All-Ireland SFC Quarter-final/Dublin 0-18 Derry 0-15:With 10 minutes to go in Saturday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football quarter-final at Croke Park the doubters might have been wavering a little. After an at times alarming contest with Derry, one of the form teams of the qualifier series, Dublin had come good at the right time and led by six points.
Then Jason Sherlock burned Kevin McGuckin in the left corner to swing over another point and the score-line read 0-18 to 0-11. It was now within Dublin's reach to stick a double-digit defeat on the Ulster team and take an emphatic place in the semi-finals.
Instead and with a wearying sense of familiarity the seven-point lead appeared to act as some sort of cut-out switch on the Leinster champions and with Derry battling away gamely the margin began to shrink - to the point that it took a smart block from Barry Cahill to prevent Paddy Bradley from shooting the equaliser in the final minutes.
The manner of the victory means the team's failings will get more profile than might have been the case had they won well and on the positive side there remains much room for improvement.But the difficulty is that the problem areas were so extensive during the periods of crisis.
Derry opened very strongly, their point-shooting accurate and economical despite not breaking even in terms of attacking possessions. Paddy Bradley had a fine afternoon, scoring five from play and expressing menace nearly any time he got on the ball.
This was assisted by Dublin's decision not to detail their regular man-marker Paul Griffin to pick up the Derry forward.
Maybe Dublin manager Paul Caffrey was influenced by their previous meeting four years ago in the qualifiers during which Bradley looked to have the beating of Griffin when taking him on in one-to-one situations in the corner.
On Saturday Ross McConnell struggled, as he tends to on straightforward man-marking detail since his re-tooling as a full back, any time Bradley came at him and Griffin was switched early on and did a reasonably good job of containment in a situation where his man saw a lot more ball than in 2003.
Given that Conleth Gilligan's lack of mobility is hardly a dark secret it was surprising that David Henry gave the Ballinderry forward enough space to rattle off two points. Paul Murphy was the other big scoring threat until injury forced his replacement at half-time.
At centrefield Ciarán Whelan - who may find himself under scutiny for a late challenge midway through the first half - had another fine match, taking some great catches but Shane Ryan didn't have one of his better days as a ball winner and his connection with Stephen Cluxton's kick-outs went on the blink.
To be fair the goalkeeper wasn't having one his better days on the kick-outs and in the final quarter Fergal Doherty played an immense role in winning Dublin's restarts.
Cluxton, though, added to his shot-stopping portfolio with two early second-half saves from Derry replacement Eoin Bradley.
The attack was probably Dublin's best sector. Bernard Brogan showed what an addition he has been with three points in the first half and a display of strength and purpose on the ball. He was nearly in for a sixth-minute goal but didn't shoot with enormous conviction and Gillis saved acrobatically.
Jason Sherlock was busy and effective but delivers more when playing at centre forward than on the inside line where his pace no longer gives him the turbo boost of old. Seán Martin Lockhart worked hard on Alan Brogan in the first half and sprang one great block, but isolated one-on-one he was vulnerable.
Mark Vaughan's free-taking is Prozac for the Hill's frayed nerves - and was integral to the first-half recovery and interval lead of 0-10 to 0-8. He missed only one, from an extremely difficult angle on his wrong side.
In general play he was subdued but often his runs aren't picked out and in the second half he cleverly chipped into his hands on the Canal End end-line only to draw the shoulder of the day, a full-on blockbuster from the hard -working and effective Kevin McCloy.
Derry started captain Kevin McGuckin but he looked at times understandably rusty after an injury break.
Overall Derry could be pleased with the performance. They looked like a team with a couple of good championships ahead of them once they can copper-fasten some support for Bradley although four of the attack did score more than once from play.
Dublin need improvement everywhere with the full back line the priority. But distribution from defence was frequently poor with Bryan Cullen unusually lax in some of his restarts.
The weather didn't help (either team) with a downpour at the start making the pitch slippery and causing the ball to race away, making handling and quick inter-passing difficult and resulting in a good deal of lost possession.
Kerry will be a different proposition and if the defence is opened up as easily as on Saturday, Colm Cooper and his colleagues are unlikely to be as accommodating as Derry with the goal chances.
HOW THEY LINED OUT
DUBLIN: 1. S Cluxton; 2. D Henry, 3. R McConnell, 4. P Griffin; 7. B Cahill, 6. B Cullen, 5. P Casey; 8. C Whelan, 9. S Ryan; 10. C Moran (0-1), 11. J Sherlock (0-2), 12. B Brogan (0-3); 14. C Keaney (0-2, one free), 15. M Vaughan (0-7, four frees and three 45s), 13. A Brogan (0-3). Subs: 26. K Bonner for B Brogan (63 mins), 21. D Magee for Ryan (66 mins), 20. J Magee for Moran (70 mins), 22. T Quinn for Keaney (71 mins).
DERRY: 1. B Gillis; 6. SM Lockhart, 26. K McGuckin, 3. K McCloy; 7. F McEldowney, 2. M McGoldrick, 4. G O'Kane; 8. F Doherty (0-1), 9. J Conway; 10. M Lynch, 11. P Murphy (0-2), 12. E Muldoon; 13. C Devlin (0-2), 14. P Bradley (0-6, one free), 15. C Gilligan (0-3, one free). Subs: 17. E Bradley (0-1) for Murphy (half-time), 25. B McGoldrick for Lynch (50 mins), 29. R Wilkinson for McEldowney (58 mins), 18. Patsy Bradley for Conway (59 mins), 20. J Diver for Gilligan (65 mins).
YELLOW CARDS - Dublin: B Cahill (40 mins).C Moran (68 mins). Derry: K McGuckin (30 mins). P Bradley (44 mins).
Referee: Aidan Mangan (Kerry).
Attendance: 80,213
