Dublin's minor hurling revival

BY Matt Treacy

nts for this feat was not carried into the championship, when Richie Hogan pointed a free in injury time to level the game.

Not content with holding the aristocrats to a draw, the Dubs mounted another attack, which earned them a sideline from a similar distance from where O'Reilly had pointed. Would he do it a second time? The ball seemed to be dropping short when it was grabbed out of the air by Naomh Olaf's Declan O'Dwyer and blasted to the net.

For Dublin hurling supporters, such victories are as rare as sightings of the Great Auk. Let's hope the young chaps get used to it!

The Minor triumph came at the end of a strange week for Dublin hurling. While the Seniors were well beaten by Clare in the first qualifier at Parnell Park, the previous weekend saw Kilmacud Crokes win the under-14 All Ireland Féile na Gael competition. Last Wednesday, the Dublin under-21s defeated Offaly in the Leinster semi-final to earn another tilt at the Cats.

That match was scrappy and hard fought and it seemed to me at least that the pitch in O'Moore Park might have done with a manicure as the ball appeared to be travelling slowly along the ground and players were having difficulty taking it onto their stick. Offaly, boosted by a Dylan Hayden goal, led by five points close to half time before Peadar Carton's goal provided the Dubs with a lifeline heading into the break.

Dublin dominated most of the exchanges in the second half, mainly due to some robust defending and a strong display at centre-field, but they missed some easy chances. Offaly too had efforts go astray and were restricted to just two points in the second half. The key moment came when Peadar Carton set up his O'Toole's club mate, Graham Morris, for a well-taken goal. Dublin survived an Offaly siege near the end to win by a single point and face Kilkenny in the final on 20 July.

Before I move on to discuss Dublin's victory in the girls' under-14 football championship, I must apologise to Donegal if I appeared to be beastly to them last week. They displayed great heart and composure to emerge from a difficult match against Wicklow in Aughrim and have been awarded with what might be a handy draw against Cavan. (Don't worry, I'll get around to insulting every county before the summer is out).

Armagh were impressive in Belfast against Derry, although it was only after some poor Derry shooting and a magnificent John Toal goal that Armagh imposed their superiority. Particularly impressive I thought was Aaron Kernan, son of the great man who was forced to watch proceedings from the stand. Mind you, Joe appeared to have more electronic equipment at his disposal than the spy post at Drumucknavall so I don't think he missed anything.

Now. Some people believe that the 1969 lunar landing was staged in a film studio. Others would tell you that Elvis drives a hackney in Cabra. There are even those who are convinced that Kerry of the '70s were a better team than Dublin. Well, the latest in mad conspiracy theories is that the draws for the All-Ireland football qualifiers are fixed.

I suspect this notion began to take hold last summer, when Dublin managed to draw the 'three Ls' - London, Leitrim and Longford. Leitrim are once again central to this, as apparently a rumour circulated last week that they had been picked to play Meath, and guess what? They were. Now, from speaking to Leitrim people I do know that Meath were probably the last team they wanted to be drawn against but I imagine that would have applied to most counties.

But regardless whether the whole thing has been fixed by the Illuminati of Bavaria or not, there are some fascinating matches in this round. None of them are easily predictable but I'll give it a go anyway and suggest that Wexford, Limerick, Kildare, Roscommon, Donegal, Derry, Westmeath and Meath will prevail.

I nearly forgot, congratulations to the young women of the Dublin under-14s, who won the All Ireland on 18 June.