The Middle Third:IT'S BEEN a good summer for the old shadow boxing. This weekend Conor Counihan and Pat Gilroy probably won't be looking back over the media coverage of their teams since May but if they do they'll have a laugh.

I always found the world has a short memory. Last year in Kerry we were on the death bed being anointed in the press for weeks on end. A few games later and all of a sudden our class had pulled us through, we’d timed our run perfectly!

Cork know the criticism they have got this summer will evaporate if they win on Sunday. One good game wipes it all clear. People have short memories. They just have to ask Dublin.

The Dubs were rock bottom having been beaten by Meath and having struggled against Wexford.

They were written off. At that stage there was no pressure on them though. They had qualifier games in Croke Park to bring them on without too much attention being paid. Any team is a dangerous animal when freed up from pressure. They went in against Tyrone as underdogs and now they come out on the other side in bonus territory.

It hasn’t happened by accident.

On Sunday, in Croke Park, midfield will be the area to watch.

Dublin have changed a lot this year, but especially in midfield. They have improved dramatically and the biggest impact has been down to the arrival of Michael Dara MacAuley. He is a great find. He is a big rangy player with work-rate and an engine. His fielding. He brings a great discipline from playing basketball.

Teams tend to replicate the Tyrone template of tackling in the middle and stopping the play. He does it without fouling. The half forwards drop back and tackle like demons and again they don’t tend to foul. That takes discipline and Dublin look more disciplined than most teams. Limerick went that road but it would break down.

Two fellas would descend on a player and a third would come in and give away a cheap foul.

With the likes of Cullen and Brogan drifting back, Ger Brennan has more freedom to come up the field and have an influence. He is allowed to play more football and it seems to suit him. He is loose for a centre back and more restrictive duties would mean he wouldn’t be as effective.

So the area in which MacAuley operates is different than it was and the same goes for his partner. First of all, Ross McConnell is doing the basics a lot better than he did in the times when he would have taken a lot of criticism. That has been a huge change. He is taking the right options. Against Tyrone he was very effective.

Tyrone paid the two Dublin midfielders a compliment in that they kicked no ball out past their own 21-yard line. Everything went short and Dublin had the intelligence to stand off and let them make the short kick before applying the pressure.

McConnell has demonstrated a key thing for a footballers. He has the ability to learn. He has benefited too by the changes in the way Dublin operate. Firstly he has new faces around him. The midfield partner you play with has a huge influence on your game.

Since he was moved from full back, Ross was coming into a very established and unusual set-up.

Midfield these days is a three-man job really (for Dublin it’s about an eight-man game). There will always be at least two starters and one man coming in.

I think McConnell suffered a bit because the Ciarán Whelan/Shane Ryan partnership was very distinctive. Ryan had such an understanding with Stephen Cluxton it was unreal. How many balls over the years did Shane Ryan catch on his chest with nobody near him. And beside him Whelan was an old-style bruiser.

For Ross McConnell to come in there was tough and it took a bit of time, understanding and learning to make it work.

I’m sure his confidence has been boosted by being beside a rookie midfielder. Himself and MacAuley seem to complement each other and understand each other. The key thing for a midfielder is not just when to commit, but when to hold back for the benefit of your partner.

I remember marking Tyrone’s Seán Cavanagh and Seán didn’t tend to jump for too many balls. What he would do was drift goal side of you. That meant effectively you were risking taking yourself out of the game by jumping for the ball. If you misjudged that ball it was in his hands, he was gone and it was a goal or a point.

At times like that you have to have the trust if you are jumping somebody is coming across covering you and not just minding their own business 20 yards away.

McConnell and MacAuley seem to have fallen into that understanding. Another factor with McConnell’s development is that a year makes a big difference. Take Bryan Cullen. He had bad days in Croke Park in the semi-finals of 2006 and ’07 especially and that stayed with him. By last year’s quarter-final he was a shadow of the player he should be. He had a willingness to do too much work and against the better teams he was getting caught. He got a tough time. That would have broken a lot of fellas.

He has shown huge composure and ability to come back.

If I were in Conor Counihan’s shoes I would be intensely focused on the Dublin kick out.

If Cork break down that supply line and frustrate Cluxton they are a good way there.

Cluxton is very accurate with the quarterback-style kicks, those bullets out to the side, but against Tyrone he had more confidence in aiming out the field. Tyrone wouldn’t be noted for their fielding, they tend to create the score chances out of team play and graft and can survive without winning midfield. Even still, for Dublin, it was refreshing to see Cluxton having that faith in his midfielders.

On Sunday, though, Cork will probably go with Nicholas Murphy and Alan O’Connor in the middle of the field. You won’t catch balls off either of them too handy. Two big bruisers! For Cork to break Dublin at midfield it won’t be just a case of tying down McConnell and MacAuley though.

I remember with Kerry last year it took everybody from the Gooch out to the number five, 11 bodies all having to be focused. Cluxton’s kick outs are that good and have that sort of variation on them. He is the platform. That’s Conor Counihan’s first worry.

The other key is to bottle up Bernard Brogan. That would be a good day’s work done. If they rattle Bernard Brogan they have Dublin in trouble. Eoghan O’Gara has done well punching holes and creating space for Brogan, but as for now won’t carry the show. That’s too big of an ask. He hasn’t the legs or the head for it yet. And Alan Brogan isn’t himself either. So Cork know what the target is.

Dublin are probably too dependent on Bernard Brogan. He is playing very well. Alan is having a quieter season by his standards and looks frustrated with his game. They have adopted a similar style to Kildare, rotating the ball and getting the right guys on the ball in the right places. They’re maybe just that bit short on having the right guys though.

That’s the destructive element, where Cork must stop Dublin.

On the other hand, it looks as if Graham Canty won’t start. He is a huge loss as he is a talisman. Sometimes these things work in your favour though. For a start, Cork will be forced to freshen things up a bit. It will give them a small bit more freedom. Dublin will have been zoning in on him in their thinking because he is too big a factor not to concentrate on. Often, it upsets a team when there is a late change to plan like that.

I remember in 1998 I spent a lot of time preparing to play on Kildare’s Niall Buckley in the semi-final. At the last minute he pulled a thigh muscle and I ended up marking Dermot Earley. I was young and maybe got thrown by the change. Earley got man of the match. I still blame Niall Buckley!

Cork have options. Once they get used to the idea of not having Canty they can let the shackles off.

In the past, when the going got tough, the burden seemed always to fall to Canty. Now others know they have to step up. Fellas like Michael Shields and Pierce O’Neill have to pick up the slack and force the game.

If I were Pat Gilroy? The way to break down Cork to me is to stop them doing what they like doing. They want to dominate the middle where they have big bodies. Alan Quirke is a little like Cluxton. He puts a lot of time and work into his kick outs. Dublin have to disrupt that and get as many bodies as possible in there.

After that? The Cork backs foul a bit when you run at them. I assume Dublin will have been working on the free-taking within that range. That’s where a lot of scores could come from.

I don’t know what Dublin do in training, but there is an understanding between guys. Everyone has their brief. If you get a few games under your belt with that system, you understand what the next fella is doing and if you don’t do your job it will be noticed by team-mates. That’s the worst place to be found out and Dublin have that going for them.

A fine day and a dry ball and I think we neutrals will see a great match and a great tactical battle.

Cork to win but lots of work to be done before that.

DARRAGH Ó SÉ