SFC Qualifier Round Three/ Dublin 1-17; Longford 0-11: Something stirring in the House of Blue. Dublin came to Portlaoise for the Saturday night hooley and endured 35 minutes of shuffling uncertainty before they cut Flashdance loose on the floor. Longford looked suddenly like clod-hopping bachelors. Definitely something going on.

By the time Dublin hit Croke Park again they should look like a side that's spent some time at an expensive health farm. They'll be in better shape. They'll have more confidence. They'll have made some decisions about where they are going. They've got from the qualifiers pretty much all a team can get.

And in the boot room some bullets have been bitten. Were the championship a reality game show most people in the 01 area would have phoned in their preference for a close approximation to the side which played on Saturday night.

All of which is remarkable. For any management team confidence and certainty are weapons of first resort. Going back to the drawing board and blowing dust off the contacts book takes courage. Dublin have either done that or there is a military junta in control.

So Ian Robertson wears the number 14 shirt and Dessie Farrell is an impact sub. Both were last seen in Siberia. There's more. Senan Connell has been returned to the wing where his free running is best exploited.

Last week Bryan Cullen quietly assumed his destiny as Dublin's centre back. Paul Griffin's loose brand of attacking football no longer exhibits at corner back. Ciarán Whelan's sporadic moments of genius come from the centre forward spot. And Dublin have some pattern at last.

The earliest ball is no longer automatically the best ball. On Saturday they slung together some of the best moves we have seen from a Dublin team in quite some time. One first half point from Alan Brogan stood out. A sublime kicked pass from Mossy Quinn into Jason Sherlock's hands. A quick pass and Brogan skipping through to score, old style. The blues in the attendance of 10,600 picked up on the significance.

They'd needed the odd moment like that. For the first half of the game the football was played at slightly sub-championship intensity and Longford were there all the way. They blew into town having been nourished themselves by the qualifiers and boasting the blade of a fine full-forward line.

Given the amount of first-time ball which that full-forward line got its hands to Dublin can be pleased with the covering done by their full-back line in restricting Longford to so few scores from play.

Niall Sheridan gave Paddy Christie a hard time early on and Christie's failure to adapt immediately to the challenge presented by Sheridan's sheer size was a contributory factor in Longford's first two scores. Still.

About once every decade somebody gives Christie a hard time and usually he learns to cope. So it was on Saturday. Outside of that Trevor Smullen, Pauric Davis and David Barden are all footballers who need watching and each showed moments of wonder on Saturday.

The Longford inside line adapted a curious tactic of bunching around the large square. Anything which Sheridan broke they pounced upon like prospectors dazzled by a glinting rock. Any balls out to the vacated corners they engaged in sprint races to get. It worked up to a point but Dublin's half back line never permitted Longford's wing forwards the freedom to fully exploit the spaces in front of them.

As the game matured so the ball to the inside line deteriorated. Dublin, as Tommy Lyons said afterwards, just kept at it. They got to the break just a point ahead but could comfort themselves with the knowledge that Brogan had popped what looked like a certain goal high and wide and Quinn had the misfortune to see Damien Sheridan make a fine save from his penalty effort, which seemed to unneccessarily derail Quinn's confidence from placed balls.

Through all this though Dublin were showing glimpses of what might be. Robertson possesses not just impermeable class but intelligence and generosity as a full forward. He provides when he can. He moves his man away when necessary. He contests when it's wise to.

Brogan, meanwhile, looks like the player of 2002 and Sherlock has never looked sharper. On another night Quinn could just have easily concluded business with a Mattie Forde like figure in brackets after his name (Sheridan made another fine save from Quinn's boot early in the second half), while the running of Connell and Whelan did much to vary Dublin's attacking options.

Longford equalised just after the break and we waited for the shift to endgame. Who would step things up? Inevitably, perhaps, it was Dublin. The introduction of Shane Ryan had an impact on the Longford wing forwards and Smullen, in particular, was diminished. It all effectively ended in the 46th minute when Connell steepled a ball into the square and Robertson rose with two Longford men to turn it into the net.

After that it became apparent that a lot of the misfiring of the first half had been a confidence thing. Dublin's All-Darren midfield of Homan and Magee began to dominate and a string of fine scores followed with Sherlock, Whelan and Brogan all helping themselves.

A David Barden point 10 minutes from time merely prompted another run of Dublin scores including a popular one from Farrell (who thumped the woodwork, too, using, novelly, his right foot) and a fine point from Quinn.

Dublin aren't the finished article, but their squad now contains the faces and the mix it should contain and their ability to face up to their own defects will serve them well. After Westmeath, things could only get better. They have.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; B Cahill, P Christie, C Goggins; P Casey, B Cullen, P Griffin; D Homan, D Magee; J Sherlock (0-2), C Whelan (0-2), S Connell; A Brogan (0-4), I Robertson (1-1), T Quinn (0-6, three frees, one 45). Subs: S Ryan (0-1) for Casey (40 mins), D Farrell (0-1) for Brogan (58 mins), J Magee for Homan (59 mins), R Boyle for Robertson (64 mins), R Cosgrove for Connell (66 mins).

LONGFORD: D Sheridan; D Brady, C Conefrey, B Burke; M Mulleady , E Ledwith, D Reilly; L Keenan, D Hannify; A O'Connor, P Barden, T Smullen (0-2); D Barden (0-2), N Sheridan, P Davis (0-7, five frees). Subs: S Carroll for Mulleady (12 mins), S Mulligan for Carroll (47 mins), J Kenny for O'Connor (50 mins).

Referee: M Curley (Galway)