Dublin 1-15; Kerry 1-13
When the immovable object meets the irresistible force, something seismic had to happen in this All Ireland final. And so it was at Croke Park on Sunday when these two seasoned heavyweights slugged it out in a tense, tight and tremendously tough encounter before 80,000 fans.
Ultimately, it was the older dogs for the hard road who prevailed as Dublin’s old guard married to their new kids on the block just about beat their deadliest rivals in one of the most intense arm-wrestles of a final witnessed at headquarters for many a decade.
When referee David Gough finally blew the long whistle six minutes into overtime, Dublin had regained their title and for three members of the team, Stephen Cluxton, Mick Fitzsimons and James McCarthy, it was a rare moment of history as the trio became the first players to wins nine Football Celtic Crosses in the 139 years playing of the All Ireland competition.
However, they weren’t the only ones on Cloud Nine - you just had to look and listen to manager Dessie Farrell afterwards to realize how this victory - his other came in the Covid years without fans in 2020 - meant to him and his decisions over the past two seasons.
During that time Dublin had lost a string of seasoned players and more pertinently two All Ireland semi-finals - one after extra time and one last year to Sean O’Shea’s magnificent free at the death of their game.
So a lot was riding on the outcome for Farrell and when he spoke of “contentment and relief” on Monday, you knew victory had indeed lifted a monkey off his back.
When you think about it, some of the things he did in the past year from bringing back 41-year-old Cluxton to man of the match Paul Mannion and impact sub extraordinaire Jack McCaffrey, had the whiff of comic book storylines about them.
They were real, though, and by winning Division 2, the Leinster Final and Sam Maguire, the Na Fianna man has exorcised the demons and claimed a place in his own right as a great manager.
Just imagine if he had doubted himself and agreed with the old maxim - there is no going back.
Cluxton stroked over two points from long distance placed balls (Dubs won by that margin), he had 100 per cent accuracy with his kickouts; Mannion scored five points, three from play in a MOM showing, while when the game was in the melting pot, McCaffrey came on and his running at the Kerry defense yielded opportunities and scores and tilted the game back in Dublin’s favor.
Yet that wasn’t the only achievement of the manager who also managed to make a newcomer like Collie Basquel a real forward threat by making the team’s only goal and weighing in with two important points from distance.
So the Dublin drought of two finals without an appearance is over as they collected their 31st title in all but for Kerry the wait must go on for a 38th title.
They looked to have stolen a march towards bringing Sam south in the middle of the second half when they responded to Dublin’s deflected goal by Paddy Small to find a purple patch which yielded three great points - two from Paudie Clifford, who was Kerry’s most influential forward on the day.
Afterwards Kerry Boss Jack O’Connor would pinpoint the deflected goal off Paul Murphy as the turning point in the game, claiming that it sucked the energy out of his side despite their immediate response to find those three points.
Ultimately though, it was the statistic that Dublin found nine points to Kerry’s two from the 52nd minute to the end as the reason why the blue surge was successful in drowning out the valiant Kerry effort.
For it should be remembered that while this was not a game of high-class football, it was an encounter of continuous huge hits and turnovers which was facilitated by the ref’s decision to use his whistle sparingly and allow the game to flow.
What resulted was arguably the most athletic and physically enduring 76 minutes of clashes between markers and marked players with the primary aim of wrestling superiority for the marquee players.
That never quite was the case as the rain meant the ball was often more like a bar of soap than a sticky spherical object and that resulted in defenses being on top and in particular during the first half where the two teams could only muster 11 scores between them.
The only goal among those white flags came from a moment of genius from David Clifford, who shuffled along the end line before delivering the perfect foot pass for Paul Geaney to dispatch past Cluxton in the run up to half-time. Geaney dallied somewhat and there was talk of two hops but he seemed to contort a foot towards the ball before left-footing home to suggest that no offense had occurred.
That goal should have been the launching pad for Kerry to defend their title successfully and when they found their purple patch, the sense was they would have the nous to keep the Dubs at bay.
The Dublin bench then started to have an effect with McCaffrey and young Cian Murphy bringing zest and life to the blues play as they began to find the range again with the likes of Basquel, Mannion, Fenton and company weighing in with scores at vital times.
Then Dean Rock came on and what a cameo role he played. His shot for a point was somehow battled out from over the crossbar by Kerry ‘keeper Shane Ryan. Basquel won the next possession and recycled the ball to the incoming Mannion who took a point to put his side ahead going down the home stretch when a goal was also on.
Paddy Small shoots to score Dublin's goal. [Inpho/Evan Treacy]
Rock then sealed the holders’ fate by unerringly sending over a free to give his side breathing space with a two-point lead. Kerry hoped there would be a chance to loft the ball in high for a goal opportunity but Gough called time and the Dubs collapsed to their knees in celebration of what many of them have since described as their sweetest victory among the nine since 2011.
It mightn’t have been a game for the purists and we only got snapshots of what the star players from either side - David Clifford and Con O’Callaghan - could do, but it was a helluva battle and one that had the neutrals on the edge of their seats right to the very end.
It also showed that with the proper coaching, teams can set up defensively and yet play exciting, counter-attacking football if they have the proper level of skills which both sides obviously had on this occasion.
