Great to see the pre-season competitions back in full swing. For me they're the perfect ‘soft launch’ for the county season. All of the action with none of the usual championship pressure, but with a higher profile then challenge games get, so, it’s our first real chance to see who has made the cut and which new names are ready to make an impact in the coming months.
Dublin went fairly experimental against Carlow, using the fixture to blood some of the next generation. We saw seven lads pull on the blue jersey for the first time, and a couple of them looked like they belonged immediately. They weren't just making up the numbers; they look like genuine contenders for a starting spot further down the line.
It was also great to see several of last year’s debutants getting more valuable minutes under their belts. When you look at the potential in those two groups alongside last year’s established fifteen, we have the makings of a side that can show serious improvement over the next season or two in my opinion. In fact i havent been as positive about our prospects for challenging for a League or Leinster since the Daly era, but to achieve that kind of improvement we will need lads to develop and luck with injuries so that lads arent held back.
Dublin: S Brennan; A Dunphy, P Smyth, C Groarke; C Burke, D Lucey, C Murray; C Ó Riain, D Keogh; C Donohoe, Dara Purcell, J Madden; O Gaffney, David Purcell, D Ó Dúlaing. Subs: J Bellew for Smyth (half-time), R Hayes for Gaffney (half-time), S Gallagher for Ó Riain (half-time), L Mostyn for David Purcell (half-time), D Power for Madden (41), J Flanagan for Dara Purcell (45), C Kennedy for Dunphy (45), T Brennan for Donohoe (49), E McSherry for Murray (57).
Dublin:
Carlow: M Kavanagh 0-8 (8f); C Kehoe (1f), D Murphy 0-2 each; J Nolan, F Fitzpatrick, P Boland, J Treacy, K McDonald 0-1 apiece.
David Purcell Point:
Another
Sean Gallagher point late on:
Reaction from Nelly
Read the official Match Report here
Real early-season fare but an enjoyable enough game, if lacking the intensity we'll see later in the year.
Thought the ref was a little whistle happy at times.
23 scores to 17 - a six-point win is decent enough for me at this time of year, with so many new or newish players involved - especially when they scored 9 frees to our 6, meaning they scored 8 from play to our 17 from play.
Loads of players got a run out, and a pile of subs were given a run:
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Conor Groruke
Looked at home inside the first ten minutes of his debut. Distributed the ball well and went on a couple of runs, including a lovely shimmy at one stage. Won a high turnover at one stage as well, which resulted in a score for Dublin.
Got forward well early second half, but was fouled for a free, which was scored by dod.
Brilliant composed defending on the 42nd minute to clear the line. Went tearing up the pitch a short time later and teed up Dara Purcell for a score. Another nice run fed Tom Brennan late on.
Can be very proud of his debut imo.
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Ollie Gaffney
Won the first ball into him, but hit it wid,e but he was being pulled, so it was brought back for a free.
Won the second ball inside to him as well and flicked it on to Madden, who hit wide.
Grourke turned over a Carlowman at one stage, and the ball spilt to Ollie, who played Madden in again and this time he scored.
Got on a good ball inside after a scrappy clearance by the dub defence but won it well, got it to hand sharp and slung of over the bar off his left.
Chased down a Carlow defender on a Carlow puckout and won a free in.
Withdrawn at HT I assume to play college hurling during the week - a very good debut.
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Conor Murray
Low key first phase of the game, but played a nice recycled ball after a missed chance by Dublin attack out to Conor Donohour, who stuck it over. Good, sensible play on his debut.
Delt with a low puckout from Brennan at one stage and again recycled it well, nothing special, but doing the basics well on his debut.
Made a good interception early in the second half and played in Liam Mostyn for a chance for a point, played a nice ball into the same player shortly later, and he scored.
A bit more involved in the second half, got a yellow for a chop down, but was more involved in general play as well.
A good solid debut, hopefully will get another chance during the week.
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Liam Mostyn
Came on in at HT - Got on a nice ball by Conor Murray, but the shot wasn't on target, not sure if he was hooked or just under pressure.
Got on the end of a nice pass from the same player, a while later and converted it from quite wide.
Was not involved much afterwards, but that can be the life of a corner forward.
Proud day for himself and Faughs.
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Cathal Kennedy
Came on halfway through the second half i think. was involved in the Dub midfield and defence, getting on top in the second half. Won a good, dirty ball well in midfield towards the end of the half.
Will be delighted to make his debut i'd imagine. We'll see more of him i'm sure.
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Tom Brennan
Came in mid-way through the second half, played a few handpasses and teed up Dod for a great score on 52 minutes.
Lovely pick up at one stage after a ball down the line by Conor Grourke, played it back to Conor but his shot went wide.
Won a tough ball inside on 55 mins, played it back to DOD for a score.
Got on a ball in injury time and got it to hand with a shot over the shoulder but it went just wide.
