NFL Division One: Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12
Forget the scoreboard, forget the goals, forget even the first spring sighting of Con O’Callaghan in a Dublin jersey. The best snapshot of Saturday night’s destruction of Derry from the home side’s point of view was seeing Seán Bugler chatting happily away to BBC reporter Mark Sidebottom afterwards while receiving his Man of the Match award.
Bugler has been far and away the best Dublin player of the league so far and wouldn’t have too many peers in any performance audit across the four divisions. He kicked six points from play here, bringing his total to 19 in four games so far, with only one from a free. But his night ended prematurely – he hobbled off 10 minutes from time after fending off a late Derry attack.
It looked like a bad one. Bugler was down for a full two minutes and eventually limped away with the help of two of the Dublin backroom team. But had it been significantly serious, he surely would have gone straight down the tunnel. As it was, he sat in front of the bench and was happy enough to stand in and take his bit of crystal at the end.
“Hope so,” said Dessie Farrell afterwards when we asked if Bugler was okay. “I think he got a kick in the calf trying to block that last one. He’s hobbling around badly there at the minute so we’ll keep an eye on him.”
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Bugler wasn’t the only Dub who shone in front of the 18,920 crowd. Brian Howard was exceptional too and Theo Clancy made short work of quelling Shane McGuigan. Add in some stylish shooting from young Luke Breathnach and a bull-rushing turn at full-forward from Eoghan O’Donnell and Farrell can see the next generation taking hold.
“That’s the natural evolution. As senior men move on, other players assume those roles. And Seán is definitely doing that for us on the pitch, which is great to see.
“And that’s what we need. Probably on the face of it, you’re worried about a deficit of leadership in the group with so many big players moving out. But it’s great to see other men, that emerging leadership talent within the group and really stepping up.
“It’s not just on the field of play. It’s around the group too. Lads are very sensitive to where the group is at now and putting in a big effort in terms of driving it on and making sure there is no gap in terms of leadership within the squad.”
For Derry, this was another evening to forget. After a decent opening, they faded from view entirely and will spend the rest of the campaign fighting relegation. They had no answer to Dublin’s smooth transitions and precise shooting – at one stage, they went 40 minutes without a score from play.
That said, they were unlucky to see a McGuigan punched effort come back off the inside of the post on 16 minutes – it trickled along the line and was cleared by Evan Comerford. Had it gone in, Derry would have gone 1-5 to 0-3 clear at the stage. As it was, a McGuigan free soon after was their last score of any kind for a full half hour.
Dublin led by 1-10 to 0-6 at the break, their goal coming courtesy of a nice finish by Niall Scully after trojan work by O’Donnell.
Bugler had four points from play by this stage, Breathnach had three. Howard was devastating under the Derry kick-out and continued in the same vein after the restart, setting up Dublin’s first three points of the second half to leave the home side 10 up and cruising with 25 minutes to go.
Derry came with a couple of flurries to take the bad look off the scoreboard. Brendan Rogers snapped in a goal after a risky pass from Ethan Doherty and Conor Glass finished off a classy move involving Anton Tohill and McGuigan.
But they couldn’t keep pace with the scoring at the other end, where O’Callaghan came off the bench to swish four (including their only two-pointer of the night) and goals rained in from Alan Tyrrell and Lorcan O’Dell.
Tyrrell’s was a fluke – he was going for a point and it dropped softly in under the bar. O’Dell’s was anything but, his rasper of a shot finding the roof of the net. But even so, Derry’s experiment of playing an outfielder in goals in the shape of Neil McNicholl might need a rethink. All three Dublin goals went in directly under the black spot. Full-time goalkeepers don’t tend to allow that kind of thing.
“There may be something in that, alright,” said Paddy Tally afterwards. “I think up to this point, Neil’s done pretty well. The first game, the Kerry game, we conceded five goals and some of them I wouldn’t count or blame the goalkeeper for them. But tonight I think Neil will be disappointed in himself. There were a couple of goals he felt he should have done better on them but that maybe is part of the trade-off.
“Neil’s been outstanding in his last couple of matches. You couldn’t fault him for what he’s done. He’s stood in there really well, and he’ll be as disappointed as anybody with the goals tonight.”
As for the Dubs, they did this without Ciarán Kilkenny, Lee Gannon, either of the Small brothers, Eoin Murchan, Stephen Cluxton and Cormac Costello. Not all of them will be back – Farrell told us afterwards that the luckless Gannon will miss most of the season. But the conveyor belt keeps rolling.
Dublin will have plenty to say as the year progresses.
Dublin: Evan Comerford (0-0-1); Alex Gavin, Theo Clancy, David Byrne; Conor Tyrrell (1-0-0), Seán MacMahon, Cian Murphy (0-0-2); Brian Howard (0-0-1), Tom Lahiff; Seán Bugler (0-0-6), Niall O’Callaghan, Kevin Lahiff; Luke Breathnach (0-0-4), Eoghan O’Donnell, Niall Scully (1-0-2). Subs: Con O’Callaghan (0-1-2) for N O’Callaghan, 46 mins; Lorcan O’Dell (1-0-0) for O’Donnell, 46 mins; Seán Lowry for K Lahiff, 52 mins; Davy Keogh for Bugler, 56 mins; Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne for Breathnach, 56 mins.
Derry: Neil McNicholl; Diarmuid Baker, Eoin McEvoy, Martin Bradley; Conor Doherty, Brendan Rogers (1-0-0), Declan Cassidy (0-0-1); Conor Glass (1-0-0), Anton Tohill; Cahir McMonagle (0-0-1), Paul Cassidy (0-1-1), Ethan Doherty; Ben McCarron, Shane McGuigan (0-2-3, 2tpf, 3f), Niall Toner. Subs: Callum McGrogan for Toner, 21 mins; Lachlan Murray for McGrogan, 41 mins; Pádraig McGrogan for D Cassidy, 45 mins; Niall Loughlin for McCarron, 53 mins; Mark Doherty for McMonagle, 60 mins.
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