Dublin as was predicted had the greater threat going forward with no less than eight players scoring while Kerry only had five scorers, the two Cliffords with three points each, Geaney with 1-1 and O’Shea with 0-5 with sub Killian Spillane getting a point.
The fall-out of this game could be immense as several players, notably McCarthy hinting that this might have been his swan song. There were claims that there is also a fine cohort of young players about to emerge in Dublin and time will tell if they can emulate the deeds of this great group.
For Jack O’Connor and Kerry the challenge will be to come back next year. He has a dearth of forwards with three of the starting six unlikely to figure next year due to age - Geaney and O’Brien - and form where Dara Moynihan was nowhere near the standard required.
They also played second fiddle with their makeshift midfield of Jack Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor and appeared to have no option available for this sector. Their defense was the best part of the team but one of two of the sextet also will find it hard to come back due to mileage on the clock.
So as we enter August, the All Irelands are done and dusted and we have a long wait through lesser club fare before seeing what 2024 has to offer.
However we had some groundbreaking moments through this season and once again we salute the achievements of New York in winning a championship match against Leitrim and also partaking in the Connacht semi-final against Sligo and lastly in the Tailteann Cup against Carlow.
Dublin: S Cluxton (0-2, 0-1 '45, 0-1f); E Murchan, M Fitzsimons, D Byrne; J McCarthy, J Small, L Gannon; B Fenton (0-2), B Howard (0-1); P Small (1-1), P Mannion (0-5, 0-1f), C Kilkenny; C Costello (0-1f), C O'Callaghan, C Basquel (0-2) Subs: J McCaffrey for Gannon (48), N Scully for Costello (53), C Murphy for Murchan (64), D Rock (0-1f) for P Small (68).
Kerry: S Ryan; G O'Sullivan, J Foley, T O'Sullivan; P Murphy, T Morley, G White; D O'Connor, J Barry; D Moynihan, S O'Shea (0-5, 0-4f), S O'Brien; P Clifford (0-3), D Clifford (0-3, 0-1f), P Geaney (1-1) Subs: B Ó Beaglaoich for Murphy (55), A Spillane for Moynihan (57), M Burns for O'Brien (57), K Spillane (0-1) for Geaney (63), M Breen for Barry (66).
Ref: D Gough (Meath).
WHAT THEY SAID
DESSIE FARRELL (DUBLIN MANAGER)
"I've learned so much about character and what that actually means. A lot of people talk about it but we saw it in abundance today. It was all about guts and character and they stood up to the test when it counted. They're that type of men, they'll always respond. They're a special crew.
"We knew that from day one, of course, but to come back this year again and do what they did, some of those senior guys, we'll never see the likes of them again.
"The young lads that came in over the last two years have brought great energy and competition, which is what you want."
Questioned on how he got the three senior players who had left the panel to return, he went on: "It wasn't difficult. They love playing football. They love Dublin. It was just once they were ready and they were this season, thankfully.It was a huge amount of experience on a day like this and it definitely added something significant to our overall game plan.
"It probably couldn't have gone much better than we had scripted. We knew the bench was going to be important and to get some of those senior guys in at the end was really important."
JAMES McCARTHY (DUBLIN CAPTAIN)
"This probably is (the best moment of my sporting life), I'm not going to lie. We had to fight hard for that. We had a tough two years and it was only on the players, nothing to do with management.
"We were disappointed with how we handled ourselves the last two years. We were very disappointed how how we lost two semi-finals. There was something different in the air this year. We got together, we worked hard and we went for it.
“We went for every game and that was the most important thing. When it came to the crunch players stood up today. Cian Murphy who came on today won a few huge kick outs. We needed everyone to get us over the line. That was special.
"There's an undying loyalty amongst everyone. We played so hard together for so many years. People don't understand how special that it is. The lads did their thing for a year or two but a few chats earlier on the year and they had the bit between their teeth again. They came back and it all came together again.
"It wasn't pretty today. There was a lot of spilled ball but we tackled hard and put our bodies on the line. We were just working for each other in a team play, doubling up on guys, throwing your body on the ground. It was a bit of bravery and courage got us over the line.”
JACK O’CONNOR (KERRY MANAGER)
"I'm disappointed. We were well in that game and I thought at stages in the second half we were almost in control of the game.
"Obviously, the goal was a huge turning point and while we came back well, after the goal I just thought the effort to come back and go back up three probably took its toll in the last 10 minutes. But I'm very proud of the lads, they gave everything out there.
"It was a fierce battle, probably Dublin's extra bit of experience got them over the line in the end.
"Conditions were tough and David was reffing it on the margins, really. He was allowing a lot of contact and that obviously made for a great game and an exciting game, but we couldn't fault any fellas, we really, really emptied the tank there.
"Coming towards the end, there were fellas getting diving blocks and turnovers, but my initial feeling is that we left chances after us that maybe on another day would have gone over.
“You can't understate the importance of the goal because it was at a time when I thought we were in control of the game, we were three points up, I thought we were playing the game within ourselves, but that goal gave... the last thing you want to do when Dublin are playing into the Hill is give them a goal.
"It just lifted the crowd and it lifted the energy levels that the Dublin boys had, even though we came back and showed tremendous bravery."
