Leinster SFC Final: Dublin overcome spirited Louth
Dublin are Leinster football champions again, for the 14th consecutive year, but their 63rd provincial title didn’t come without an almighty struggle at Croke Park.
Level for the 10th time with 52 minutes on the clock, it was only in the final quarter that Dublin pulled away to secure the win just about everyone anticipated in front of 23,113.
Con O’Callaghan’s 55th minute goal finally broke brave Louth’s resolve and the Cuala colossus finished with 1-4, one of nine different Dublin scorers on the day.
Brian Fenton delivered yet again for Dublin too, stroking over three points and claiming the Man of the Match award.
Dublin led by seven points in stoppage time when Craig Lennon palmed in Louth’s second goal and while it was only consolation at that stage, the four-point end margin better reflected Louth’s efforts.
Ciaran Keenan scored the first Louth goal while captain Sam Mulroy struck six points on a day when the Wee County contested back-to-back Leinster finals for the first time since 1958.
Louth will head now for Group 4 of the All-Ireland series and will be in a four-team group along with Kerry, Monaghan and Meath. As for Dublin, they will be in Group 2 with Mayo, Roscommon and Cavan.
Having conceded 5-21 to Dublin in each of their last two Championship meetings, Louth made no apologies for setting up in containment mode – and it almost paid off.
Bevan Duffy and Leonard Grey were drafted in from the team that defeated Kildare in the semi-finals as boss Brennan plotted a rearguard offensive.
It wasn’t particularly enjoyable to watch but it was damn efficient from Louth’s perspective as they got 15 behind the ball virtually immediately.
They declined to contest any of Dublin’s kick-outs, allowing Stephen Cluxton to tap out to a defender while every man in a red jersey dashed back to erect a defensive screen in front of the scoring zone
Their plan was to put so much pressure on Dublin that the favourites wouldn’t get a sniff of a goal chance and would find it incredibly difficult even to get a shot away for a point.
And it panned out pretty much as Louth had hoped with Dublin, remarkably, only scoring six points in the whole of the first-half.
Cormac Costello had a half chance for a goal but he was slipping as he shot in the 29th minute and his tame effort was straight at goalkeeper Niall McDonnell.
A new ‘keeper for Louth this year, McDonnell was under intense pressure throughout the opening half as Dublin pressed up hard on his kick-outs but he coped impressively.
Dublin looked a little rattled and there were poor wides from the likes of Paul Mannion, Colm Basquel and O’Callaghan as they snatched at shots towards the Davin End goalposts.
Louth lived off scraps at the other end but were fully committed to their counter-attacking strategy and in Conal McKeever they had a player perfectly suited to the attritional, high work-rate game plan.
His darting runs up the centre of the field, combined with the angled inter-play of the excellent Conor Grimes, Ciaran Downey and Bevan Duffy, caused Dublin a surprising amount of bother.
Grimes, who has had a terrific campaign to date, slotted two points and Downey booted over another.
Mulroy’s third converted free of the half left Louth with an unlikely 0-7 to 0-6 half-time lead.
For that third point, Mulroy converted from all of 40 metres out yet there wasn’t a single Louth player ahead of him. The message was clear – if the ball drops short, we’ll have our defence already reset and ready to go.
Three Dublin points at the beginning of the second-half, from Mannion, Costello and Kilkenny, was no great surprise. Dublin led, 0-9 to 0-7, had stabilised and regrouped and would resume the normal service of doling out capital punishment on Leinster final day, right?
Turned out Louth weren’t in any mood to stick to that script and dramatically levelled the game up at 1-8 to 0-11 with a 44th minute goal.
Keenan grabbed it after great work down the left by Craig Lennon whose pass to Mulroy was flicked into Keenan’s path. The Ardee man had worked to do but raced across Cluxton and got his shot away.
The sides would draw level twice more but Louth, crucially, never got in front and O’Callaghan’s 55th minute goal finally put Dublin in the clear.
Jet heeled Jack McCaffrey, introduced immediately after the Louth goal, along with Paddy Small, intercepted a kick-out and laid it off for O’Callaghan to convert. Small added a point too as the changes paid off.
Dublin stretched the gap out to seven points, 1-19 to 1-12, before Louth got the second goal their efforts deserved. Peter Lynch and the excellent Mulroy combined to play in Lennon for a comfortable palmed finish from close range.
Con O’Callaghan 1-4 (0-1m), Cormac Costello 0-6 (0-3f), Brian Fenton 0-3, Paul Mannion 0-1, Colm Basquel 0-1, Sean Bugler 0-1, Ciaran Kilkenny 0-1, Tom Lahiff 0-1, Paddy Small 0-1.
Sam Mulroy 0-6 (0-5f), Conor Grimes 0-4, Ciaran Keenan 1-0, Craig Lennon 1-0, Ciaran Downey 0-1, Tommy Durnin 0-1.
Stephen Cluxton; Michael Fitzsimons, Eoin Murchan, Sean Bugler; James McCarthy, John Small, Cian Murphy; Tom Lahiff, Brian Fenton; Niall Scully, Cormac Costello, Ciaran Kilkenny; Paul Mannion, Con O’Callaghan, Colm Basquel.
Subs: Jack McCaffrey for Scully 49, Paddy Small for Basquel 49, Brian Howard for Lahiff 63, Ross McGarry for Bugler 64, Killian McGinnis for Mannion 71.
Niall McDonnell; Peter Lynch, Niall Sharkey, Donal McKenny; Dan Corcoran, Anthony Williams, Craig Lennon; Tommy Durnin, Bevan Duffy; Conal McKeever, Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes; Leonard Grey, Sam Mulroy, Ciaran Downey.
Subs: Dermot Campbell for Sharkey 49, Conor Early for Williams 55, Ryan Burns for Keenan 59, Ciaran Byrne for Durnin 59, Liam Jackson for Grey 65.
Noel Mooney (Cavan).
