LAST UPDATE | 15 Jul 2023
Dublin 1-17
Monaghan 0-13
NOBODY WAS GOING along to Croke Park to see if a classic game of football might just break out, it was much too important for that.
Monaghan arrived looking to make it to their first All-Ireland final since 1930 and with an hour gone on the clock, it looked as if it was a 50-50 thing.
This was the sixth time the sides had been level in the game and the score itself was an indicator of how the contest was just creaking open from the suffocating grind it had been. From a Rory Beggan kickout, the towering Gary Mohan knocked it down to Darren Hughes. The Scotstown man pinged a brilliant pass to Conor McManus who caught it chest height and stuck his arm up to claim a mark.
He converted it. Game on.
Only, that was as good as it got for Monaghan. Dublin attacked their own kickout aggressively to win possession and it ended up in the hands of Brian Fenton who negotiated his way past Mohan with a mixture of balance and brute strength to regain the lead.
At this, Dublin put on their full-court press. Beggan was under pressure to find the out ball. Hill 16 was on his back and the volume went up. Monaghan were pushed back as Dublin hungrily cornered them between the Hill and the Cusack Stand.
Stephen O’Hanlon was adjudged to have touched the ball on the ground, and Paul Mannion, despite an afternoon when he never got the revs up, floated over a difficult kick.
The next kickout was critical again. Dublin had another aggressive press on. Without any options, Beggan hooked it down the centre with little elevation but it went straight to Eoin Murchan who propelled it forward instantly. After going through the phases, Jack McCaffrey ended up taking a point.
Three points down, it wasn’t over for Monaghan. On 66 minutes, Darren Hughes sent a ball towards Monaghan sub Jack McCarron. His sidestep left Davy Byrne sliding on the grass.
There was a split-second that he spent adjusting himself for the kick. That was the chance. He didn’t get a gallop up at all, but there was clear space between him and Stephen Cluxton in goal. He took his point.
From that point, Dublin owned the ball. Fenton was in the trenches but looking as regal as ever, the happy warrior adding another point.
Lorcan O’Dell was heading towards goal and Hughes put in a monster hit that dislodged the ball. However, referee Sean Hurson felt the follow-through was a little too enthusiastic and embracing and ordered a free in.
Cormac Costello handed off the free to Dean Rock to make the margin four points, with two minutes of injury-time played.
Monaghan pushed tired bodies around the field, but a ball inside from Con O’Callaghan to Rock ended with the Ballymun man bundling over while practically on the goal line.
It was a cruel last act. But that’s what made the great Dublin team of recent years, the ability to blitz teams in injury time.
It’s easy to make judgements of Dublin based on the fact that Pat Gilroy is back as a selector, but there seems to be an edge present that hadn’t been there the last two years.
When Niall Scully was black carded, he came back on only to be instantly replaced by Ciaran Kilkenny. The Castleknock man charged round like a bull in a display that could win him a starting slot for the All-Ireland final.
Jack McCaffrey came on for Colm Basquel. They weren’t going more defensive. Instead, they moved Lee Gannon to wing-forward and he was able to help himself to a point. There are players now competing hard for every minute. It’s not how it was when they were in their mid-Jim Gavin peak, but that’s maybe never likely to happen again.
For now, they are back playing like the side that has it all to prove. Expect them to maintain that approach for the final.
Monaghan – darlings of the romantics – had done all that was asked of them.
They went with an eyeballs-out team selection that included Kieran Hughes and Conor McManus to start. They were just a point adrift at the break. By the end of Dublin’s specialty – ‘The Championship Quarter’ – they were level again.
But in Croke Park with the Hill howling and the heat of the pressure an inferno, nobody can hear you scream.
Scorers for Dublin: Cormac Costello 0-7 (3f, 1x ‘mark’), Dean Rock 1-1 (1f), Brian Fenton, Con O’Callaghan 0-2 each, Paul Mannion 0-2, (1f, 1x ‘mark’), Lee Gannon, Paddy Small, Jack McCaffrey 0-1 each
Scorers for Monaghan: Conor McManus 0-5 (3f, 1x ‘mark’), Rory Beggan 0-3 (3x ‘45’), Stephen O’Hanlon, Michael Bannigan, Ryan McAnespie, Gary Mohan, Jack McCarron 0-1 each.
Dublin
1. Stephen Cluxton (Parnells)
2. Eoin Murchan (Na Fianna), 3. Michael Fitzsimons (Cuala), 4. David Byrne (Naomh Olaf)
5. James McCarthy (Ballymun), 6. John Small (Ballymun), 7. Lee Gannon (Whitehall)
8. Brian Fenton (Raheny), 9. Brian Howard (Raheny)
10. Paul Mannion (Kilmacud), 26. Paddy Small (Ballymun), 12. Niall Scully (Templeogue Synge Street)
13. Cormac Costello (Whitehall), 14. Con O’Callaghan (Cuala), 15. Colm Basquel (Ballyboden)
Subs
17. Ciaran Kilkenny (Castleknock) for Scully (29)
20. Jack McCaffrey (Clontarf) for Basquel (44)
24. Lorcan O’Dell (Templeogue Synge Street) for Small (63)
25. Dean Rock (Ballymun) for Mannion (69)
18. Tom Lahiff (St Jude’s) for Costello (72)
Monaghan
1. Rory Beggan (Scotstown)
6. Conor Boyle (Clontibret) 3. Kieran Duffy (Latton), 4. Ryan Wylie (Ballybay)
5. Karl O’Connell (Tyholland), 11. Michael Bannigan (Annaghmullan), 7. Conor McCarthy (Scotstown)
20. Darren Hughes (Scotstown), 9. Killian Lavelle (Clontibret)
10. Stephen O’Hanlon (Carrickmacross), 17. Kieran Hughes (Scotstown), 12. Ryan McAnespie (Emyvale)
18. Conor McManus (Clontibret), 14. Gary Mohan (Truagh), 15. Dessie Ward (Ballybay)
Subs
8. Karl Gallagher (Emyvale) for Ward (44)
13. Jack McCarron (Scotstown) for Kieran Hughes (46)
2. Ryan O’Toole (Scotstown) for Boyle (60)
19. Sean Jones (Inniskeen) for McAnespie (66)
26. Colm Lennon (Ballybay) for Lavelle (69)
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)