A lively cameo considering he came in so late, physically well able, worth another look.
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Evan McSherry:
Replaced his club mate on 55th minute - nice little flick back to help teammate clear the lines late on. Picked up a ball well later and cleared the lines.
A proud day for him, his family and his club, no doubt.
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Dara Purcell
(Just about fits the young category still?)
Thought his pace was evident around the HF line, where I'd say the plan is for him (and hopefully Ciaran Stacy) to fight over the starting position where they're to inject a bit of chase and attacking threat to the line.
Won the ball in midfield a fair bit and has the wheels to get free and play quality ball inside. Went on a run in the 11th minute and rounded his man with ease, and really should have scored, but pulled it to the right.
Good run through Carlow defence at the start of the second half but shot was saved.
Got into position for a pass across the goal from a Ronan Hayes run but it slipped past him, managed to get on the end of it and take a score though.
Got on the end of a great run by Grourke and scored his second point before being withdrawn on 45th minute.
A good impact on the game overall.
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DOD
Stuck a super score to open the scoring for Dublin. Hit a nice free. Then won a scuttery low ball and turned and stuck over his second from play.
Lovely jinking run towards the end of the first half, which resulted in a wide by Madden.
Keogh went on a strong run early second half and handpassed across to DOD for a nicely taken point.
Think he hit all the frees he got? 6 from 6 - Great to see him looking so sharp early in the year.
Super pickup shortly after, turned and took on his man, but his shot went just wide across the goal.
Hit a cracking score from the sideline on the 52nd minute after good work by Conor Burke and Tom Brennan
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David Purcell
Hit a poor enough wide to start off after being in plenty of space, but then got on a lovely ball played in by Dara to stick over his first of the game.
Latched onto a nice ball inside from Conor Burke for his second of the day.
Won a great ball by Grourke after a great run and shimmy by him, fed it into DOD who played it to David Purcell but it was saved. Brought back for a free on DOD.
Won a great ball and played it out to Davy Keogh, who put it wide, but good play by the youngster.
Got his third after Dara Purcell recycled a ball out to him in space in the HF area, and he stuck it over well from there.
Withdrawn at HT because of college commitments during the week, but a very good half.
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David Lucey
Quiet enough in the opening spell of the game. Got a sloppy yellow early enough but cleared a good ball shortly later. Carlow were typically playing over the HB line in the first half, either shooting or playing it long into their big FF.
Defended & played very well in the second half.
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Conal O'Riain
Busy around the middle, distributed well. Had a good game but subbed at HT presumably with college commitments next week in mind.
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All in, there will be tougher games ahead, and it was real early-season fare, but great to have county games to enjoy again.
By my count thats 7 debuts. I like NOC using experienced lads with the debutants, to give them a platform of experience to help them get up to speed.
Clubber named DOD man of the match, and I can't argue with that, he hit some great scores today and had some great touches and was 100% on the frees but also worked back well. Well done to him, he's looking super sharp for this time of year.
Dublin will play Wexford on Thursday evening - i think we'll see a very different lineup from yesterday as a lot of the lads will be lining out for UCD and other colleges this week.
Goof win for Dublin in very awful conditions
DUBLIN 2-17 - WEXFORD 1-11
Scorers:
Scorers –
Dublin:
C O’Sullivan 0-6 (6f);
J Flanagan 1-2 (0-1f);
R Hayes 0-3;
O Gaffney 1-0;
C Burke 0-2 (1f);
D Power, C Groarke, C Donohoe, D Keogh 0-1 apiece.
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Wexford: R Banville 0-4 (2f); K Foley 0-3; T Kinsella 1-0; E Whelan 0-2; C Foley, J Byrne 0-1 apiece.
Dublin: E Gibbons; J Bellew, A Dunphy, C Groarke; C Murray, P Smyth, C Burke; B Hayes, S Gallagher; J Madden, D Power, C Donohoe; O Gaffney, R Hayes, C O’Sullivan. Subs: D Keogh for Gallagher (half-time), J Flanagan for Madden (half-time), C Kennedy for B Hayes(half-time), T Brennan for Gaffney (half-time), L Mostyn for O’Sullivan (45), E McLoughney for Bellew (45), D Kenny for Donohoe (48), N Clerkin for Murray (49), C Boyle for R Hayes (57), N Hogan for Power (57).
Wexford: M Fanning; N Murphy, C Foley, D Carley; E Wickham, R Lawlor, E Whelan; C Byrne Dunbar, S Rowley; R Banville, J Redmond, M Kelly; C Regan, K Foley, T Kinsella. Subs: J Byrne for Redmond (half-time), D Farrell for Rowley (44), D Fenlon for Whelan (46), E Dunbar for Regan (47), O Pepper for Kinsella (60), T O’Connor for Banville (61).
Referee: Brian Kearney (Kildare).
I don't have detailed notes as i was posting updates on the ResDubs Forum, but some random thoughts on the game.
