‘It’s clear that Dublin have underestimated this Louth team’
It’s becoming a common theme now but Dublin are once again champions of Leinster.
Dublin lifted their 14th successive title after a close-fought scoreline of 1-19 to 2-12 at Croke Park this afternoon.
Many had engraved Dublin’s name on the trophy before the first ball was even kicked but Louth showed plenty of fight and spirit throughout.
Louth were in fact the better of the two in the first half, going into the break with a 0-7 to 0-6 lead.
The expectation was that Dublin would come out the blocks and blow Louth away but they remained within touching distance until Con O’Callaghan’s goal on the back of a mistake from their goalkeeper changed the tide of the game.
In the end it proved to be a resounding win for the champions, but the scoreline didn’t necessarily reflect what had happened.
Con O'Callaghan capitalises on an errant kickout to score Dublin's first goal and put his side four points ahead of Louth after 55 minutes of the Leinster SFC final
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Leinster slammed by Canavan
Louth will rightly get praise for their brave performance but the game left people having more questions than answers in regards to Dublin.
One of those particularly critical was Peter Canavan, who ripped into Dublin at half time.
Speaking on RTÉ , he said: “It’s clear that Dublin have underestimated this Louth team and this Louth challenge. It’s a case of they have taken them for granted…
“There none of that (pace, power, or creativity from Dublin). Whenever they do lose possession going forward, the body language and attitude of some of their players, there is no chasing back, no turnovers.
“Dessie Farrell has been very animated on the sideline and I can see why…”
After the game Canavan’s criticisms didn’t end and questioned if there was a lack of focus from the Dublin players.
“I thought Dublin throughout were lethargic…” he added.
“It was a lethargic performance. Yes, they did step it up somewhat in the second half, but they appear to be a team more focused on their trip to Portugal tomorrow than they were on winning the Leinster final.”
A win is a win of course but performances must drastically improve if they want to retain their All-Ireland crown.
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