NFL DIVISION ONE:Dublin 5-22 Westmeath 0-10
IT WON’T have taken Pat Gilroy long to figure out that it’s always either boom or bust for Dublin managers. They are just about to be burned at the stake or toasted at the top table. A few games back Gilroy was sensing the restlessness of the natives. Yesterday he was being asked if expectations of Dublin wouldn’t be dangerously high come the summer. Same wry smile in both cases.
Dublin maintained their NFL Division 1 status at Parnell Park yesterday when they swamped a Westmeath side who had already been relegated. What it meant had very little to do with reality. Westmeath fielded a young experimental side. Dublin exhibited a continued willingness to adhere to the new style of play which Gilroy and Mickey Whelan have been working on.
The margin meant little and Dublin will look on the defeat to Kerry the last day as a more realistic assessment of their ability to impose that style on top-class opposition.
For all that it was, it was pleasant to exit the league with a bang and the minimum of stress. Twelve months ago these sides were meeting in a Division Two play-off in Navan to determine who would win that Division. Westmeath looked well-drilled and had a fine defensive record at that point in time. Yesterday things were different, but come the summer yesterday’s events could be just as meaningless.
Dublin’s reasons to be cheerful? Blaine Kelly for a start. He popped one over the black spot after 20 seconds of play and the Dublin management’s faith in him was repaid fully by a display which brought six points – half from play and the other half with a welcome sure touch from placed balls.
Conal Keaney, meanwhile, returned to form with a sparkling performance to finish the league by overhauling Bernard Brogan to become Dublin’s top scorer.
Darren Magee, in his second game since returning from club duty, continued to look athletic and necessary. Ger Brennan’s athleticism and distribution were almost flawless and Paul Flynn and Pat Burke both turned in fine performances in the half-forward line.
Dublin needed this league campaign to develop serious options. Yesterday they won by 27 points without using Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly, Jason Sherlock, Shane Ryan and with just a cameo from Mark Vaughan.
They didn’t have to call upon any of their newly-crowned Leinster under-21 champion players and they demonstrated that they have an extended panel that is on board with the new system. Even Alan Brogan – not the game’s most noted passer of the ball – spread it around yesterday as well as scoring four good points.
If the win wasn’t freighted with a lot of meaning, the goals were a welcome bonus. Dublin sides have always thrived on the oxygen stirred up by an umpire waving a green flag and yesterday’s scores will have bulked up their confidence.
The first just before the quarter hour showcased Pat Burke’s possibilities as a hard-working playmaker. Burke, in whom many saw great promise a season or two ago, was reborn during Kilmacud’s march to the club All-Ireland and came on early yesterday after Kevin Bonnar was yellow-carded for a careless high tackle.
Burke’s ball to Conal Keaney set the Ballyboden man up to drive to the net and the game effectively ended there as the score put Dublin 1-6 to 0-1 ahead.
By half-time all possibility had drained form the match. Denis Glennon had seen Stephen Cluxton save a penalty kick (and the rebound had been put hideously wide by Keith Scally) and the final significant play of the half was a superb Dublin move which began with a Cluxton kick-out and saw the ball worked down the right wing for Flynn to come on to in the end and finish.
After the break, with Mark Davoren coming off injured, Ciaran Whelan moved to full forward and scored a rare goal with one of the least emphatic finishes one will ever see. By then it was carnival time for the home faithful.
Darren Magee and the hard working Burke had the last two goals of the game. By then Westmeath – who used 22 players, apparently with the permission of the fourth official, Kieran Galvin having been concussed and Doran Harte yellow carded – were just willing the end to come.
“We had a lot to go for today,” said Gilroy afterwards.
“They didn’t. That showed. The championship is eight and a half weeks away. The guys have club championship games to play. But we have an awful lot of options. That is great.
“Our last three performances tell us that we are going in the right direction. We started to score some goals today; that was positive. The guys focused for the whole 70 minutes, that was great, but we start again now for the championship.”
A lot done. More to do. Faces turn to the summer.
DUBLIN:S Cluxton; D Henry, D Bastick, A Hubbard; P Griffin, G Brennan (0-1), B Cahill (0-2); C Whelan (1-0), D Magee (1-0); A Brogan 0-4, K Bonner, P Flynn (1-0); C Keaney 1-7 (one free, one 45), M Davoren (0-2), B Kelly 0-6 (three frees). Subs: P Burke (1-0) for Bonner (5 mins, yellow), B Cullen for Griffin (half-time), R McConnell for Davoren (48 mins), T Quinn for Kelly (53 mins), M Vaughan for Keaney (55 mins).
WESTMEATH:C Mullen; J Keane, K Gavin, F Boyle; A Claffey, D Heavin, D Harte; N Kilcoyne (0-1), D Duffy; M Ennis, C Reilly, J Smyth; C Lynam, D Glennon (0-6, two frees), K Scally (0-1). Subs: T McDaniel (0-1) for Gavin (17 mins), W Murtagh for Harte (24 mins, yellow), P Bannon (0-1) for Ennis (half-time) D Kilmartin for Kilcoyne (45 mins), A Clinton for Scally (53 mins), P Kelly for Lynam (55 mins), J Clarke for Claffey (59 mins).
Referee:G O Conamha (Galway).
