Immediately after Dean Rock’s goal, six minutes into the second half, the Dubs on Hill 16 offered up a brief medley: a chorus of Come On You Boys In Blue followed by a sample verse of Molly Malone. They were happy that Dublin had scored, clearly, but this wasn’t an expression of joyful relief, it felt more like the observance of protocol. The usual routine; everything in its place.
Even though Croke Park was full the occasion was empty. The main event was over almost as soon as it had started. Many neutrals from the first match had the last of their curiosity satisfied before half-time and started to leave. Dublin squeezed and without much of a struggle Monaghan surrendered their pips. They couldn’t contain Dublin’s power, they couldn’t interrupt their simple elegance on the ball, they couldn’t make them do anything that might have been uncomfortable.
Without tension there is no excitement; without a contest your mind wanders. There were spells in Croke Park last night when all you could hear was the murmur of a thousand conversations in the stands. Dublin’s easy brilliance reduced an All-Ireland quarter-final to distracted chat.
As soon as Rock’s goal put them 11 points clear they started clearing their bench. At least four of the subs who came on will feel a silent grievance about being on the bench in the first place and that is a key dynamic in Dublin’s season now: from January to late August the greatest competition they face is from each other.
It was a landmark day for Stephen Cluxton whose 89th appearance in the championship put him top of the all-time list. To mark the occasion Monaghan more or less let him be apart from one shot that commanded his attention early in the second half and another from close range near the end. The game was 21 minutes old before Cluxton was called upon to do something in open play (not a save, just an uncontested pass). The ingenious kick-out that have revolutionised his corner of the football world were not required.
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Monaghan needed a fast start; not to strike the fear of God into Dublin but to put something aside for a rainy day as the game wore on. It didn’t happen: Jack McCarron, one of their strike forwards, kicked two early wides and then had a shot smothered by James McCarthy. In the context of the final outcome it was something and nothing but the only chance Monaghan had was to put one foot in front of the other see where it took them; instead they couldn’t find their feet.
McCarron and Conor McManus were isolated close to the Dublin goal and locked up. McManus was so bereft of possession that he insisted on kicking a shot at the posts after he’d been whistled for a foul on Jonny Cooper and ended up getting booked when the two of them shared a moment of petulance.
Monaghan had plenty of players massed inside their own 45 but not in a way that created urgent pressure. Dublin’s ball carriers were diverted more often than confronted and there were plenty of support runners looping around to take the ball and probe another angle. Monaghan’s players didn’t always have that luxury. There was one moment in the first half when Dessie Mone was all alone in possession in front of the Cusack Stand but the only players that came to him were wearing blue; when he looked up there were no options down the line and none inside. He was mugged.
The other match was still-born. Tyrone were 1-5 in front before Armagh scored and in modern day Gaelic football a lead such as that is unassailable. Armagh’s approach was inhibited by their worst fears and then their worst fears came true: they couldn’t launch a threat, they couldn’t mount a defence.
In the qualifiers there is a strange relationship between simply winning and making progress. In Ulster and on the road Armagh achieved far more than had been expected only three months ago but last night their position was revised again with the kind of bluntness that is unique to the championship. Even though there was a red card for Tyrone, three black cards for Armagh and a handful of yellow cards there was none of the visceral stuff that inflamed Armagh-Tyrone games in the early 2000s; Armagh were unable to engage Tyrone on that level either.
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Tyrone’s day of truth will come later in the month against the All-Ireland champions. Are they a threat to Dublin? At the very least they will be an obstinate nuisance. Others have refined the blanket defence that Tyrone invented at the beginning of the last decade but Tyrone still execute that strategy with efficiency.
They have pace going forward and they have four or five finishers. Peter Harte is a terrific carrier and link man, Mark Bradley is a sniper and even in his reduced state Sean Cavanagh will hold the attention of one Dublin defender or more. Against Tyrone Dublin will need to be patient and clinical and concentrated. That will be a challenge. At last.