Majestic Brogan inspires 14-man Dubs to victory
Dublin still have a 100 per cent record with three wins from three starts following Saturday night’s determined Allianz FL Division 1 victory in Croke Park.
Dublin were reduced to 14 men following the sending off of Ger Brennan (straight red card) with almost 30 minutes to play, soon after missed a penalty, yet were more purposeful and clincial over the
course of the game to deserve their victory.
Once again Bernard Brogan was Dublin’s scoring hero, hitting 1-10 in total as Dublin showed the greater will to win.
Immediately after Brennan’s dismissal, in the 42nd minute, Jason Doherty’s free brought the side level, 1-9 to 0-12, the men from the West grabbed the next two scores when Kevin McLoughlin and Jason Doherty split the posts.
In between those scores Stephen Cluxton was denied from the penalty spot by Kenneth O’Malledy after Paddy Andrews was tripped in the square but from there to the finish Dublin held the upperhand and fully merited their five-point victory.
Crucially responded from being two points in arrears and a man down by slotting 1-4 without reply as to a man they lifted the level of their performance.
Kevin McManamon got a classic McManamon goal when he rounded Keith Higgins near the endline at Hill 16 before bearing down on goal and sliding the ball to the far corner to give O’Malley no chance.
Points from from Brogan – a free after a foul on Paul Flynn, a brilliantly angled point by the industrious Paddy Andrews, and a further Brogan brace including a stunning sideline strike to see Jim Gavin’s men lead 2-13 to 0-14 by the 58th minute.
Bar the concession of a goal Dublin’s hard work was going to deliver but with the likes of Darragh Nelson, Darren Daly, Jonny Cooper and Cian O’Sullivan alert to every breaking ball in the danger zone chances were going to be hard earned by Mayo.
However, they did breach the defence but failed to fully capitalise with powerful wing-back Lee Keegan blazing over with the goal at his mercy and sub Seamus O’Shea shanking wide with the possibility of a goal on if he was clincial enough.
If the Dubs concluded the game on top they also started very well with three Brogan points inside the opening seven minutes and early portent of what was to come from the St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh man.
But after that early flurry the scores dried up as the Mayo attack began to make life difficult for the Dublin defence as they clipped the next six points to lead 0-6 to 0-3 by the 17th minute.
Dublin needed to arrest their slide and they did when Brogan converted a free after he had been fouled himself. He added another and was then the provider for a Cian O’Sullivan score before another free after Andrews was impeded.
Andrews made it 0-8 to 0-6 after good work from Ciaran Kilkenny and Brogan to before Brogan hit the first of Dublin’s two goals – an excellent finish off the left foot on the way to helping his side to a 1-8 to 0-8 interval lead.
Dublin face Kildare in Croke Park next Sunday afternoon – officially a ‘home’ game for the Lilywhites. An intriguing encounter that is sure to draw a very decent crowd to HQ.
SCORERS – Dublin: B Brogan 1-10 (0-5f, 0-1 sline), K McManamon 1-1, P Andrews 0-2, C O’Sullivan 0-1. Mayo: J Doherty 0-6 (0-3f), L Keegan, K McLoughlin (2f) 0-3, E Varley 0-2, A O’Shea, M Conroy 0-1 each.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; K O’Brien, R O’Carroll, J Cooper; J McCaffrey, G Brennan, D Daly; D O’Mahony, C O’Sullivan; P Flynn, T Brady, C Reddin; P Andrews, B Brogan, C Kilkenny. Subs: K McManamon for Brady (20), D Nelson for O’Carroll (ht), B Cullen for Reddin (51), P Quinn for Kilkenny (60), N Devereux for McCaffrey (65).
MAYO: K O’Malley; C Barrett, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; L Keegan, D Vaughan, C Boyle; J Gibbons, B Moran; K McLoughlin, A O’Shea, R Feeney; E Varley, J Doherty, M Conroy. Subs: C Carolan for Gibbons (44), S O’Shea for Moran (51), T Cunnife for Feeney (60).
REF: C Reilly (Meath)
ATTENDANCE: 21,156.
