DEATH, TAXES, AND Dublin reigning supreme in Leinster.
Mick Bohan’s side added another provincial title to their burgeoning trophy cabinet after a 3-17 to 0-8 demolition of Meath at Croke Park yesterday.
Dublin lifted the silver for the 11th time in succession — though the competition was not played in 2020, due to the lack of senior opposition in the province, or 2021.
Four teams competed this year, but the All-Ireland champions ultimately strolled to glory.
They scored an eye-watering 17-64 in four games as they put Kildare, Laois and Meath (twice) to the sword.
The Dubs stopped high-flying Kildare in their tracks on opening day with a 4-15 to 2-4 win at Parnell Park, and they followed it up with a 5-19 to 0-1 drubbing of Laois on the road.
Meath, All-Ireland champions in 2021 and 2022, joined them in the final after beating the recent intermediate winners by five and 10 points respectively, but the rivals met in a dead-rubber group game first.
The Royals fielded a second-string team; Bohan mixed it up but went rather strong, and they sent out another statement of intent with a 5-13 to 0-8 win.
Surely the final would be much tighter than the dress rehearsal?
Nope. A 20-point deficit was improved only to 18, the game over as a contest by half time.
And it could have been worse.
Dublin were ruthless and clinical for the most part, though did leave some scoring opportunities behind them.
Meath couldn’t live with them. The Royals were extremely disappointing and as manager Shane McCormack said, “didn’t do themselves justice”, but Dublin were awesome.
Their strong running game repeatedly left Meath scrambling.
Turnover, break at speed, Hannah Tyrrell on the loop. Rinse and repeat.
The returning Sinéad Goldrick was central to it all, with half-back partner Olwen Carey and fellow AFLW star Jennifer Dunne among other key cogs.
Carey — after a two-year hiatus — and Dunne were back on board from the early stages of the league but, as reported by The 42, eight-time All-Star Goldrick didn’t reconvene until closer to championship.
Their contributions cannot be overstated — along with others’.
Caoimhe O’Connor turned on the jets for Dublin’s first goal in the 10th minute, with captain Carla Rowe slotting home after an elongated one-two.
Their second goal was all about Dunne. The Cuala colossus robbed the ball on the ’45 and linked up with Carey before palming home.
It was 2-8 to 0-2 at half time, as Meath were held scoreless from the 12th minute.
Emma Duggan, who had a sub-par day by her standards, did stop the rot on the restart, but Dublin soon twisted the knife once more.
O’Connor raised their third green flag with 20 minutes to go. Dunne plucked Monica McGuirk’s kickout from the sky and found Niamh Hetherton who, in turn, slipped Kate Sullivan through. Her effort was saved and Goldrick crashed the rebound off the post, but O’Connor made no mistake with the third attempt.
That made it 3-10 to 0-3. Meath did score the next three points, but Dublin finished strong.
They had a spread of nine scorers overall. While Tyrrell pointed the way in the first half, Hetherton scored four impressive points from play down the stretch.
Former Bohemians star Chloe Darby and another comeback kid, Nicole Owens, also contributed from the bench, much to Bohan’s delight.
He paid tribute to the St Sylvester’s sharpshooter and other returning stars afterwards.
“A year ago, I would have said to you we were in a complete rebuild and we were,” the manager remarked.
“We had 16 new players and then out of that we got a couple of diamonds who just came through. Obviously the season ended well for us, but then we got a little bit of an influx back.
“Nicole [Owens] coming back into the set-up, she was out with a double ACL. Olwen Carey coming back, she had gone into the guards. Goldie [Sinead Goldrick] coming back from Australia. Jess Tobin, who had done her ACL.
“All of a sudden you get a bounce from those people. There is unbelievable experience in the group.”
In those five players, that’s 15 extra All-Ireland medals and 11 more All-Star awards.
That bounce, and experience, puts them in good stead ahead of the All-Ireland series.
Dublin are now pitted against Connacht runners-up Mayo and Kildare in the group stages, as their Brendan Martin title defence officially gets underway next month.
There will be challengers from all over, but the champions are undoubtedly in a good place as things stand.
