Colm Boyle column: Don't think that Dublin won't be back challenging next year
Dublin almost forced extra time but that would have been harsh on Galway - they were by a stretch the better team in the second half.
We lost the All-Ireland quarter-finals during the pandemic, and it doesn’t feel as though we’ve got them back.
For the third year running, quarter-final weekend was a massive letdown.
Granted, in 2022 Galway and Armagh salvaged it somewhat with an epic extra time encounter and the first ever penalty shootout in a knockout Championship game.
But the other three fixtures that year saw Dublin, Kerry and Derry win by a combined total of 32 points.
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Last year’s quarters-finals again had the drama of Armagh being beaten, this time by Monaghan, in a penalty shootout, but it was a poor game. Dublin and Kerry won their respective games by a combined total of 24 points and Derry beat Cork by four points in a dour struggle.
While last Saturday and Sunday’s games were, in the main, much closer affairs they didn’t offer much as spectacles.
Exempted from that are Galway, who without doubt gave the performance of the weekend, providing a much-needed jolt of electricity to the Championship.
I felt, and had said, that this Dublin team was there for the taking. Galway sensed that with about 20 minutes left and, once they smelt blood, went for the kill.
They were ravenous in the hunt of blue jerseys; Sean Mulkerrin was like a man possessed at the back, John Maher had the game of his life in pursuit of Brian Fenton.
Up front, with Shane Walsh’s influence starting to wane and Damien Comer and Rob Finnerty not scoring from play, Cillian McDaid put on a tour de force in the second half.
That second half was proper Championship football and had everything you would want in a game.
But, while much of the attention afterwards was focused on Walsh’s display, Damien Comer gave an exhibition of how to affect a game when you are nowhere near at your best, just by being a nuisance to the Dublin defence. He had a huge hand in five of Galway’s 10 second half scores.
He got a fingertip to one of Stephen Cluxton’s kickouts that fell to Walsh, who scored a point.
He laid it off to McDaid for another score. He turned over Sean MacMahon from a short kickout that led to Cein Darcy firing over.
He won what was probably a fortuitous free after colliding with Mick Fitzsimons that was converted. And his last big play was to gamble on Tom Lahiff’s crossfield ball and force the turnover on James McCarthy, before carrying the ball up the pitch and laying it off to Tomo Cullane for Galway’s last score. These were all huge plays.
Dublin almost forced extra time but that would have been harsh on Galway - they were by a stretch the better team in the second half.
There is so much they can harness from this game. It’s not about individuals anymore for Galway, they look like a proper team and, crucially, squad that is ready to go all the way.
As for Dublin, while it’s almost inevitable they will lose a few greats, don’t think for one minute they won’t be back challenging again next year.
But they will be viewed very differently from now on by opponents given the age profile of a lot of their key players.
With the Dubs not casting such a long shadow over it, the football landscape looks a lot healthier going forward.
Hard to see Harte back with Derry in 2025
While Galway Dublin served up some gripping drama, the meeting of Kerry and Derry couldn’t have been more contrasting.
It was a complete waste of everyone’s time on a Sunday afternoon. It was just a shambles of a game.
How an All-quarter final can be played with so little pace and intensity is beyond me. I will never be able to get my head around players walking and jogging around Croke Park, not laying a hand on your opposition. It’s almost a sin.
I don’t subscribe to the argument that Kerry had to be ultra-cautious because of the way Derry set up. Kerry played a game that suited a Derry team that looked like they were waiting to be put out of their misery and left them in the game for far too long.
After 55 minutes it was 0-8 each. Kerry needed a bench impact to pull away from Derry down the stretch.
Kerry, in the main, offered no press on Derry’s kickout. That’s nothing to do with Derry’s approach - that was within Kerry’s control. They could have pushed up and been aggressive and put Derry under serious pressure but chose to be safe.
The lack of any sort of pace to their counter-attack was also something well in their control. Instead, they played possession football at the back to allow their forwards to amble up to their positions.
I also thought David Clifford could have asked more questions of Chrissy McKaigue and hold his position up top like he did in last year’s semi-final rather than constantly following him down the pitch, which was exactly what McKaigue would have wanted him to do.
Ultimately, the end justified the means for Kerry but if that’s going to be the gameplan against Armagh I would be very worried if I was a Kerry supporter because Kieran McGeeney and his players will be very comfortable in a cagey affair and will be a far bigger threat than Derry were.
As for Derry, there must be huge questions over what exactly went wrong for them and why they were not able to recover from the Donegal loss. It can’t be as simple as just being tired after a League campaign.
Even after everything that happened to them in the Championship, nothing can excuse such a lifeless performance in an All-Ireland quarter-final. I will be surprised if Mickey Harte is at the helm again next year.
Everything falling into place for McGuinness
Jim McGuinness must really feel that the football gods are smiling on him.
After a bruising Ulster championship, they faced stiff opposition again in the first two group games in Tyrone and Cork.
I wasn’t sure at the time, but that Cork game and the run of fixtures since has given McGuiness a chance to hit the reset button.
They have played Clare and Louth in the last month and with another two weeks before they play Galway, they will have had a dream run into a really big game.
And, on top of that, serial winners Dublin are gone and they didn’t have to do someone else’s dirty work by getting rid of them this time, unlike in 2014.
They gave an exhibition of point-scoring last Sunday, attacked with huge pace and had 11 different scorers.
However, they were extremely generous to Louth at times and played with very little intensity defensively, conceding 34 shots, which is almost alien for a McGuiness team.
That will be a huge area they will go after on the training pitch in the next two weeks.
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