners. We know what Dublin do, we know they’ll do it well most days the sun comes up. The mystery is what to do about it.
For 35 minutes Tom Cribbin’s side fared better than most and went to the break just a point behind. They did not need to be told that the 15 minutes after half-time were crucial. They knew it, we knew it, everyone knew it. Forewarned isn’t always forearmed.
“Disappointed with the second half, especially that first five, six minutes of the second half. We knew we had to try and hold them for that spell. They have been blowing teams away in that period. We have talked heavily on it but obviously they got their tactics very right at half-time, bringing on Paddy [Andrews] and moving Ciarán [Kilkenny] back and they had seven forwards coming at you then.
“Just the basic errors – we gave them the first point. It was our sideline ball and we gave them the ball. And all of a sudden from the reaction of that, us dropping our heads, they won the next ball and kicked a score. Next thing there is three or four scores in it just like that.
“The lads are hard on themselves when they make a mistake. Instead of moving on in the game and having that confidence, they are too hard on themselves when they make a basic error. They need to forget about that and go for the next ball. But we had talked about it quite a bit, because we knew it was going to come early in the second-half.”
Dublin’s dominance
Better teams than Westmeath will fall to worse beatings against Dublin. Cribbin does not have the depth at his disposal to challenge them but this is two Leinster finals in a row where his teams have made life difficult at least for a while. He doesn’t look for pity or sympathy but neither does he swing with the suggestion that Dublin’s dominance of the province is a purely cyclical thing.
“No. No way. They’re doing too much good work at underage. They have super coaching structures in place. They have structures in place and have learned now. They’ll only get better, the rest are going to have to get up to them. They’re not going to come back. People are codding themselves if they think this team is going to fall away in a year or two or three. They’re codding themselves.
“Everyone else is going to have to get up to their standard and it’s not all about money like everyone says. You have to coach at underage. Look at Kildare. That’s three Leinster in four year at minor level and that’s where you have to start the work.”
For Jim Gavin it was a day when his strategic chops were tested more than is usual in Leinster. The half-time wheeze of shifting Kilkenny to wing-back so he could attack the game from deeper wasn’t something they had rehearsed but it paid off a treat.
“The game is very dynamic, that’s the great thing about Gaelic football. We’ve got one of the best field sports, I believe, in the globe and it’s evolving into a very tactical game.
“We go after a very skill-based game, very attacking game. When you meet a team that set up as defensive as Westmeath did, it poses various challenges.
“We’re just trying to do our best for the players by making those tactical decisions. Some work, some don’t. But once I think we’re all trying to do the right thing, that’s all we ever ask from each other.
But it’s really in the moment – we’d have looked at different scenarios going into the game but most of the time it’s in that particular moment.”
