GAELIC GAMES:DUBLIN MANAGER Anthony Daly is talking about a couple of seconds that can be shown 100 years from now when people begin to doubt whether this Kilkenny team were really as great as the record books will show them to be.
“I suppose when we showed a couple of signs of trying to make a real go of it, back to six, with the ball dropping in on our half-forward line. Lost. And ball down the field. Goal. That was game over really.”
At that juncture Dublin were chasing the game with admirable enthusiasm, without being able to manufacture a clear goal opportunity in the face of this legendary Kilkenny defence. Finally, the goal came on 57 minutes when Paul Ryan’s speculative shot somehow found a route to the net. This made it a six-point game with 13 minutes remaining.
This glimmer of hope for Dublin was extinguished in an instant as Richie Power plucked a dropping ball and palmed it off to Michael Rice. The Carrickshock midfielder quickly made it a nine-point game.
“That was the killer score but realistically the damage was done early,” Daly continued. “They were very much tuned in and the influence told from from the guys who weren’t there in the league final. Henry Shefflin, Richie Power, Tommy Walsh, Michael Fennelly and Eoin Larkin was sent off before half-time that day.
“We were down a few bodies as well (Tomás Brady, Ryan O’Dwyer and Stephen Hiney while Joey Boland was unfit yesterday and withdrawn early) but no excuses. They were better than us. They were more powerful, they haven’t been beaten too often when they play like that. That was the case today as well.”
In the lead-in, Daly tried, in vain he now concedes, to dampen all the talk about a backlash from the League final. “Backlash! Jeez, maybe that gets inside fella’s head, like. I just said to them at half-time throw off the shackles and go out and hurl like we have all year. Hunting in packs and that. It just seemed a little bit absent from what we’ve been doing to a lot of teams over the year. They did it to us. But sure they’ve been the template for that over the years.
“We were very disappointed with ourselves at half-time, we didn’t hurl with that ould abandon we’ve had all year. That’s key for the next day. We’ve got to get back to that.
“Maybe the day got to us a bit, the build-up. But we must give them credit where it is due – young Fennelly was very sharp early on. Pete Kelly had a great game but Larkin, when he gets a chance, he’ll stitch it. Lessons, lessons the whole time. Hard defeats. But, you know, great victory for the minors. Under-21s in the Leinster final. We are in the last six. We have a big day coming up in three weeks’ time. We have to come out now and respond. That’s crucial.”
