THERE WAS a solitary Cork flag draped over a barrier on Hill 16 late yesterday evening.

Dublin fooled everyone and blew the favourites away. For 60 minutes. Then, slowly, the rebel uprising began innocuously enough with a Colm O’Neill score to make it a two-point game. Then Patrick Kelly got another after a quick free by Daniel Goulding.

The Dublin game plan of working until they dropped actually occurred.

Rory O’Carroll keeled over, moving like his hip was dislocated, as referee Maurice Deegan shooed him from the field to allow Donnacha O’Connor to bring matters back to the minimum with three minutes to go.

The workhorses, David Henry and Niall Corkery, had that gaunt look of marathon runners when they were eventually hauled ashore.

But Dublin, it must be noted, buckled under the strain of being within touching distance of an All-Ireland final. That and overworked limbs coupled with a lack of composure, in contrast to Cork, who quietened themselves to glide into September.

Dublin expended so much energy engineering a lead that when they needed to hold the line for the final minutes their discipline betrayed them.

“I think so,” agreed manager Pat Gilroy. “They had thrown the kitchen sink at it at that stage. We conceded the penalty obviously and then a number of soft frees and you have to look at why we conceded them.

“Maybe we were a bit tired but we also had some wild stuff down the other end that last 10 minutes as well when we could have maybe held on to the ball a bit longer.

“Look, it is a one-point defeat and it is all about the little things that add up to that. The little things went Cork’s way today. That is sport. It can be cruel but we have to learn lessons from it. That is all you can do when you lose.”

The little things did make the difference but so did two very big things that, unfortunately, both included Dublin midfielder Ross McConnell.

The concession of a penalty on 53 minutes, when McConnell was adjudged to have fouled Colm O’Neill, and his red card on 69 minutes, when he seemed to abandon all rationale by crashing into Noel O’Leary, represented a swing of 1-1.

In mitigation, O’Neill probably would have goaled and O’Leary had all the momentum at his back.

For Dublin, this season was about avoiding further humiliation on the main stage. That has been achieved but this will probably hurt more than the beatings of previous years because they know how close they came.

“We said if we had lost and we gave it everything then we could deal with that and it is a hell of a lot easier to do that than if you just didn’t show up.

“We did throw everything at that. There was nothing left in any fella in that dressing-room and you have to be really proud of them.

“Where we were this time last year to where we are now is a very different place, but it is really important that we as a team push on. It is a very young team and we have closed that gap. There is only a point between us and one of the top teams in the country.”

Gilroy seemed to strike a chord when he suggested Cork, who should be nearing their peak, might have needed this victory more than this young Dublin team do.

“They have had a lot of pain over the past few years in Croke Park when maybe they were the strongest team in the country. Maybe that stood to them as well.”

But ultimately yesterday’s match will be remembered as a game Dublin should have won. A game where Cork were trailing for 68 minutes.

And then the tide turned, gradually at first, but when the wave came crashing down, Dublin were swallowed whole. Cork move on to a moment they have craved for a very long time. An All-Ireland final without Kerry.

Dublin, Gilroy confirmed, must now expect more of themselves.

“It’s time for us to push on now. That is the big challenge for us next year.”