It's rock 'n' roll in Croker

GAELIC GAMES: Wow. U2 will need to produce one hell of a rock 'n' roll show next weekend to follow yesterday's sell-out gig in Croke Park. 82,072 came to town to witness the Leinster football semi-finals.

That's not a misprint. But it is a record attendance since Croke Park was redeveloped to its current splendour.

Clearly there was a lot at stake for the four teams looking to return for the final on July 17th. Or maybe it was just the fine weather.

Anyway, Laois booked their place first by producing the most dazzling performance of the summer so far, outscoring a well-fancied Kildare team 0-21 to 0-9.

They played like that movie Speed where things explode if the speedometer drops to under 50mph. And while it soon became just as predictable, it was a thriller nonetheless. Every Laois player swarmed around every Kildare player like a bee and proved just as annoying.

The headline act, though, was Dublin against Wexford. No stage props required here, only good, old-fashioned championship football. This game turned and twisted like an Alpine descent, and if the defining score wasn't provided by destiny it could only have been God's will.

Dublin had led early on and then got cocky. Wexford had suffered a dose of vertigo but then kept their eyes straight ahead. They were up by a point at half-time and Hill 16 was swaying nervously.

Enter Jason Sherlock. The last survivor of Dublin's 1995 All-Ireland success had been dropped after Dublin sneaked past Meath a fortnight ago, but when manager Paul Caffrey realised Wexford hadn't arrived just to soak up the atmosphere, he called on his old Na Fianna club-mate. Shortly before that he'd introduced Senan Connell, another old comrade from Mobhi Road.

There were just over 10 minutes left to play, and Dublin had finally got Wexford back where they wanted them - level. The ball was flicked into Sherlock. He flicked it to Connell. When it came back to Sherlock he took one look at the Wexford goal and next thing you remember the net was shaking. Behind it Hill 16 had erupted.

There was no mistaking the shouts either. JAYO. JAYO. JAYO. Just like old times.

Dublin didn't look back from there and finished it on a 1-17 to 2-10 score line. If they keep winning like this and the weather keeps up too, then the blue jersey with Bermuda shorts could be the look of the summer.

Caffrey doesn't do the excitable manager, but he did have relief written all over his face.

"Yeah, for an awful long time out there the game was definitely in the balance. I know a lot of the players had to dig deep in the second half, but that's probably the most pleasing aspect of the whole win. But I know there's a lot of sore bodies in the that dressingroom."

Dublin had played those last 10 minutes with 14 men after Ciarán Whelan was sent off for a second booking just moments after Sherlock's goal. It was a hard-hitting game but never dirty, and although things did overheat a little just before half-time, creating the threat of the first great melee of the season, both teams generally held their nerve in what was a true cauldron of championship football.

Having bolted into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead, it seemed for a while that Dublin would win easy. They then conceded a penalty, then left PJ Banville in for another goal just 60 seconds after the restart. Whatever wise words Caffrey had said at half-time didn't seem to be working.

"Well, sometimes words don't bring about the right actions," admitted Caffrey, only half-joking, "but I've yet to meet a manager that has won a game from the sideline. It really is about the players and how well they cope with things out there.

"But I'd still give great credit to the lads for hanging in there. It looked bad for a good period of that second half, but fellas just dug deep. And I thought there was great pride in the Dublin performance as well."

So all thoughts can now switch to Laois, who took Dublin's Leinster crown two years ago: "From what I hear we might as well not show up," said Caffrey, now fully joking. "Laois were so good. But we'll enjoy today, and we'll try to convince the lads to show up. I know a lot of you pundits put down a Laois-Dublin final at the start of this, and maybe it was ominous that Mick O'Dwyer came over to wish me well at the start of the match. But we're very happy to get through today."

Wexford's defeat ultimately mirrored that of the other big football championship matches around the county. Limerick had All-Ireland champions Kerry on a nervous run in the Munster semi-final, before going down 2-10 to 0-10. Mayo also survived a respectable challenge from Roscommon in their Connacht semi-final to win 1-16 to 0-11. And Cavan, too, had Tyrone living dangerously in Ulster before things ended all square on 1-7 to 0-10.

Could there be a psychological barrier when it comes to toppling the heavyweights? "It's hard to answer that," said Wexford manager Pat Roe. "Wexford has made great strides over the last couple of years. And look, they were five points down after 20 minutes in front of 80,000 people, and they fought themselves back into a good position. That takes a lot of mental strength. We just weren't able to get over the final hurdle."