Dublin 1-12 Kerry 1-11: In the end, it came down to one man. Or, if you prefer, a number one man. Stephen Cluxton, the Dublin goalkeeper who has been so crucial to their year, trotted forward with a minute of injury time left to drill an All-Ireland winning score into the Hill at last, after a breathless day in Croke Park.
They won the only way they could – by a single inch after a game where next to nothing separated the sides. An end to 16 years of hurt, and all that.
All manner of tactical jiggery-pokery infused the game. The main rabbit pulled from Jack O’Connor’s hat was the role of Kieran Donaghy. After an indifferent summer in which he has struggled to get into some games, the big Tralee man was given a roving role early on. For Kerry kick-outs, he was a wing back, for Dublin ones, he was a wing-forward. Dublin couldn’t figure out who to send after him as he popped up close to both sidelines and it gave Kerry the best of the opening skirmishes.
Dublin’s approach was far more rigid and initially they looked like they might pay for it. They strung four men across the half-back line and gave them their own patch to patrol, a tactic that works well in just about every instance, save for when those men are run at. Nobody in the game covers ground quicker with ball in hand than Darran O’Sullivan and it was his surge in the 19th minute that led to the game’s first goal. Sprinting past a flailing James McCarthy, he drew the Dublin full-back line before feeding Colm Cooper. One step, one shot, one goal.
That put Kerry into the lead by 1-1 to 0-2. Both of Dublin’s points had come from the boot of Alan Brogan but still you felt that Kerry were good for their lead. They’d worked their way around Dublin’s zonal defence and had only coughed up a couple of scores themselves, both the result of their own mistakes.
As if to ram home his team’s superiority, Jack O’Connor sent Paul Galvin into the fray almost immediately. With centrefield a battle zone, this was more his sort of game than Kieran O’Leary’s. Or so you would think. In his anxiety to get into the game, Galvin had a horrible first 10 minutes. He gave away two frees that were converted for Dublin points and kicked another ball away that ended with Bernard Brogan pointing from play. Only a fine score of his own a minute before the break salved his conscience and made the half-time score 0-6 to 1-2 in Dublin’s favour.
Any notion that Kerry would burst from the blocks in the second half was given the lie as Dublin scored the first two points. It meant Kerry trailed by three with half an hour to go. Yet within five minutes they were level, Donaghy fisting a point having gone in full-forward and Bryan Sheehan growing into the game. It was Sheehan’s point in the 50th minute that put Kerry ahead 1-6 to 0-8.
That was Gilroy’s cue to send Kevin McManamon on – the substitution that changed the game, just as it had in the semi-final. Although Kerry pushed on to go four points up with seven minutes to go, it was McManamon who scythed through for Dublin’s only goal to send Croke Park into rapture. When Kevin Nolan followed up with a point from the kick-out, the place went orbital. Although the excellent Donaghy drew Kerry level, Cluxton got his chance at the kill-shot.
He nailed it.
Kerry: B Kealy; K Young, M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé, E Brosnan, A O'Mahony; A Maher, B Sheehan (0-4, 0-3 frees, 0-1 45); Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), D Walsh; C Cooper (1-3, 0-2 frees), K Donaghy (0-2), K O'Leary Subs P Galvin (0-1) for O’Leary, 24 mins; BJ Keane for Walsh, 51 mins; D Bohan for Brosnan, 63 mins
Yellow card: O’Mahony, Sheehan
Dublin: S Cluxton (0-1, free); C O'Sullivan, R O'Carroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, G Brennan, K Nolan (0-1); MD Macauley, D Bastick (0-1); P Flynn, B Cahill, B Cullen; A Brogan (0-2), D Connolly, B Brogan (0-6, 0-4 frees) Subs P McMahon for McCarthy, 47 mins; K McManamon for Flynn, 51 mins; E O’Gara for Cahill, 58 mins; E Fennell for Bastick, 63 mins
Yellow card: Flynn, O’Carroll, Brennan
They won the only way they could – by a single inch after a game where next to nothing separated the sides. An end to 16 years of hurt, and all that.
All manner of tactical jiggery-pokery infused the game. The main rabbit pulled from Jack O’Connor’s hat was the role of Kieran Donaghy. After an indifferent summer in which he has struggled to get into some games, the big Tralee man was given a roving role early on. For Kerry kick-outs, he was a wing back, for Dublin ones, he was a wing-forward. Dublin couldn’t figure out who to send after him as he popped up close to both sidelines and it gave Kerry the best of the opening skirmishes.
Dublin’s approach was far more rigid and initially they looked like they might pay for it. They strung four men across the half-back line and gave them their own patch to patrol, a tactic that works well in just about every instance, save for when those men are run at. Nobody in the game covers ground quicker with ball in hand than Darran O’Sullivan and it was his surge in the 19th minute that led to the game’s first goal. Sprinting past a flailing James McCarthy, he drew the Dublin full-back line before feeding Colm Cooper. One step, one shot, one goal.
That put Kerry into the lead by 1-1 to 0-2. Both of Dublin’s points had come from the boot of Alan Brogan but still you felt that Kerry were good for their lead. They’d worked their way around Dublin’s zonal defence and had only coughed up a couple of scores themselves, both the result of their own mistakes.
As if to ram home his team’s superiority, Jack O’Connor sent Paul Galvin into the fray almost immediately. With centrefield a battle zone, this was more his sort of game than Kieran O’Leary’s. Or so you would think. In his anxiety to get into the game, Galvin had a horrible first 10 minutes. He gave away two frees that were converted for Dublin points and kicked another ball away that ended with Bernard Brogan pointing from play. Only a fine score of his own a minute before the break salved his conscience and made the half-time score 0-6 to 1-2 in Dublin’s favour.
Any notion that Kerry would burst from the blocks in the second half was given the lie as Dublin scored the first two points. It meant Kerry trailed by three with half an hour to go. Yet within five minutes they were level, Donaghy fisting a point having gone in full-forward and Bryan Sheehan growing into the game. It was Sheehan’s point in the 50th minute that put Kerry ahead 1-6 to 0-8.
That was Gilroy’s cue to send Kevin McManamon on – the substitution that changed the game, just as it had in the semi-final. Although Kerry pushed on to go four points up with seven minutes to go, it was McManamon who scythed through for Dublin’s only goal to send Croke Park into rapture. When Kevin Nolan followed up with a point from the kick-out, the place went orbital. Although the excellent Donaghy drew Kerry level, Cluxton got his chance at the kill-shot.
He nailed it.
Kerry: B Kealy; K Young, M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé, E Brosnan, A O'Mahony; A Maher, B Sheehan (0-4, 0-3 frees, 0-1 45); Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), D Walsh; C Cooper (1-3, 0-2 frees), K Donaghy (0-2), K O'Leary Subs P Galvin (0-1) for O’Leary, 24 mins; BJ Keane for Walsh, 51 mins; D Bohan for Brosnan, 63 mins
Yellow card: O’Mahony, Sheehan
Dublin: S Cluxton (0-1, free); C O'Sullivan, R O'Carroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, G Brennan, K Nolan (0-1); MD Macauley, D Bastick (0-1); P Flynn, B Cahill, B Cullen; A Brogan (0-2), D Connolly, B Brogan (0-6, 0-4 frees) Subs P McMahon for McCarthy, 47 mins; K McManamon for Flynn, 51 mins; E O’Gara for Cahill, 58 mins; E Fennell for Bastick, 63 mins
Yellow card: Flynn, O’Carroll, Brennan
