Imperial Dublin eased to a facile 2-17 to 0-11 victory over Tyrone in a painfully one-sided encounter at Croke Park.
Con O'Callaghan (1-2) and substitute Eoghan O'Gara (1-1) netted early and late in the day as the Leinster champions swatted the Anglo Celt Cup winners aside with minimum effort, sealing an All-Ireland final date with Mayo in three weeks' time. The stadium was packed but the atmosphere was muted as the anticipated heavyweight contest failed to materialise.
The final will be a repeat of last year's and, on the evidence of what we witnessed today, the three-in-a-row chasing Dubs are the team to beat. The absolute ease with which they have won their five games en route to the decider is ominous. They utterly controlled this one and could have prevailed by far more than twelve points; they look unbeatable. It was akin to a training session for them at times and they appeared to be playing within themselves.
For triple All-Ireland winner Sean Cavanagh, it was a bitter note upon which to exit the intercounty stage after years of sterling service to the Red Hands - a contribution which was sportingly acknowledged by each and every Dublin player after the final whistle (but not by their supporters).
Jim Gavin's slick, strong, purposeful side delivered a bullish and impressive first-half display to finish the match as any sort of contest inside 35 minutes, accumulating a resounding 1-9 to 0-5 interval advantage. Powerful, pacy, skilful and accurate, the Dubs toyed with Tyrone and the faithful on The Hill were olé-ing by the 28th minute as they utterly controlled the game and lorded possession.
The exceptional O'Callaghan netted in the fifth minute and the perennial Leinster champions kicked a series of superb points to rip Mickey Harte's pretenders to shreds over and over again. Tyrone's Colm Cavanagh should have been red-carded late in the first half for a nasty studs-up challenge on Brian Fenton, catching the Dublin midfielder in the stomach with an eye-watering connection.
Dublin made a late change to their starting XV, with Niall Scully in from the start in place of Eric Lowndes, which meant that the returning-from-suspension Diarmuid Connolly was kept in reserve. He eventually came on in the 69th minute and didn't touch the ball. Bernard Brogan and Michael Darragh MacAuley weren't even needed! O'Gara, Paul Flynn and Kevin McManamon all impressed upon their introductions. As did every Dublin player.
Seemingly determined to do things on their own terms today, the Red Hands made an early statement of intent when breaking away from the pre-match parade before reaching Hill 16, which was attacked in the first half by the Dubs, who won the toss.
Sean Cavanagh and Dean Rock traded early frees, won by Mattie Donnelly and James McCarthy respectively, before O'Callaghan drilled a bullet to the top left corner of the Tyrone net in the fifth minute after Niall Sludden lost possession with his team-mates having pressed up the field.
Paddy Andrews added a brace of delightful points in response to an excellent Tiernan McCann score. Ciaran Kilkenny and Rock fired further Dublin points either side of a Peter Harte free and Colm Cavanagh pulled another one back as the holders led by double scores halfway through the first half, 1-5 to 0-4.
O'Callaghan and Fenton stretched the gap to six and O'Callaghan brought his tally to 1-2 in the 23rd minute. We then had twelve minutes without a score, with the Dubs utterly dominant, before Rock and Harte exchanged the last two scores of a shockingly one-sided opening period.
Harte (free) and the industrious Paul Mannion swapped points upon the resumption and Jack McCaffrey's strike was cancelled out by Sludden. Substitute McManamon was unfortunate when his left-footed shot rattled the underside of the Tyrone crossbar at the end of a powerful solo run, but he then won a free which Rock sent over in the 51st minute to increase the gap to eight.
McCaffrey spurned a glorious goal-scoring opportunity for the winners and Rock tacked on a pointed free before the Red Hands closed within six thanks to a run of quickfire scores from Harte (free), Colm Cavanagh and Sludden - 1-13 to 0-10 after 58 minutes.
Replacements Paul Flynn and Declan McClure traded points with the match long since over and Flynn helped himself to another stunning strike as Dublin closed in on the final.
On 68 minutes, O'Gara got on the end of a handpass from fellow replacement Darren Daly to palm to the net from close range and Flynn closed the scoring with his third point after having extracted a fine save from Niall Morgan. O'Gara followed up his goal with a powerful point. Tyrone's bad day was epitomised in the 71st minute by record breaker Stephen Cluxton's diving save to deny Harte from the penalty spot after Philly McMahon bundled over Colm Cavanagh.
In the end, it was all too easy for the all-conquering Dubs. It was the same at the start, actually, and in the middle.
Dublin - S Cluxton; P McMahon, C O'Sullivan, M Fitzsimons; J Cooper, J Small, J McCaffrey (0-1); B Fenton (0-1), J McCarthy; N Scully, C O'Callaghan (1-2), C Kilkenny (0-1); P Mannion (0-1), P Andrews (0-2), D Rock (0-5, 4f). Subs: P Flynn (0-3) for N Scully, K McManamon for P Andrews, D Daly for J Small, E O'Gara (1-1) for D Rock, E Lowndes for P Mannion, D Connolly for C O'Callaghan.
Tyrone - N Morgan; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; T McCann (0-1), P Hampsey, P Harte (0-4, 3f); C Cavanagh (0-2), C McCann; D Mulgrew, N Sudden (0-2), K McGeary; M Bradley, S Cavanagh (0-1f), M Donnelly. Subs: D McClure (0-1) for C McCann, R Brennan for K McGeary, D McCurry for D Mulgrew, R O'Neill for M Bradley, C Meyler for S Cavanagh, P McNulty for R McNamee.
Referee - D Coldrick.
Tweet