Dublin Gaelic football manager Dessie Farrell spoke about Dublin’s performance in their Leinster Senior Football Championship final win over Kildare on Sunday.
Dublin beat Kildare by 0-20 to 1-9 in Croke Park to retain the Delaney Cup and win their 60th Leinster title overall.
Dessie Farrell’s side was not perfect on Sunday but a strong third quarter put the game beyond any doubt after a close third half.
The eight-point win margin was the county’s lowest in a Leinster final since 2013 when Jim Gavin’s Dublin beat Meath by seven points (2-14 to 0-15) on their way to a first All-Ireland out of six under the 10-year Dublin veteran.
Dessie Farrell gave his thoughts on the Delaney Cup win over Kildare in a post-game interview with DubsTV.
The inter-county manager lamented his side’s shot selection in the first half after they squandered several chances.
The side looked as if they wanted to walk the ball through the Kildare defence and it was detrimental to their impact in the opening half.
Their strong third quarter saw the side revert to taking high-possibility chances when presented with them.
“Having discussed it at half-time, the players themselves saw that as a challenge,” Farrell said.
Kildare played the game defensively with some extra players dropping back to stifle the Dubs’ impact in attack.
Their set-up led to Dublin often moving the ball from side to side in an attempt to open up spaces for their forwards to take advantage of.
Ciarán Kilkenny led the Dubs’ third-quarter charge with two points, with Niall Scully also grabbing two in a period that was worthy of the Leinster title.
Dublin’s focus now turns to their All-Ireland semi-final showdown with Connacht champions Mayo, in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.
“[Mayo] were very, very impressive in that second-half performance against Galway in the Connacht final. Very little separates the teams over the year’s so I think everyone can expect a massive tussle.”