Defense was pretty solid overall, thought the FB line was very solid, dunphy had a strong game, and Conor Groarke continues to impress.
HB line did well, Conor Bruke was hughly involved in the game all over, although in their purple patch they did find space in the left half back position a few times, not sure if it was Burkes man or someone else drifting over but just something I noticed, they had 3 or 4 shots free from there.
Midfield did well, both busy as you'd expect from both of them
HF line actually did alright, won plenty of dirty ball, Madden maybe not as involved as he was in the first game. Darragh Power worked really hard and had a big influence initially until Wexford made a switch to counter him.
FF line played some really nice hurling on a very difficult night for hurling. Cian O'Sullivan hit 6 frees, probably missed 2? but in the conditions thats fair enough. Gaffney lost the first 2 or 3 balls into him but again, it was a night for defenders, he grew into the game and took his goal really well, was fouled a couple of times as well. Ronan Hayes had a quiet enough first half but came intoit in the second and finished with 0-3 - great to see him fit for an extended period now - hopefully the run of games will stand to him. COS was busy out the field a fair bit, didnt get on the scoreboard but had a productive evening otherwise.
Subs:
Joe Flanagan was the pick of the subs, hitting 1-02 after he came in at halftime.
Davy Keogh was busy as always when he came in, also at HT.
Kennedy, Brennan and Mostyn all came in through the second half for 15 mins or so each. For their second run outs each i think. Boyle came in later on, didn't know he was involved, which is good to see.
McLoughney (Syls) Clerkin (OPER), Hogan (Castleknock) and Kenny (Boden) came on late for their debuts. Congratulations to them - Kenny had a hand in setting up Flanagan's goal.
The Dubs will face Westmeath in the Semi-Final on Sunday - Nelly has named the team:
A good win for Dublin on Sunday:
Some Action:
Scorers – Dublin: C Donohoe 1-4 (0-1f), C O’Sullivan 1-3 (0-2f), D Keogh 1-2, D Kenny (2f), O Gaffney 0-3 each, C Kennedy, L Mostyn 0-2 each, C Boyle (f), S Gallagher, T Brennan, N Hogan, J Madden 0-1 each. Westmeath: D Williams 1-3 (1-3f), E Keyes 1-0, K Doyle 0-3 (3f), E Cunneen, J Coll, D McCormack 0-2 each, P Clarke, J Gillen 0-1 each.
Dublin:
---- Brennan;
N Clerkin, J Bellew, C Kennedy;
D Lucey, P Smyth, S Gallagher;
-- B Hayes, C Donohoe;
D Keogh, D Power, D Kenny;
O Gaffney, T Brennan, C O’Sullivan.
Subs: J Madden for Hayes (15), E Gibbons for Brennan, L Mostyn for O’Sullivan, E McLoughney for Bellew (all h-t), C Murray for Lucey, C Groarke for Smyth (both 41), C Boyle for Brennan (51), N Hogan for Donohoe (56), L Dunne for Gaffney (61).
Westmeath: E Aughey; D Smith, C Shaw, C McKeogh; B McCabe, J Berminghan, R Keyes; K Doyle, E Cunneen; D Williams, Marc Cunningham, J Coll; E Keyes, D McCormack, P Clarke. Subs: S Williams for Smith (11), K Regan for McCabe (24), P Murphy for Coll, S Jackson for Aughey (both h-t), Matthew Cunningham for Doyle, J Gillen for Cunneen (both 48), J Fry for Shaw (54), D Ennis for Clarke (56).
Decent performance, a little scrappy for spells in the second half, but you'll have that, came back well in the end.
Few of the new lads are making a very good case to be involved in the league imo but the next game will be a good stress test of that.
Interesting in the interview after the game, Nelly saying he thinks the Fitzgibbon Cup should be played off in Oct/November, not now
So that's 12 debuts in 3 games, something else.
And a bunch of other guys who don't have many games have got game time, Purcells, Gallagher, Boyle etc
Seems like Tom Brennan is the only NAF player in the mix currently, their season did go on a bit longer than others, so might be giving them a bit more of a break? Certainly their more seasoned players like Currie and Bruke.
I had hoped to see Stacy and Meagher from NAF involved this year, and we still might, hopefully. Also hoping David Purcell is not out for too long.
For me there's about 6 or 7 players who were not regular starters last year, who are making a really strong case to be included in the match day panel in the league. Hopefully a good few of them can kick on and challenge for a starting spot come Leinster. Crucially there are some forwards, which has been a real problem for us over the last decade or more. Not helped by so many injury problems to be fair.
On to Galway this Saturday in Parnell Park at 1.30PM
Galway have been fielding a strong team, a bit like ourselves, with plenty of regulars as well as new faces so it should be a good game. It will be interesting to see if Nelly picks a stronger side for this one, or keeps trying out guys
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