Joe Brolly called it the best point he’s ever seen in an All-Ireland final. The truth is it’s hard to argue with Joe on this one.
Dublin were made to work for their fourth All-Ireland in a row today. They started very poorly against Tyrone and after 15 minutes found themselves four points down having only scored once.
Eventually though, a spark was ignited. Dublin came from 0-05 to 0-01 behind to go in at half time 2-7 to 0-6 in front. The game was effectively over, this Dublin team don’t throw away two point leads, never mind seven.
One point in particular caught they eye, it came close to half time and was scored by Dean Rock.
It all started with this side-line ball deep in their own half.
Cooper passes it up the line to Fenton, before he hand passes to Ciaran Kilkenny who is loitering around midfield.
The master of retaining possession escapes the traps of three Tyrone players with ease and pops the ball back to Brian Howard.
Howard plays a long diagonal ball into the corner.
With the ball kicked into the corner, Dublin are patient, possession is key. They recycle the ball back out.
Patience is their virtue, and the Dub’s recycle the ball through the hand all the way across the pitch. Stretching the Tyrone defence in the process.
Tyrone haven’t done anything wrong, if anything they are defending exactly how they should be.
Dublin start to inject some pace into their play now, but Tyrone continue to keep them out. The Red Hands are defending perfectly, there is no space for the Dublin attackers to exploit.
Dublin don’t panic though, possession is key remember.
Yet again they recycle the ball determined to keep possession and wait for their opening.
Tyrone continue to keep their defensive shape, this is twice now the Dubs have had to recycle the ball back out, all because Tyrone are doing their job perfectly.
Now the key moment arrives.
Ciaran Kilkenny arrives on the overlap, at pace and now the space opens up for him. He pops it back to Brian Howard who spins around the onrushing Tyrone defenders.
Dean Rock peels off the Tyrone defender to find a yard of space, of course Howard lays it off to him.
The inevitable happens. All Dean Rock needs is a yard and it’s a score.
Dublin lead by six.
The passage of play was 69 seconds long with 15 passes. There wasn’t a single tackle from a Tyrone player, but that isn’t a reflection on them, Joe Brolly said it himself, they done everything right.
Dublin are just too good.
This was what you call ‘Total Football’ and it was a joy to watch.
You can catch the tail end of the score here.
Half-time in Croke Park and it's @DubGAAOfficial 2-07@TyroneGAALive 0-06
Check out the first half highlights here on #GAANOW! pic.twitter.com/x0EZPRQkYQ— The GAA (@officialgaa) September 2, 2018
