Dublin need another divine display to halt Cork march
If you're dreaming of walking up the Hogan Stand, you better make sure you don’t slip on the second-last step.
Cork are getting tantalisingly close to ending their record All-Ireland hurling title drought at 20 years.
The sport’s second-most successful county have been favourites since losing last year’s extra-time decider by a point to Clare and winning the Allianz Hurling League, a 16-point round-robin loss to Limerick causing a brief crash in the RBL stock price that rebounded after a historic Munster final penalty-shootout triumph against the same opponents.
Now that the dominant team of the age are out of the picture, surely it’s Cork’s to lose? Maybe not.
It’s hard to overestimate 14-man Dublin’s achievement in knocking out the Treaty in the quarter-finals. Though joint-fifth on the hurling roll of honour, the last of the capital county’s six titles came in 1938 and they haven’t been in the final since ’61. Their most recent appearance in the last four was the heart-breaking loss to today’s opponents twelve years ago.
Leinster’s apparent third-best team were given almost no chance beforehand against opposition only denied a seventh Munster in a row on penalties, and even less after losing centre-back and captain Chris Crummey for a foolish elbow on Gearóid Hegarty after just 15 minutes.
Niall Ó Ceallacháin's men were two points down at that point but showed incredible determination to take a three-point lead into half-time and then weather the inevitable Limerick fightback, hitting two goals in a minute to retake a lead they never relinquished.
Man of the match Conor Burke (0-05), Sean Currie (0-09, 5fs) and the Hayes brothers were among the stars in attack while former Dubs footballer Conor McHugh, the Paddys (Smyth and Doyle) and goalkeeper Seán Brennan, who made a crucial save from Aaron Gillane on the hour mark, led a resolute defence.
Dublin are slightly more respected today but still massive underdogs. Why can’t they do it again? They beat one of the best teams of all time, with a man less, their captain, and without two other former skippers, Danny Sutcliffe - the only other survivor from ’13 with Crummey - and Eoghan O’Donnell, who must be laughing at his luck in choosing the one year that the footballers make an earlier exit to switch codes.
Long-time free-taker Donal Burke, who along with McHugh and several others was on the Na Fianna team Ceallacháin led to the club All-Ireland crown in January, was only fit to come in for the last 10 minutes.
The loss of Crummey and the still injured Sutcliffe will again be felt but McHugh excelled at centre-back in the captain’s absence. They are also boosted by the return of midfielder Conor Donohue after suspension while aerial threat John Hetherton is again held in reserve, having scored one superb goal and created the other for Cian O’Sullivan two weeks ago.
But Dublin need to make sure they are still in the game by the time they call on him. In the group stages, they raised three green flags against both the Leinster finalists, but only after giving up big leads they were unable to fully reel in.
Cork present a different challenge to Limerick. They are more direct, with a greater emphasis on getting goals, and will have Shane Barrett and Diarmuid Healy running from the half-forward line for breaking ball off their own Brian Hayes, a big man blessed with pace, as are many of his colleagues.
And just ask Tipperary what they are capable of doing to a team that goes down to 14 men. Cork will go man for man rather than the zonal defence employed by John Kiely.
That presents its own opportunities of course. Despite the riches in attack – Conor Lehane and Shane Kingston are still among the subs as Declan Dalton returns to replace injured veteran Seamus Harnedy – it is defence where the biggest questions remain.
Niall O’Leary returns in the corner and Rob Downey at 6, having both only been fit enough to come off the bench against Limerick, and keeping a first clean sheet apart from in the facile win over Tipp would surely be enough to secure a spot in the final.
Dublin appear to have the optimal run-in time of two weeks compared to Cork’s four, but then 75% of the 80,000+ at Croker could be in red.
Those fans will expect but Pat Ryan and his team showed their ability to perform under pressure by hanging tough in the Gaelic Grounds before Darragh Fitzgibbon nailed that crucial late 65.
Both teams have scored an average of at least two goals per game and shown great resilience in losing positions. If the weather plays ball, we could be in for a battle to rival 2013.
A first championship victory over Cork in 98 years would make a very good year a great one for Dublin. But they will need to start well and repeat the intensity of the Limerick performance if they are to disrupt the Rebel march towards destiny.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O’Donoghue; Ciarán Joyce, Rob Downey , Mark Coleman; Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Diarmuid Healy, Shane Barrett, Declan Dalton; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes.
Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Millerick, Tommy O’Connell, Ethan Twomey, Luke Meade, Brian Roche, Jack O’Connor, Shane Kingston, Robbie O’Flynn, Conor Lehane.
Dublin: Seán Brennan; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke, Andrew Dunphy; Conor Donohoe, Brian Hayes; Rian McBride, Fergal Whitely, Darragh Power; Seán Currie, Ronan Hayes, Cian O'Sullivan.
Subs: Eddie Gibbons, Donal Burke, Colin Currie, Paddy Dunleavy, Daire Gray, John Hetherton, AJ Murphy, David Lucey, Paul O'Dea, Diarmaid O'Dulaing, Conal Ó Riain.
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-finals with RTÉ Sport. Cork v Dublin on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and Kilkenny v Tipperary on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Follow live blogs on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentaries on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game at 10.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
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