Davy Fitzgerald: Where Dublin got it wrong in their crushing loss to Cork

Irish Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Cork were absolutely ruthless at the weekend against Dublin. They had a plan and they executed it so well.
Pat Ryan's side will now be built up as unbeatable going into the final. Dealing with a performance like that and trying to raise the levels again for a final is very tough.
I had them as slight favourites going into this weekend and I still have them slight favourites, but Ryan has to figure out how to get another performance like that - and it won't be easy.
The Cork public will go crazy. It's happened a few times already. Last year, after beating Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final and again after winning the League Final this year - and they were set back both times.
Ryan has to ground his players and he has an obligation to shield them from the hype. It's 20 years since Cork landed the All-Ireland and this one is a must win for them.
Dublin will look back with regrets at the weekend. They were very naive with their approach.
I think Niall Ó Ceallacháin has done a great job this year but I think he got it wrong on Saturday with some key areas letting them down.
One was their half back line was caught in no man's land. They let the Cork half forward line go back and pick up easy ball.
In the first half especially, Cork forced Dublin to hit long puck outs. Normally, Dublin are good at getting a spare man back and working the ball out but Cork didn't give them this short ball option so everything had to go long.
I thought the Cork half back line were exceptional in the air and brought every ball to ground with the Cork half forward line coming back to pick up the pieces.
This was a massive thing in the game because you ended up with a lot of two on ones. Declan Dalton, Shane Barret and Diarmuid Healy got on an amount of easy ball.
The Dublin half back line played zonal and barely stirred. They didn't push up or stay back and protect their full back line.
Cork shot from outside and got unbelievable scores, or they got unbelievable ball in over Dublin's half back line. There was plenty of space and the Cork full forward line were on fire.
It's very hard to defend that ball on the outside and the runners Patrick Horgan, Brian Hayes and Alan Connolly had coming off them was incredible.
But they were allowed that space by the Dublin half back line not pressing.
The two wing backs should have pressed and the centre back should have dropped back and covered.
The Cork full forward line looked so dangerous. It's the first time I've seen Patrick Horgan turn and run at the defence an awful lot.
Seven or eight times out of 10 he will get the ball and move to one side and shoot it. It was a gameplan to turn, go at them and get runners off the shoulder. Dublin couldn't cope with them man on man.
When one would start to run two Dublin backs would be drawn to him and the amount of offloads was unreal.
The second area that let Dublin down was how they didn't deal with Tim O'Mahony at midfield. He seemed to be a support player for the inside forward line. I've rarely seen him get forward as much as he did, but every time it went in he was there.
This caused Dublin numerous problems. They weren't tracking him. He scored 2-1 and it was a tactic that really paid off.
I'd like to have seen Dublin run the ball a bit more but in fairness to Cork, they were good in the tackle and didn't allow it.
Brendan Cummins was saying on commentary that Dublin needed more bodies inside. They had a tactic to hit John Hetheron but a lot of the time they hit him there were two or three bodies around him.
I would have isolated him more - as he won't lose it - and had Sean Currie and Cian O'Sullivan out another 20 yards and rushing in off him. I think they got the tactic right, but they just didn't execute it.
For Cork's high ball, Hayes was flicking it down left or right and the timing of the runs was unreal.
Currie and O'Sullivan looked very dangerous and Currie has been one of the best forwards I've seen this year.
Declan Dalton's shooting from distance and use of the ball was incredible. Shane Barrett's work rate was unreal but he hit a lot of wides and he'll need to be scoring them to hold onto his place.
Every time Dublin seemed to come back, Cork would up it a gear. You saw it with the introduction of Robbie O'Flynn, Shane Kingson, Conor Lehane and Jack O'Connor.
What an incredible four forwards to be able to bring on. The key for Cork going into the final is when they introduce these lads - and that they make a difference.
Once Cork got the fifth goal it was game over. Smart thinking from a 20 metre free by Currie and O'Sullivan gave Dublin a reprieve with a goal of their own, but it was only delaying the inevitable.
Dublin were just not at the races. Niall Ó Ceallacháin and his management have definitely made progress, but they need to take the learnings away from this and build on it.
They are a smart management and they will do that, but they won't be happy with how they executed their gameplan here.