Dublin GAA fans had a night to remember last night in Croke Park. On what was a bitterly cold night, 30,107 fans turned out to see what was a replay of 2015's All Ireland Football Final between Dublin and Kerry, a slight contrast between the 30,107 last night and the 82,000+ who paid €80+ only four months ago to see these sides meet, albeit with more on the line last time.
Dublin got the scoring underway with Paddy Andrews slotting the first score of the night after two mins, Dean Rock made it 0-2 a minute later. Kerry seemed to lack composure for the first ten or so minutes, evident by the fact it took them 11 minutes to register their first score when Barry John Keane popped it over the bar. Dean Rock boosted the Dublin lead by scoring two points around the quarter hour mark making it 0-05 to 0-01 after 16mins.
Johnny Buckley managed to register Kerry's second point on the 21 minute mark. Kerry did have the chances to score but like Wexford in the Hurling game beforehand, they seemed to hesitate to pull the trigger, opting more so to drop a high ball in to Tommy Walsh on the full forward line. Kerry did begin to find their rhythm towards the end of the first half with David Moran kicking a point to bring the sides level at 0-7 a piece heading into half time.
Paul Mannion looked very impressive on his return to the Dublin panel scoring one in the first half and setting up Tomas Brady for another. Mannion continued his good play in the second half by setting up Paddy Andrews to make it 0-8 to 0-7. Mannion was brought down 21 yards out from the Kerry Goal and was awarded a free that Dean Rock slipped over to make it 0-9 to 0-7.
The gap began to widen significantly on the 42minute mark when Diarmuid Connolly picked out Paddy Andrews with a beautiful cross from the Hogan Stand Sideline. Andrews managed to round Mark Griffin and slotted it home, taking a slight deflection of Kerry Goalkeeper Brendan Kealy before finding its way into the back of the net making it 1-9 to 0-8.
Tempers began to flare, Kerry's Donnchadh Walsh received a black card for a cynical foul on Paul Mannion, referee Eddie Kinsella missed the incident but his sideline official clarified what had happened. This also led to one spectator on Hill 16 beside me calling out for whatever the next storm to hit Ireland is, for it to flood Eddie Kinsella's home. There were a bit of handbags a couple of minutes later between Tómas Brady and Killian Young resulting in a yellow card for each player.
With 20minutes to go, James McCarthy was dragged down in the box and a penalty was awarded to Dublin. Diarmuid Connolly put the ball in the bottom left corner of Brendan Kealy's net to make it 2-11 to 0-9. John Small nearly put a third goal past Brendan Kealy after a lovely 1-2 between himself and Paul Mannion with Small's effort coming off the crossbar.
In the end Dublin were simply too much for the Kingdom with the final score 2-14 to 0-14. The full back line for Dublin did seem to be missing the composure of Rory O'Carroll but the other end benefited a lot from the return of Paul Mannion. Paddy Andrews however was the hero on the night for Jim Gavin's men scoring 1-04, all from play.
Next up for the boys in blue is a trip to last years semi final opponents Mayo in Castlebar. Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Kerry will be at home as they take on Roscommon.