MAYBE IT’S A sign of Dublin’s strength, and of the standards we expect of the All-Ireland favourites, that we gloss over the positives and instead trawl for faults.
A fifth straight Leinster title, and a 10th in 11 years, represents a stranglehold that is not to be sniffed at.
But their latest provincial crown must be set in context. They beat three Division 3 sides by a combined total of 59 points — hardly the most rigorous test of their September credentials.
In that respect, yesterday’s game was a lose-lose for the Dubs. Hammer Westmeath out the gate and there would be more handwringing about the death of football in Leinster; anything less and there would be questions about why they struggled to run up another cricket score.
In the end they posted 2-13, a total that would win more than championship games than not, but still represented their lowest return in Leinster since Jim Gavin took charge three seasons ago.
That was largely down to Westmeath’s tactics of pulling 13 men behind the ball to contain and frustrate Dublin.
It worked in the first half. The Dubs only managed eight points but when they re-emerged after the break, they sprung like animals possessed and killed the game with 2-2 in the space of five minutes.
Westmeath weren’t the first to deploy a defensive system to stifle them this season, and they won’t be the last. It’s no surprise that Gavin chose Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh as opponents for a challenge match last week.
“The boys relish this challenge,” a satisfied Gavin said on Sunday afternoon.
Coming into the game it was one of the gameplans that we thought (Westmeath) might roll out and they did. I thought we handled it very well.
That much is up for debate.
In the first half especially, Dublin’s performance was littered with errors. The Westmeath blanket sapped the usual pace from their attacking moves, and while Dublin tried their best to be patient, they were guilty of forcing the issue on occasion.
It led to careless wides — the Dubs shot 16 in total — and sloppy, simple turnovers.
The often disjointed forward play was compounded by some off-colour individual contributions. In particular Paul Flynn, usually the most reliable man on the park, was out of sorts though he did go some way towards making amends by creating Bernard Brogan’s goal.
Fortunately for Dublin, Westmeath had neither the nous nor the numbers to make them pay at the other end.
Have they really found the keys to unlock a massed defence? Their first two scores came via Philly McMahon and James McCarthy, two defenders given the licence to push on and support attacks without fear.
But it was 28 minutes before one of their forwards scored from play, Diarmuid Connolly pointing from 30+ yards.
The St Vincent’s star was man of the match, adding two magnificent scores off the outside of his right boot in the second half.
Worryingly for Dublin, they were scores reminiscent of the opening 20 minutes of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal.
For those few minutes, beating the blanket seemed so simple; all you had to do was ping points over the sea of defenders from the 40-yard line.
It’s practically impossible to do that with any real consistency though, and the aggregate shooting numbers from yesterday’s win — 15 scores, 16 wides — tend to back that up.
Asked if Westmeath’s stifling approach should give the Donegals of this world hope for later in the summer, Tom Cribbin was unequivocal.
“Without a doubt. Look, all the teams playing in Division 1 haven’t gone back and put this system together, including Armagh, they haven’t gone back for no specific reason.”
Gavin was the first to admit that there is plenty of room for improvement before the quarter-finals next month.
The All-Ireland favourites came through their first mini-test of the summer with few scars but it was performance that left as many questions as answers.
Originally published Monday at 18.00
To say his career in management has been ‘largely unsuccessful’ is incorrect.He did have success at Sunderland.
That’s why I said ‘largely unsuccessful’ rather than ‘entirely unsuccessful’ Eamonn.
To call his management ‘largely unsuccessful ‘ is unfair Paul. He took Sunderland from bottom of the table to win the championship. Success.Then he kept them in the Prem. more success.
Already sick of the Roy Keane stories. I’ve read sweet f**k all about Martin O’Neill who last time I checked, was actually appointed boss, not Keane.
By the way I hope that O’Neill does not start tiptoeing around d**kheads like Stephen Ireland and Darron Gibson, begging them to come play for Ireland. If he puts 11 men out there who replicate the pride, commitment and passion shown by the likes of the Clare and Cork hurlers last month, in every game they play then ill be happy enough. You can’t ask for more than that. Leave the primadonnas at home.
Agreed. Had to laugh at Stephen Ireland being interviewed and saying he’s going to give some consideration to coming back. He hasn’t done anything to merit it since he was playing for City.
Last month, Roy helped his old Forest mate Gary Charles with some coaching at a University of Nottingham football match. I talked to some of the boys – after they got over the shock of Keane walking into their dressing room unannounced, they said he was articulate, obviously enthusiastic about what they were doing, and helpful in his critique. This is just one example of what he’s been doing the last three years; from helping some university players to observing training at Barcelona – he hasn’t just been walking the dogs and working for ITV. He’s been serious about trying to improve his skill set and I suspect he’s had a good old think about where he’s gone wrong in the past in his management style.
Since when does coaching come into international football??? Coaching is done at your club.
Tactics & the motivation are the only thing an international manager (that’s Martin O Neill everyone not Keane, just try remember that) gets to do with the short amount of time with the players……
Good work journo, another nonsense story
Lets take them across the water. Gerrard and Lampard could never play well together as they’ve only ever played one style of football and basically only predominantly for one club.
Coaching them at international level was the only way to get them to change their style of playing. Unfortunately for England it didn’t work. Possibly a good coach may have made it work.
A coach is essential at all levels.
A hotshot…. In precious few days that you have the players, how can you coach them?? Team organisation, tactics & mentally preparing them for an international match should be just scrapped for coaching grown men???
Kids get coached, precessionals listen to tactics
@Kevin: Maybe the lack of success was because they were trying to coach these two top players into a style of football they were both uncomfortable with, rather than having the tactical fluency to play them as they would wish to be played.
People seem to forget Martin O Neill is the manager not Roy Keane
I think your article is very misleading Paul. You are damning his coaching ability by criticising his man management skills. From what I gather he is an intelligent and innovative coach on the training ground whose management career was stifled by issues with the man management rather than the coaching.
I meant ‘coaching style’ in the broader sense of the word, Joseph. Man management can be considered a part of coaching.
Id disagree, man management is part of management, coaching can be a part of management too but would be more widely considered, in the context of British football at any rate, as the work done with players on the training pitch.
Sorry to say that while your articles are normally good I’m afraid you should have given this one a miss, it smacks of Sun type journalism.
FACT: Martin O’Neill is ROI manager
FACT:Roy Keane is his assistant and no doubt part of his coaching staff.
Why is all the talk about Roy and not what Martin brings to the job. From reports I have read, I have no idea one way or the other, O’Neill can be quite tough when he wants to be. So less of the jumping on the Dunphy bandwagon please.