Leinster SFC final: deadly Dubs demolish ragged Royals
July 20, 2014
Dublin's Bernard Brogan celebrates scoring a goal as Donal Keaogan holds his head in his hands ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
A crowd of 62,660 was at Headquarters today to witness a complete mismatch as the reigning All-Ireland champions effortlessly retained the Delaney Cup for the ninth time in ten years. It's the third consecutive year that they've dumped their neighbours in the Leinster decider.
Bernard Brogan, Kevin McManamon and Eoghan O'Gara bagged the goals for the winners, who eased up long before the final whistle.
At the end of a one-sided opening period, a rampant Dublin side led by nine points, 1-12 to 0-6. The outstanding McManamon and the Brogan brothers were running the Meath defence ragged and the Royal County couldn't get a foothold in the match. When they thought they had done, Stephen Bray's goal was ruled out as the whistle had sounded prematurely for a free-in!
Bernard Brogan slotted Dublin's first-half goal at the start of the second quarter and the All-Ireland champions almost grabbed a second major only to see McManamon's effort strike the bar.
Jim Gavin made three late changes to his starting team, introducing Michael Fitzsimons, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion in place of Jonny Cooper, Kevin Nolan and Paddy Andrews respectively, while Mick O'Dowd made one late amendment to the Meath starting XV, with Dalton McDonagh - hero of the semi-final victory over Kildare - again drafted in from the start at corner forward, with Graham Reilly switched to midfield and Brian Meade omitted.
Bernard Brogan had the Dubs ahead from a simple free straight in front of the Hill 16 posts after 30 seconds after Eoghan Harrington was pulled up for an off-the-ball tug on Mannion. Shane O'Rourke and Mickey Newman hit Meath wides while Alan Brogan dropped a Dublin effort short into Paddy O'Rourke's arms.
The Royals were level in the sixth minute when Shane O'Rourke dropped over a left-footed free from the hands and Paul Flynn's shot struck the top of the right upright before Diarmuid Connolly pulled a free to the right and wide off his weaker left peg. But Bernard Brogan made no mistake as he converted another Dublin free in the ninth minute.
Michael Darragh MacAuley was fortunate to escape a card for retaliating to a Donnacha Tobin tackle after Connolly had posted Dublin's first point from play and Cluxton's beautifully-struck '45' made it 0-4 to 0-1 after 13 minutes. It was a four-point match on 15 minutes when midfielder Cian O'Sullivan sliced over a great Dublin point off the outside of his right foot.
Stephen Bray responded with a tremendous score from the right wing 60 seconds later; when Kevin Manamon blazed over a sixth Dublin point, Andrew Tormey replied instantly with a point at the end of a tidy team move. On 18 minutes, the Meath goal was breached when Bernard Brogan gathered a McManamon shot that came back off an upright and poked the rebound to the net off the toe of older brother Alan after seeing his initial effort smothered: 1-6 to 0-3.
Newman and Bernard Brogan traded points and there were some poor misses at both ends from Connolly (2), Newman and Graham Reilly.
Poor refereeing cost Meath a goal in the 25th minute when Padraig Hughes failed to apply the advantage rule as McDonagh was fouled before he offloaded the ball to Bray, who drilled a low shot to the back of the net. Instead of a goal, the Royals were awarded a free, which Newman despatched. Alan Brogan replied instantly and Damien Carroll swivelled to clip over the visitors' sixth point before Bernard Brogan nailed another Dublin free to make it double scores after 28 minutes, 1-9 to 0-6.
MacAuley did the spadework before McManamon increased the gap to seven points and the Dubs No.13 notched his second and third successive points, the winners' twelfth score coming after McManamon smacked a left-footed shot off the crossbar and Mannion recycled possession back to him.
There was some pushing and shoving as the teams left the field at half time but this game was already over as a meaningful contest.
A Bernard Brogan free increased the gap within seconds of the restart; Shane O'Rourke replied by kicking a free between the posts into The Hill. Connolly and Tobin picked up yellow cards for tussling off the ball but McManamon was clearly in no mood for handbags as he again turned his man to drill a fierce shot to the roof of the Meath net to bring his haul for the afternoon to 1-4 four minutes into the second half: 2-13 to 0-7.
Meath's sagging confidence was evident in wides from Bray and Bryan McMahon; Bernard Brogan's 43rd-minute point left 13 between the sides; McCaffrey fisted the next Dublin point after taking a pass from half-time substitute Cormac Costello - triple scores!
Flynn registered the winners' fifth second-half score as the procession continued before a rare Meath attack was punctuated by a shot off the upright from substitute Joey Wallace. Newman was crowded out as he tried to burst through the Dublin defence and Dubs sub Eoghan O'Gara's attempt at goal rolled inches wide before Tormey curled over the losers' first point in 13 minutes: 2-16 to 0-8 after 51 minutes.
For the second game in succession, Meath lost McMahon to a head injury; his Ratoath clubmate Wallace supplied the Royal County's tenth wide. Moments earlier, Costello was almost in for a third Dublin goal. Man of the Match McManamon pointed off his left and substitute Dean Rock's score 13 minutes from the end left 16 points between these fierce rivals.
Costello added the next and O'Gara showed no emotion as he planted an unstoppable shot into the bottom right corner of the net on the hour: 3-19 to 0-8. A minute later, Rock flicked the ball onto the post with the goal at his mercy. In the 62nd minute, Newman bagged a consolation goal for the challengers when he rolled a lovely groundshot past Cluxton into the bottom corner.
Players from both camps got involved in a brief flashpoint after O'Gara and Meath full back Kevin Reilly became entangled; yellow cards were issued to O'Gara, Paddy O'Rourke and Royal sub Mickey Burke. Substitute David Bray and his brother Stephen (via Cluxton's fingertips) pulled back another couple of consolation points and the latter then saw yellow for clipping Philly McMahon.
O'Gara closed the scoring in the second minute of injury time as the Dubs easily won their 53rd provincial title and progressed to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Meath now face a fourth-round Qualifier and they will find it hard to pick themselves up after this mauling.
Dublin: S Cluxton (0-1); P McMahon, R O'Carroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, M Devereux, J McCaffrey (0-1); MD Macauley, C O'Sullivan (0-1); P Flynn (0-1), A Brogan (0-1), D Connolly (0-1); K McManamon (1-5), P Mannion, B Brogan (1-6). Subs: C Costello (0-1) for Mannion, D Rock (0-1) for Connolly, E O'Gara (1-1) for A Brogan, D Daly for Devereux, D Bastick for Macauley, T Brady for O'Sullivan.
Meath: P O'Rourke; E Harrington, K Reilly, B Menton; P Harnan, D Keogan, D Tobin; G Reilly, S O'Rourke (0-2); D Carroll (0-1), B McMahon, A Tormey (0-2); D McDonagh, S Bray (0-2), M Newman (1-2). Subs: J Wallace for G Reilly, M Burke for Carroll, D Bray (0-1) for McDonagh, B Meade for S O'Rourke, J McEntee for McMahon, P Gilsenan for Tobin.
Ref: P Hughes (Armagh). Tweet
